Comment by s1artibartfast

>I think this and the entire previous two paragraphs preceding it are excellent arguments for philosophical pragmatism and empiricism. It's strange to me that the community would not have already converged on that after all their obsessions with decision theory

They did! One of the great ironies inside the community is that they are and openly admit to being empiricists. They reject most of the French/European rationalist cannon.

>Why are rationalists not able to write less?

The answer is a lot more boring. They like to write and they like to think. They also think by writing. It is written as much for themselves as for anyone else, probably more.