Can debate entrench people in their views? — Jeremiah
Can debate entrench people in their views? — Jeremiah
Some people change opinion, philosophers even, when truth matters more than the appearance or reputation of being right. — jkop
In my opinion, and I'm not at all putting myself "above" this, philosophy tends to be ad hoc justifications/rationalizations of views that people already hold. A lot of views are already entrenched by some combination of disposition and early socialization. — Terrapin Station
few who identify with philosophy as a virtuous pursuit are eager to consciously "lie" to themselves or others. — R-13
bias is increased by the threat of humiliation or loss of status. — R-13
Men fear thought as they fear nothing else on earth -- more than ruin -- more even than death.... Thought is subversive and revolutionary, destructive and terrible, thought is merciless to privilege, established institutions, and comfortable habit. Thought looks into the pit of hell and is not afraid. Thought is great and swift and free, the light of the world, and the chief glory of man. — Bertrand Russell (Why Men Fight, 1916)
For emotional reasons we embraced now-questionable axioms or inferences. — R-13
I don't think you see what I'm getting at. Consider, for instance, an individual or a community coming to regard the scientific method itself as authoritative. We might explain our former embrace of what now looks to us like superstition or prejudice in terms of wishful thinking or an irrational/natural trust of our parents or heritage. — R-13
..the move away from God is probably more related to human technology and the confidence and abundance that came with it (an "emotional" argument)... — R-13
Essentially, I'm suggesting that human thinking is not cold calculation, although it includes cold calculation in pursuit of that which it desires. — R-13
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