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.
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.
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My Quality Contributions:
PUAs vs MRAs
Introductory Texts to Rationalism
The Inevitability of Religion
"You can't lower the price of real estate and not lower the price of real estate; you can't lower the cost of rent and not lower the value of houses."
"The fact that the word 'pedophilia' conflates these perversions with the normal and healthy attraction that men feel for teenage girls makes it an anti-concept..."
"Poor areas are not awful because of tragic dirt; they are awful because they are filled with stupid, violent, impulsive people."
"Most of what you think you know about sex/romance/dating is a feminist lie, fed to you through a combination of the education system and the media, or people repeating falsehoods they themselves learned from school and movies and TV shows."
User ID: 240
I used to feel the same way about Scott Alexander. Then his e-mails leaked.
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I used to feel the same way about Scott Alexander. Then his e-mails leaked.
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