It sounds like you are complaining that people are treating arguments as logical constructions that stand or fall based on their own merit, rather than as soldiers for a grand and noble cause which we must endorse lest we betray our own side.
If that’s not what you mean, can you clarify your point better?
That it would be more epistemically and instrumentally productive not to throw up a cloud of nitpicking which closely resembles quite common attempts to avoid getting the point that there is actually a problem here.
The counterpoint to that is “If you’re interested in being on the right side of disputes, you will refute your opponents’ arguments. But if you’re interested in producing truth, you will fix your opponents’ arguments for them. To win, you must fight not only the creature you encounter; you [also] must fight the most horrible thing that can be constructed from its corpse.”
http://www.acceleratingfuture.com/steven/?p=155
Mostly, what David_Gerard says, better than I managed to express it; in part, “be nice to whatever minorities you have”; and finally, yes, “this is a good cause; we should champion it”. “Arguments as soldiers” is partly a valid criticism, but note that we’re looking at a bunch of narratives, not a logical argument; and note that very little “improvement of the other’s arguments” seem to be going on.
It sounds like you are complaining that people are treating arguments as logical constructions that stand or fall based on their own merit, rather than as soldiers for a grand and noble cause which we must endorse lest we betray our own side.
If that’s not what you mean, can you clarify your point better?
That it would be more epistemically and instrumentally productive not to throw up a cloud of nitpicking which closely resembles quite common attempts to avoid getting the point that there is actually a problem here.
Why are you defending scoundrels again? :P
The counterpoint to that is “If you’re interested in being on the right side of disputes, you will refute your opponents’ arguments. But if you’re interested in producing truth, you will fix your opponents’ arguments for them. To win, you must fight not only the creature you encounter; you [also] must fight the most horrible thing that can be constructed from its corpse.” http://www.acceleratingfuture.com/steven/?p=155
Mostly, what David_Gerard says, better than I managed to express it; in part, “be nice to whatever minorities you have”; and finally, yes, “this is a good cause; we should champion it”. “Arguments as soldiers” is partly a valid criticism, but note that we’re looking at a bunch of narratives, not a logical argument; and note that very little “improvement of the other’s arguments” seem to be going on.