Tetronian comments on 6 Tips for Productive Arguments - Less Wrong

30 Post author: John_Maxwell_IV 18 March 2012 09:02PM

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Comment author: [deleted] 18 March 2012 11:36:31PM 6 points [-]

Oh, absolutely. This is why I don't like being in discussions with people who hold the same position as I do but for different reasons--saying that a particular argument in favor of our position is wrong sounds like arrogance and/or betrayal.

Comment author: Vladimir_Nesov 18 March 2012 11:37:55PM *  4 points [-]

I was thinking more of a case where people agree out of politeness, and you have reason to believe they didn't properly understand your position.

Comment author: [deleted] 18 March 2012 11:47:37PM 4 points [-]

Oh, I see. I don't think that's ever happened me, although I have had people try to end conversations with "everyone's entitled to their own beliefs" or "there's no right answer to this question, it's just your opinion" and my subsequent haggling turned the discussion sour.

Comment author: MartinB 19 March 2012 12:17:57AM 0 points [-]

It was weird the first few times when I had a cluster of people agreeing with me, spent time there, and then started to collect counter arguments. People are better tested with disagreements, than just holding similar end-views. A belief held for the wrong reasons can easily be changed. It gets a bit weird when you start fixing your opponents arguments against your own position.