It sounds like in this post, you’re mostly taking a sort of God’s Eye perspective on the problem. Like, if you could look down and set group norms with respect to bad faith, what norms would you set?
This is a different question from the question of what to do in everyday life. I think in everyday life, accusing people of acting in bad faith is almost always going to be a bad idea. For starters, I think most people believe “bad faith” means “with ill intent” (I did before reading this post). So you’d have to start by clarifying that you are talking about something different. But still, after doing so, I think the result is likely to be a) the conversation devolves and b) you stir up animosity with the other person. Something more How To Win Friends And Influence People style seems wiser.
On the other hand, in talking to people whom you’re very close to, I could see it being fruitful sometimes. But even then, I suspect it’d be best to not bring it up in the midst of the current conversation, and instead bring it up eg. the next day as a separate conversation. Like, “Hey, remember that conversation we had yesterday? I was a little unhappy with something. Mind if we talk about it?”
As for the God’s Eye perspective, one thing is that I think it depends on the group. For example, I don’t think “psychoanalyze as you wish” would work very well in a group of middle school aged girls. For a group of experienced rationalists, I’d be more optimistic.
For groups like rationalists where it’s more plausible to work, I’m having trouble thinking about guidelines for when it is and when it isn’t ok to psychoanalyze. Maybe “use your judgement” would be fine?
I do really like the idea though of it being a norm eg. in rationalist circles to not get touchy about bad faith accusations. But in other circles I could see touchiness being a useful norm, although I’m not sure. Chesterton’s Fence and Memetic Immune Systems seem like things to keep in mind there.
Hm. Interesting topic.
It sounds like in this post, you’re mostly taking a sort of God’s Eye perspective on the problem. Like, if you could look down and set group norms with respect to bad faith, what norms would you set?
This is a different question from the question of what to do in everyday life. I think in everyday life, accusing people of acting in bad faith is almost always going to be a bad idea. For starters, I think most people believe “bad faith” means “with ill intent” (I did before reading this post). So you’d have to start by clarifying that you are talking about something different. But still, after doing so, I think the result is likely to be a) the conversation devolves and b) you stir up animosity with the other person. Something more How To Win Friends And Influence People style seems wiser.
On the other hand, in talking to people whom you’re very close to, I could see it being fruitful sometimes. But even then, I suspect it’d be best to not bring it up in the midst of the current conversation, and instead bring it up eg. the next day as a separate conversation. Like, “Hey, remember that conversation we had yesterday? I was a little unhappy with something. Mind if we talk about it?”
As for the God’s Eye perspective, one thing is that I think it depends on the group. For example, I don’t think “psychoanalyze as you wish” would work very well in a group of middle school aged girls. For a group of experienced rationalists, I’d be more optimistic.
For groups like rationalists where it’s more plausible to work, I’m having trouble thinking about guidelines for when it is and when it isn’t ok to psychoanalyze. Maybe “use your judgement” would be fine?
I do really like the idea though of it being a norm eg. in rationalist circles to not get touchy about bad faith accusations. But in other circles I could see touchiness being a useful norm, although I’m not sure. Chesterton’s Fence and Memetic Immune Systems seem like things to keep in mind there.