Neurathian bootstrap

Imagine you are building a tower of blocks. You want to make it really tall, but you don't have a ladder or anyone to help you. So, you start by putting some blocks on the ground. Then, you stand on those blocks and add more blocks to make the tower higher. You keep doing this, using the blocks you've already stacked up to reach higher and higher.

Now, let's say you're trying to figure out something really complicated, like how to solve a math problem. You don't know how to do it, but you do have some information that might help. You start by using that information to figure out a little bit of the problem. Then, you use that new information to figure out a little bit more, and so on.

That's kind of like what the neurathian bootstrap is. It's a way of using the information you already have to figure out more information. It's named after a philosopher named Otto Neurath, who used the metaphor of building a boat while sailing on it.

Basically, the idea is that you start with some basic knowledge or assumptions, and then use those to figure out more knowledge or assumptions. You keep building on what you know until you have a more complete understanding of the problem you're trying to solve.

It's kind of like the tower of blocks or the boat-building metaphor. You're using what you've already figured out to reach higher and higher levels of understanding. And just like with the blocks or the boat, sometimes you might have to go back and change something you've already done in order to make it work better with the new information you've discovered.

Overall, the neurathian bootstrap is a way of using what you know to figure out more and more, until you have a better understanding of something complicated. It's a bit like building a tower of blocks or a boat while sailing on it – you start with something basic and use that to reach higher and higher levels of understanding.