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PaperclipPerfector  4d ago (text post)   2080 thread views

Small-Scale Question Sunday for May 25, 2025

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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So, what are you reading?

Still on the Iliad, Dialectic of Enlightenment and McLuhan's Classical Trivium. Trying Individuals and Institutions in Medieval Scholasticism.

Read Liar's Poker by Michael Lewis, a memoir about Lewis's time working at an investment bank during the 1980s. Interesting at the start but became a slog. That was my third Michael Lewis book, and I think I'm finished reading his material. The premises always sound more interesting than the content.

Currently reading When The Going Was Good by Graydon Carter, a memoir about Carter's time working in New York City magazines during the 80s, 90s and 00s. The book's a lot of fun, a 180 from Liar's Poker.

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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.


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