Library of Criticisms
also Reusable Criticisms
A built-up store of written, reusable criticisms aimed at whole categories of bad ideas, so a single refutation answers many arguments instead of being re-argued each time.
A library of criticisms is a deliberately accumulated archive of written criticisms, organized so that one refutation can be reused many times. CF’s key move is to refute categories of ideas rather than individual ones: instead of writing a fresh counter-argument to each ad hominem, you write down once why all ad hominem arguments fail, and that single piece answers every instance of the pattern. Write down refutations of all common errors, and either an incoming argument matches a known bad pattern (reuse the existing answer) or it does not — in which case it is genuinely new and worth your attention.
This makes error correction scalable and cumulative. Each discussion adds to the store: when someone produces an objection your library does not yet cover, that is itself productive, since either they have a real point or they have found a gap you can patch with a more general, powerful criticism. Over time it becomes ever harder for a low-effort “I think that’s wrong” to survive pre-existing critique. The library leverages a structural advantage CF claims critics already have: contrary to Brandolini’s Law (which holds that refuting nonsense costs far more than producing it), CF argues criticism is broadly easier, because one decisive error refutes a whole category. The library banks those decisive, reusable refutations so the cost of answering an instance falls toward zero.
The library underpins Paths Forward: a rational thinker must offer a real route for being corrected, and reusable criticism (plus references and bridging material) keeps that obligation affordable. You may use criticisms others wrote, but you must take responsibility for them. It connects to the single-answer principle and to CF’s preference for decisive, written public positions over ad hoc, privately-rehashed debate.