So what you’re saying is, I should signal that my arguments are worth listening to because it is me who is saying them and I am “awesome”, rather than because they themselves are compelling?
Y’know what, it makes no sense whatsoever in a logical sense, but psychologically it does make a lot of sense. One person said that people don’t convert to Religions, that compel them with Truth, they convert to Prophets, who compel them with charisma.
Not quite. I’m saying that the purpose of disagreeing and trying to convince people of things, from an evolutionary sense, is usually to signal to others (or yourself) that you are wise. It’s dressing like a winner: smart people actually do sometimes disagree with others because they have some wise, compelling reason to believe otherwise, so openly and aggressively disagreeing is an easy way to signal “I’m smart!”. Smart people themselves often get caught up in this (If you’ve read HP:MoR, Dumbledore represents what I’m saying pretty well).
My point wasn’t to say that, if you argue from your own authority instead of facts, you’ll be more successful (even if a dogmatically religious person may be more receptive to that). My point was that the actual purpose of aggressively trying to convince someone they’re wrong isn’t to convince them they’re wrong, but instead to try to convince everyone else involved that you’re wise, even if you aren’t aware of your underlying motives. Think of it this way: how often does trying to convince a typical person that they’re wrong, using facts and reasoning and observations, actually work? Basically never, in my experience, unless you’re working with a reasonably rational person who’s mutually perceived as a part of your group.
Signalling what exactly? “Wisdom”?
Basically, yeah. Intelligence, maturity, realism, various things you’d associate with wisdom.
So what you’re saying is, I should signal that my arguments are worth listening to because it is me who is saying them and I am “awesome”, rather than because they themselves are compelling?
Y’know what, it makes no sense whatsoever in a logical sense, but psychologically it does make a lot of sense. One person said that people don’t convert to Religions, that compel them with Truth, they convert to Prophets, who compel them with charisma.
Not quite. I’m saying that the purpose of disagreeing and trying to convince people of things, from an evolutionary sense, is usually to signal to others (or yourself) that you are wise. It’s dressing like a winner: smart people actually do sometimes disagree with others because they have some wise, compelling reason to believe otherwise, so openly and aggressively disagreeing is an easy way to signal “I’m smart!”. Smart people themselves often get caught up in this (If you’ve read HP:MoR, Dumbledore represents what I’m saying pretty well).
My point wasn’t to say that, if you argue from your own authority instead of facts, you’ll be more successful (even if a dogmatically religious person may be more receptive to that). My point was that the actual purpose of aggressively trying to convince someone they’re wrong isn’t to convince them they’re wrong, but instead to try to convince everyone else involved that you’re wise, even if you aren’t aware of your underlying motives. Think of it this way: how often does trying to convince a typical person that they’re wrong, using facts and reasoning and observations, actually work? Basically never, in my experience, unless you’re working with a reasonably rational person who’s mutually perceived as a part of your group.