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Theist comments on Rationality quotes: June 2010 - Less Wrong
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"I accidentally changed my mind."
my four-year-old
Well, that hopefully lead to a teaching moment...
It leads to a contemplative moment for me-- I suspect accidentally changing one's mind happens relatively often.
http://www.spring.org.uk/2007/12/our-secret-attitude-changes.php
Thank you. I know of a couple things I've changed my mind about, but I may be unusually inclined to keep track.
Maybe you can explain to me what the lesson is here?
It depends precisely on the context of what the kid meant. But I would think that high on the list would making sure the kid understands that changing one's mind based on evidence is a good thing. And discussing with the kid why they changed their mind? Did they do so for a good reason based on facts and thinking? Or was it purely emotional?
Oh, I see. Thanks.
I will not teach my children that changing one's mind based on emotion is bad. Particularly not before I establish whether their emotional or logical thinking is their strong point.
What do you mean by emotional thinking? And how do you determine whether someone has good emotional thinking?
I was running with the distinction from the context: "A good reason based on facts and thinking vs X"
I make the observation that many (most?) people can more effectively guide their lives by doing what 'feels' right than by facts and reason. In fact, humans come wired with mechanisms which allow feelings to override reason. The quote Roko made on this very page alludes to why.
You look at whether they screw up more - When they do what they think is the right thing to do or when they go with what they feel is right. In all cases there will be times for each kind of thought and the balance will depend on personality and aptitude for various thinking patterns.
What I will NEVER do is train my children to associate "facts and thinking" with 'good' and and contrasted with 'emotional'. It takes a HUGE amount of facts and thinking to equal the quality of thought that emotions represent and quite often those that are best at giving priority to "good reason, facts and thinking" over emotions are not those who are the most successful. (Even though I'll probably like them more. ;))