The beauty of formal logic is that it leaves no room for wildly radical statements full of informal fallacies. However, this isn't so true in our everyday lives. Sure, sometimes we may be able to have a calm, metered out conversation with people, but sometimes it isn't possible. Take abortion for example. People understandably have strong views on this subject, but when the other side calmly expresses a view, they are often meet with antagonism and shouting.
How exactly are we supposed to remedy this? Is there a way to change our culture so that any discussion, even by the uneducated, can be metered out and mellow? I wonder what lessons we can learn from formal logic to apply to informal conversational argumentation.
Good question, but I'm not sure we will ever have a culture where absolutely any discussion can be metered out and mellow. People are just too passionate, and I'm not entirely convinced that's a bad thing. I suppose logic can be helpful, for those of us that are inclined to take an interest, in that it makes us more open to being convinced by other people's arguments, and therefore more willing to listen. But even that is not guaranteed. We also run the risk of being smug and overconfident that we alone can determine which points of view are valid and which are to be disregarded.
ReplyDeleteI don't necessarily think it's a bad thing either. In a world where a lot of shouting happens on the internet I think face to face, passionate discussions can be refreshing. Although they are super frustrating so I see where your inspiration for the post came from!
ReplyDeleteI think that if you are arguing a point, it's best the simplify it completely so each premise is as irrefragable as possible and demonstrating where the other party's perspective is incorrect. This is impossible in pro/anti situations of opinion and in these situations, the best thing I think is to try to make your argument calmly and provide the best argument possible. Unfortunately, some people when they see a compelling argument might be inclined to go "That's not true. That's impossible" for reasoning varying from its being such a long-held belief to they believe God will smite them down if they don't do something to prevent the murder of children.
ReplyDeleteIt is interesting that you bring this up, because I have been thinking about this issue recently too. The point I would like to bring up is the difference of discussion within academia versus real life. You bring up the topic of abortion, and are correct in saying that it is very difficult for each side to calmly explain and express themselves in the real world. However, I believe many of the people who deeply care about serious world issues and deep questions are academics because in classrooms or lectures, it is intellectuals calmly and respectfully debating hot seeded issues.
ReplyDeleteYou can't change a culture directly or quickly, but you certainly can practice passionately rational discourse in your own life, and encourage it in many ways. When you and enough similarly inclined people do this, the culture will change.
ReplyDelete