I take “life experience” to mean a haphazard collection of anecdotes.
Claims from haphazardly collected anecdotes do not constitute legitimate evidence, though I concede those claims do often have positive correlations with true facts.
As such, relying on “life experience” is not rational. The point about condescension is tangential. The whole rhetorical technique is frustrating, because there is no way to move on from it. If “life experience” were legitimate evidence for the claim, the argument would not be able to continue until I have gained more “life experience,” and who decides how much would be sufficient? Would it be until I come around? Once we throw the standard of evidence out, we’re outside the bounds of rational discourse.
I take “life experience” to mean a haphazard collection of anecdotes.
I don’t think that’s something that most people who think “life experience” is valuable would agree to.
Claims from haphazardly collected anecdotes do not constitute legitimate evidence, though I concede those claims do often have positive correlations with true facts.
It might be profitable for you to revise your criteria for what constitutes legitimate evidence. Throwing away information that has a positive correlation with the thing you’re wondering about seems a bit hasty.
I am calling attention to reverting to “life experience” as recourse in an argument. If someone strays to that, it’s clear that we’re no longer considering evidence for whatever the argument is about. Referring back to “life experience” is far too nebulous to take as any evidence anything.
As for what constitutes legitimate evidence, even if anecdotes can correlate, anecdotes are not evidence!
OK, let me break it down.
I take “life experience” to mean a haphazard collection of anecdotes.
Claims from haphazardly collected anecdotes do not constitute legitimate evidence, though I concede those claims do often have positive correlations with true facts.
As such, relying on “life experience” is not rational. The point about condescension is tangential. The whole rhetorical technique is frustrating, because there is no way to move on from it. If “life experience” were legitimate evidence for the claim, the argument would not be able to continue until I have gained more “life experience,” and who decides how much would be sufficient? Would it be until I come around? Once we throw the standard of evidence out, we’re outside the bounds of rational discourse.
I don’t think that’s something that most people who think “life experience” is valuable would agree to.
It might be profitable for you to revise your criteria for what constitutes legitimate evidence. Throwing away information that has a positive correlation with the thing you’re wondering about seems a bit hasty.
I am calling attention to reverting to “life experience” as recourse in an argument. If someone strays to that, it’s clear that we’re no longer considering evidence for whatever the argument is about. Referring back to “life experience” is far too nebulous to take as any evidence anything.
As for what constitutes legitimate evidence, even if anecdotes can correlate, anecdotes are not evidence!
http://www.scientificamerican.com/article.cfm?id=how-anecdotal-evidence-can-undermine-scientific-results
Anecdotes are rational evidence, but not scientific evidence.
For a debate involving complex religious, scientific, or political arguments, this won’t suffice.
Let’s say I’m debating someone on whether or not poltergeists exist.