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PaperclipPerfector  13d ago (text post)   2643 thread views

Small-Scale Question Sunday for December 8, 2024

Do you have a dumb question that you're kind of embarrassed to ask in the main thread? Is there something you're just not sure about?

This is your opportunity to ask questions. No question too simple or too silly.

Culture war topics are accepted, and proposals for a better intro post are appreciated.

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Beginning any comment with "I mean,..." We know you mean it. Otherwise why are you writing it. Tedious.

I’ve always interpreted this to have subtle but real semantic value. Something to the effect of ‘I accept your point of view, but superficially and believe it misses deeper, more correct interpretation’. This is over descriptive, but I see it as an epistemic palette cleanser rather than a filler word. It draws acknowledged that real or potential disagreement is likely epistemic / interpretive rather than a disagreement of facts.

Almost equivalent to ‘sure, but…’

Oh, I agree, and I fully admit that my own dislike for the term is just me being overly touchy.

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A motte is a stone keep on a raised earthwork common in early medieval fortifications. More pertinently, it's an element in a rhetorical move called a "Motte-and-Bailey", originally identified by philosopher Nicholas Shackel. It describes the tendency in discourse for people to move from a controversial but high value claim to a defensible but less exciting one upon any resistance to the former. He likens this to the medieval fortification, where a desirable land (the bailey) is abandoned when in danger for the more easily defended motte. In Shackel's words, "The Motte represents the defensible but undesired propositions to which one retreats when hard pressed."

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