I recently announced a comments moderation policy which included this:
5. This blog has a philosophical focus; the editors and authors aren’t interested in debating with readers who think philosophy is worthless or cannot understand the value of clearly defined terms. Comments along those lines will be blocked.
UnitedAndy objected:
I guess the biggest objection I have would be to point 5. I can’t see how any semi-reasonable person could hold to scientism or ending PoR, for example, but I’m just as sure that advocates for the value of philosophy ought to defend it from criticism, particularly given how pervasive this philosophy-bashing attitude has become by prominent people. I can see how naysaying philosophy in most contexts on this blog would be to distract from the issue at hand, but I think there are cases where the value one places on philosophy is hugely relevant (e.g. scientistic criticisms of religion). Moreover, I think there’s something to celebrate that philosophy is uniquely placed to self-justify itself and that involves dealing with foundational challenges of its worthiness.
Although I initially replied saying I just doesn’t desire to rehash this on the blog, I’ve spent some more time thinking about it. I’ve decided UnitedAndy is correct. Accordingly, I’ve deleted point 5 from the moderation policy. In case anyone is wondering, exactly zero comments were blocked due to point 5.
