Note also that they may be taking positions which are selected for being easy to argue—they’re the ones they were convinced by, of course. Whether you think that has correlation with truth is up to you—I think so, but it’s not a perfect enough correlation for it to be enough.
I don’t know exactly what you mean by “acceding” to a position in a discussion—if you find the arguments strong, you should probably acknowledge that—this isn’t a battle, it’s a discussion. If you don’t find yourself actually convinced, you should state that too, even if your points of disagreement are somewhat illegible to yourself (intuition). And, of course, if you later figure out why you disagree, you can re-open the discussion next time it’s appropriate.
Note also that they may be taking positions which are selected for being easy to argue—they’re the ones they were convinced by, of course. Whether you think that has correlation with truth is up to you—I think so, but it’s not a perfect enough correlation for it to be enough.
I don’t know exactly what you mean by “acceding” to a position in a discussion—if you find the arguments strong, you should probably acknowledge that—this isn’t a battle, it’s a discussion. If you don’t find yourself actually convinced, you should state that too, even if your points of disagreement are somewhat illegible to yourself (intuition). And, of course, if you later figure out why you disagree, you can re-open the discussion next time it’s appropriate.