What I mean is just to give your opponent the best possible position reasonably consistent with his or her assertions. In other words, be charitable. The reason is that if you knock down a weak version of your opponent’s thesis, you leave the stronger versions on the table. Why not knock them all down by taking on the strongest possible version of your opponent’s thesis?
Moreover, I wouldn’t call the overfitted soul theory “best” and the ordinary beliefs “confused”; this creates impression that theology clears up confusion of folk religion. My opinion is that theology only replaces simple confusion with elaborate confusion of greater magnitude.
Those are not incompatible. A soul theory could be the best of its kind and still be a worthless pile of confusion. My point, again, is just to give the opponent the best shot possible at being right (without, of course, just making him or her a physicalist).
What I mean is just to give your opponent the best possible position reasonably consistent with his or her assertions. In other words, be charitable. The reason is that if you knock down a weak version of your opponent’s thesis, you leave the stronger versions on the table. Why not knock them all down by taking on the strongest possible version of your opponent’s thesis?
Those are not incompatible. A soul theory could be the best of its kind and still be a worthless pile of confusion. My point, again, is just to give the opponent the best shot possible at being right (without, of course, just making him or her a physicalist).