I like the idea of rational argument as a sign of intellectual respect, but I don’t like things that are so easy to use as fully general debate stoppers, especially when they have a built-in status element.
But note that Elinor doesn’t use it as a debate stopper, or to put down or belittle Ferrers. She simply chooses not to engage with his arguments, and agrees with him.
The way I usually come in contact with something like this is afterwards, when Elinor and her tribe are talking about those irrational greens, and how it’s better to not even engage with them. They’re just dumb/evil, you know, not like us.
Even without that part, this avoids opportunities for clearing up misunderstandings.
(anecdotally: some time ago a friend was telling me about discussions that are “just not worth having”, and gave as an example “that time when we were talking about abortion and you said that X, I knew there was just no point in going any further”. Turns out she had misunderstood me completely, and I actually had meant Y, with which she agrees. Glad we could clear that out—more than a year later, completely by accident. Which makes me wonder how many more of those misunderstandings are out there)
Ambivalent about this one.
I like the idea of rational argument as a sign of intellectual respect, but I don’t like things that are so easy to use as fully general debate stoppers, especially when they have a built-in status element.
But note that Elinor doesn’t use it as a debate stopper, or to put down or belittle Ferrers. She simply chooses not to engage with his arguments, and agrees with him.
(I haven’t read the book)
The way I usually come in contact with something like this is afterwards, when Elinor and her tribe are talking about those irrational greens, and how it’s better to not even engage with them. They’re just dumb/evil, you know, not like us.
Even without that part, this avoids opportunities for clearing up misunderstandings.
(anecdotally: some time ago a friend was telling me about discussions that are “just not worth having”, and gave as an example “that time when we were talking about abortion and you said that X, I knew there was just no point in going any further”. Turns out she had misunderstood me completely, and I actually had meant Y, with which she agrees. Glad we could clear that out—more than a year later, completely by accident. Which makes me wonder how many more of those misunderstandings are out there)