Vladimir_Nesov comments on A social norm against unjustified opinions? - Less Wrong

11 Post author: Kaj_Sotala 29 May 2009 11:25AM

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Comment author: Vladimir_Nesov 01 June 2009 05:14:53PM *  0 points [-]

The rational thing to do when confronted with a position you don't understand is ask yourself "Why did that person adopt that position?"

[...]

Worthwhile questions are rarely answered easily.

Search for an answer requires the question to be worthwhile, which is far from prior expectation for the research of inane-sounding positions people hold.

Comment author: pjeby 01 June 2009 05:21:37PM 0 points [-]

Search for an answer requires the question to be worthwhile, which is far from prior expectation for inane-sounding positions.

If you want to convince someone of something, it's generally a good idea to understand why they believe what they believe now. People generally have to be convinced out of one belief before they can be convinced into another, and you can't refute or reframe their evidence unless you know what the evidence is.

Even if their reasoning is epistemologically unsound, if you know how it's unsound, you can utilize the same type of reasoning to change their belief. For example, if someone only believes things they "see with their own eyes", you would then know it is a waste of time to try to prove something to them mathematically.

Comment author: Vladimir_Nesov 01 June 2009 05:28:27PM *  0 points [-]

I agree, but in this case the benefit comes not from the expectation of finding insight in the person's position, but from the expectation of successful communication (education), which was not the motivation referred in Annoyance's comment.