People Think They Can Answer an Argument-Daily Meditation 12.28.22
Today’s quotation:
It is incredible how many people think they can answer an argument by attributing bad motives to those who disagree with them. Using this kind of reasoning, you can believe or not believe anything about anything without having to bother to deal with facts or logic.-Thomas Sowell
Daily Meditation:
How do we face the world? How do we treat other people in this fantastic world of ours? Do we treat their ideas and arguments with respect, or do we try to slam their thoughts and discredit them without even examining the thoughts themselves? We seem to be dealing with a time in our history when a personal attack is gaining more and more credibility without regard for whether we face genuine issues.
If I have an idea that contradicts one of your deepest convictions, it’s tempting to try to discredit me by focusing on something other than my idea. Perhaps my motives are unethical. Perhaps my upbringing makes me incompetent to disagree with you. But what about my idea? If you try to discredit me without examining the idea, you’re rejecting–not just losing–the chance to learn something new and essential about your beliefs. And the shame is that if you do try to examine my idea, you might find that your beliefs are more strongly reinforced. But even if they aren’t, it would be essential for you to find that out, too.
We don’t have a lot of role models these days in respecting the power of logic and reason. And while these two qualities most definitely don’t explain everything about everything, they are meaningful gifts that we, as human beings, have been given exclusively on this planet. Ignoring their power to hold on to our own beliefs without dealing with facts is one of the most disrespectful things we can do to the gift-giver, whoever we believe that being to be.
Do my thoughts contradict yours? Then please do me a favor, as a fellow human being with similar gifts, of considering the possibility that there may be some reason behind what I think. I do deserve that respect, just as everyone else on this planet–all of our fellow human beings–deserves.
Questions to consider:
Why might people focus on another person’s motives rather than facts or logic?
What kinds of things do other people disagree with you on?
Have you ever avoided an argument by attacking another person’s motives? Why? How did it feel?
For further thought:
They are true fugitives who fly from reason.-Marcus Aurelius
If you missed yeseterday’s Daily Meditation you can find it here.
