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RomeoStevens comments on Open Thread, July 1-15, 2013 - Less Wrong
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I recently remarked that the phrase "that doesn't seem obvious to me" is good at getting people to reassess their stated beliefs without antagonising them into a defensive position, and as such it was on my list of "magic phrases". More recently I've been using "can you give a specific example?" for the same purpose.
What expressions or turns of phrase do you find particularly useful in encouraging others, or yourself, to think to a higher standard?
depersonalizing the argument is something I've had great success with. Steelmanning someone's argument directly is insulting, but steelmanning it by stating that it is similar to the position of high status person X, who is opposed by the viewpoint of high status person Y allows you to discuss otherwise inflammatory ideas dispassionately.
I've experimented with repersonalizing arguments: instead of challenging someone else for holding a belief, I direct the challenge at myself by putting their argument in my own mouth and saying what contrary evidence prevents me from believing it.
Someone else: You know that global warming business is a load of rubbish, right? Isn't real.
Me: That's not obvious to me. There are records of global average surface temperatures going back 150 years or so.
Someone else: Well, they can't know what the temperature was like before then.
Me: I'm sometimes inclined to think so, but then I'd have to contend with the variety of records based on tree rings, ice cores, and boreholes which go back centuries or millennia.