Thursday, May 2, 2024

They do not have good arguments for their views, and the reason they do not have good arguments for their views is because their views are bad and uninformed

From Rational Persuasion vs Cancel Culture by Dan Williams.  The subheading is Some thoughts on why it is probably bad to bully people into accepting your beliefs.

In the public sphere, in recent years, I feel like there are three forces at play which might be different (at least in degree) from the past and which certainly reduce the quality of our public decision-making.  These three trends are:

Incapacity to articulate reasoned positions much less to make evidence-based arguments.  

Inclination to rely on coercion (deceit, fraud) rather than persuasion.  

Inability to distinguish coercion from necessary unpleasant trade-offs.

Whether it is in person-to-person conversations or congressional debates, the capacity to make arguments based on evidence, reason, and logic seems reduced and there seems to be a greater reliance on empty rhetoric or emotional screeching as a substitute.  A reliance on ad hominem attacks, emotional or special pleading, on othering, cancelling and in general suppression of alternative views.  In other words a preference for coercion over persuasion.

Williams is very direct in his assessment.

In general, I suspect that the primary reason why people think rational arguments do not work is because they simply do not have good arguments for their views, and the reason they do not have good arguments for their views is because their views are bad and uninformed. “Why don’t people see the self-evident truth of my political worldview?! They must be in denial, or irrational, or brainwashed, or subject to false consciousness, or … etc.” There are entire schools of intellectual inquiry founded on this kind of attitude. In fact, the main reason why people are not persuaded to accept the worldviews of passionate ideologues and activists is because those worldviews are typically simplistic, biased, ignorant, and dogmatic.

If rational persuasion works, but it only works when views are supported by evidence and good arguments, there is something troubling about people and groups that opt for the pressure strategy instead of the persuasion strategy. Even though their beliefs are sincere, they should ask themselves: If I lack confidence in my ability to persuade others of these beliefs, should I be persuaded myself?



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