On Tue, Oct 20, 2009 at 2:44 PM, Thomas Dalton thomas.dalton@gmail.comwrote:
2009/10/20 Ryan Delaney ryan.delaney@gmail.com:
This is a bizarre, but ancient, misunderstanding of IAR. All IAR means is that priority number one is doing what is right, rather than pedantic allegiance to a dictatorial interpretation of rules. Since IAR is not
itself
a justification for anything, there is never any useful information added
by
saying "I am invoking IAR." The only defense is "I did this because X"
where
X is the reason that what you did was a good idea, so you might as well
skip
to the end. Rather than saying "I am invoking IAR and I did this because
X",
just say "I did this because X."
It's not a misunderstanding, it is an understanding of how things actually work in the real world. "X" will need to include an explanation of why the usual rules don't apply (that may be obvious from just explanation why what you did was a good idea), so it makes sense to acknowledge from the beginning that you aren't following the usual rules.
Do you think a reason X that persuaded you that A was the right thing to do despite rule R that seems to forbid A would cause you to believe that the rules didn't apply, or would you need to be specifically reminded of that fact every time?
- causa sui