I wonder if the desire to justify is the result of social stigma surrounding being the wrong sort of person. If to be a full person is to have reasons for your actions, and to be nice to others, then it makes sense to me that the desire to give reasons for “mean” criticism is a result of wearing the correct model of personhood.
That, and the fact that when making decisions, it’s *really important* to have non-subjective reasons—or if you have subjective reasons, you still have objective reasons why they matter, like “if I don’t like someone on a personal level, I really shouldn’t spend the rest of my life with them” in dating.
So people are used to a mode of thought where a subjective opinion means “you’re not done explaining”/”you haven’t spent enough mental effort on the problem,” and they engage the—honestly, very productive, very healthy—same mechanisms they use when justifying a command decision. It just happens to be mis-applied in this case.
I wonder if the desire to justify is the result of social stigma surrounding being the wrong sort of person. If to be a full person is to have reasons for your actions, and to be nice to others, then it makes sense to me that the desire to give reasons for “mean” criticism is a result of wearing the correct model of personhood.
That, and the fact that when making decisions, it’s *really important* to have non-subjective reasons—or if you have subjective reasons, you still have objective reasons why they matter, like “if I don’t like someone on a personal level, I really shouldn’t spend the rest of my life with them” in dating.
So people are used to a mode of thought where a subjective opinion means “you’re not done explaining”/”you haven’t spent enough mental effort on the problem,” and they engage the—honestly, very productive, very healthy—same mechanisms they use when justifying a command decision. It just happens to be mis-applied in this case.
That explanation adds something to my understanding of the post you linked to. Thanks.