New Essay on The Zompist: 'On Arguing'

[nemorathwald]

Is there a lull in flamewars, or am I just not on the right forums anymore? Summer time, and the living is easy. So I choose now to post this. There's very little point in pointing out essays like this to anyone who is currently hunkered down in a fortress of defensiveness. They'd just feel you're making up rules to impose; and will promptly ask who died and made you king.

There is a new essay by Mark Rosenfelder on The Zompist, "On Arguing." Even if you're conflict-averse, you will see arguing in your life. If it turns ugly, "On Arguing" will help you judge the appropriate levels of social consequences to mete out for what you had to sit through.

Sample: "It’s the exaggeration and the malice that distinguish a real straw man from an honest misunderstanding."

Another useful essay on this topic is "How to Disagree" by Paul Graham.

Comments

Re: Nice

[matt-arnold.livejournal.com]

The word "cavalierly" makes it a response to tone, not content. The use of the phrase "legitimate scientific theory" is about defending bruised dignity, not factuality. If it were about the evidences that show evolution to be a fact, it would cite them instead. That's why he included that quote as an example of what not to do. Your statement about evolution is making the same mistake.