Be advised: this thread is not for serious in-depth discussion of weighty topics (we have a link for that), this thread is not for anything Culture War related. This thread is for Fun. You got jokes? Share 'em. You got silly questions? Ask 'em.
- 180
- 4
What is this place?
This website is a place for people who want to move past shady thinking and test their ideas in a
court of people who don't all share the same biases. Our goal is to
optimize for light, not heat; this is a group effort, and all commentators are asked to do their part.
The weekly Culture War threads host the most
controversial topics and are the most visible aspect of The Motte. However, many other topics are
appropriate here. We encourage people to post anything related to science, politics, or philosophy;
if in doubt, post!
Check out The Vault for an archive of old quality posts.
You are encouraged to crosspost these elsewhere.
Why are you called The Motte?
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."
On The Motte, always attempt to remain inside your defensible territory, even if you are not being pressed.
New post guidelines
If you're posting something that isn't related to the culture war, we encourage you to post a thread for it.
A submission statement is highly appreciated, but isn't necessary for text posts or links to largely-text posts
such as blogs or news articles; if we're unsure of the value of your post, we might remove it until you add a
submission statement. A submission statement is required for non-text sources (videos, podcasts, images).
Culture war posts go in the culture war thread; all links must either include a submission statement or
significant commentary. Bare links without those will be removed.
If in doubt, please post it!
Rules
- Courtesy
- Content
- Engagement
- When disagreeing with someone, state your objections explicitly.
- Proactively provide evidence in proportion to how partisan and inflammatory your claim might be.
- Accept temporary bans as a time-out, and don't attempt to rejoin the conversation until it's lifted.
- Don't attempt to build consensus or enforce ideological conformity.
- Write like everyone is reading and you want them to be included in the discussion.
- The Wildcard Rule
- The Metarule
Jump in the discussion.
No email address required.
Notes -
Couldn’t you write a similar analogy for all sorts of schema?
An obvious choice would be thesis/antithesis/synthesis from the Greek dialectic. That’d even be a plausible influence on the early Christian tradition. Though…I’m not sure it was widely framed as tripartite until Hegel. It also leads to some perverse comparisons to dialectical materialism.
Freud’s id, ego, and superego are an even closer match. The set of worldly instincts, the moral authority, and the layer which mediates between them. I guess Freud was kind of copping from Plato’s logistikon, thymoeides, epithymetikon anyway.
Or consider the classic logic puzzle of the wolf, rabbit, and cabbage. As the puzzle-solvers, we are the Father, setting out a design to get all three across the river. Each item attends with whole cognition, such as it is, to its worldly role. Using a boat to get across, one item at a time, is the Father’s will expressed on the Son, and in that relationship is found the Holy Spirit.
In other words, I think it’s imposing your own pattern. That doesn’t mean you can’t gain something from meditating on it.
Something is telling me that this word, specifically, was central to a heresy or splinter group. But I can’t remember what.
More options
Context Copy link