CF Dictionary · Error Correction & Learning
Piecemeal Improvement
CR's strategy: improve knowledge in small steps, one criticism at a time. CF keeps this as its operating mode.
Piecemeal improvement is CR's strategy: improve existing knowledge in small, criticisable steps, rather than trying to start over from scratch.
"We should make piecemeal improvements to existing knowledge (tradition), rather than revolutionarily try to start over from scratch."
Why piecemeal
- Tradition encodes hard-won error corrections. Starting from scratch throws them away.
- Small steps are criticisable. Big revolutions are not.
- Piecemeal allows debate. Critics can address one step at a time.
CF's view
CF follows CR on piecemeal improvement:
- Paths Forward is a piecemeal protocol — one error at a time.
- Idea trees structure piecemeal improvements.
- Reject revolutionary epistemologies that promise to start over.
What piecemeal is not
- Not slow. Small steps add up.
- Not conservative. Each step can be a big improvement.
- Not anti-revolution. You can still change radically, one step at a time.
Connection to tradition
Piecemeal improvement presupposes a tradition to improve. Tradition is the cumulative, criticisable body of knowledge you inherit. CF treats tradition as a critical resource, not an authority.
"We should make piecemeal improvements to existing knowledge (tradition), rather than revolutionarily try to start over from scratch." — criticalfallibilism.com