Re: Are Beliefs Like Clothes?

N.BOSTROM@lse.ac.uk
Thu, 17 Jul 97 02:12:07 GMT


Robin Hanson wrote:
>I know "reflexive" is a popular term in certain academic circles, but
>its connotation is pretty vague for most people. How about "personal"
>vs. "social" roles of clothes and belief? Or "individual" vs.
>"social" roles?

There is a problem with the terminology social/individual. For example,
a hermit could chose to have over-optimistic beliefs to cher himself up.
This would be an "individual" role, but in the distinction we want to capture
it comes on the other side. Is epistemic/nonepistemic role too technical?

Nicholas Bostrom
http://www.hedweb.com/nickb