I initially misread the title because “defer judgment” is often used to mean putting off the judgment until later. But here you meant “defer” as in taking on the other person’s value judgment as your own (and were arguing against that), rather than as waiting to make the value judgment later (and arguing for that).
I guess “defer” is an autoantonym, in some contexts. When someone makes a claim which you aren’t in a good position to evaluate immediately, then to decide what you think about it you can either defer (to them) or defer (till later).
I initially misread the title because “defer judgment” is often used to mean putting off the judgment until later. But here you meant “defer” as in taking on the other person’s value judgment as your own (and were arguing against that), rather than as waiting to make the value judgment later (and arguing for that).
I guess “defer” is an autoantonym, in some contexts. When someone makes a claim which you aren’t in a good position to evaluate immediately, then to decide what you think about it you can either defer (to them) or defer (till later).
I think of it as deferring to future me vs. deferring to someone else.