Given available data, there’s only one valid set of conclusions we can reach. Being a ‘devil’s advocate’ is worthwhile if you need to make sure you’re accurately considering all of the points against a thesis as well as for, but if you’re reasoning correctly there’s no point to taking an opposing position for argument’s sake.
In order to take a position other than the one supported by the data, we need to ignore the points that make that position invalid. That’s a dangerous thing to do, when human minds have a natural tendency to ignore contradictory information. It’s like pointing a gun at someone even though you believe it’s unloaded—it’s extremely irresponsible even if it happens to be true.
Given available data, there’s only one valid set of conclusions we can reach. Being a ‘devil’s advocate’ is worthwhile if you need to make sure you’re accurately considering all of the points against a thesis as well as for, but if you’re reasoning correctly there’s no point to taking an opposing position for argument’s sake.
In order to take a position other than the one supported by the data, we need to ignore the points that make that position invalid. That’s a dangerous thing to do, when human minds have a natural tendency to ignore contradictory information. It’s like pointing a gun at someone even though you believe it’s unloaded—it’s extremely irresponsible even if it happens to be true.