The definitions of many words are fuzzy in practice, but that doesn’t mean it’s ideal for things to be that way. And I seriously doubt it’s ideal in technical research fields like philosophy or engineering.
In those cases shared and precise meanings can speed up research progress, and avoid terrible mistakes, by preventing misunderstandings.
Establishing some consistency in our terminology, like a shared definition of longtermism, strikes me as highly worthwhile.
The definitions of many words are fuzzy in practice, but that doesn’t mean it’s ideal for things to be that way. And I seriously doubt it’s ideal in technical research fields like philosophy or engineering.
In those cases shared and precise meanings can speed up research progress, and avoid terrible mistakes, by preventing misunderstandings.
Establishing some consistency in our terminology, like a shared definition of longtermism, strikes me as highly worthwhile.