(May 29, 2022 at 9:54 am)chiknsld Wrote:

(May 29, 2022 at 9:24 am)Helios Wrote: 1. I'm not echoing anything I'm simply pointing out  Jehanne is right as the opinions of a group of random non experts in a forum mean little to the current state of academic discourse. It's unlikely anybody here will be figuring out any novel revelations about life the universe and everything. 

2. Then make it more obviously rhetorical

3. Nope you can believe your opponent's positions are utter garbage but still converse with them for the LOLs or attempt to show them that their opinions are utter garbage so hopefully they adopt some better ones.

Appeal to authority much? So the only people that can prove anything in life are at Harvard I suppose? Did you know that people in academia were at one time just a regular person? They might have even scoured the internet -mind-blowing eh?

I mean, there is not really an opinion that is utter garbage lol. Even someone who espouses the most deplorable opinions are still possibly worth listening to. And I am not talking about some sort of social deviant that is trying to waste your time. I'm talking about someone who has a legitimate reasoning for their opinion and is having a conversation with you. It may be possible that you are wrong even if you disagree and this at the very least makes it worth listening to what they have to say. At a certain point, just as long as both sides are reasonable, some sort of common ground should be possible or at least there should be an appreciation for the conversation itself and for the willingness of both sides to reciprocate an honest, fair, and approachable assessment of each others ideas.

This may of course be too much to ask of the social deviant though. The persons who have hidden agendas, malicious intentions, etc. Someone with a hidden agenda is not interested in proper discourse.

(May 29, 2022 at 8:37 am)chiknsld Wrote:

(May 29, 2022 at 7:56 am)Jehanne Wrote: None of us are authorities; does it really matter what any of us think? 

Of course it matters what we think. Why even have a conversation if you have no respect for the opinions of the people you are conversing with? Even if I disagree with people, I always take their opinion into consideration because it's always possible that I am wrong.

(May 29, 2022 at 10:07 am)Helios Wrote:

(May 29, 2022 at 9:54 am)chiknsld Wrote: Appeal to authority much? So the only people that can prove anything in life are at Harvard I suppose? Did you know that people in academia were at one time just a regular person? They might have even scoured the internet -mind-blowing eh?

I mean, there is not really an opinion that is utter garbage lol. Even someone who espouses the most deplorable opinions are still possibly worth listening to. And I am not talking about some sort of social deviant that is trying to waste your time. I'm talking about someone who has a legitimate reasoning for their opinion and is having a conversation with you. It may be possible that you are wrong even if you disagree and this at the very least makes it worth listening to what they have to say. At a certain point, just as long as both sides are reasonable, some sort of common ground should be possible or at least there should be an appreciation for the conversation itself and for the willingness of both sides to reciprocate an honest, fair, and approachable assessment of each others ideas.

This may of course be too much to ask of the social deviant though. The persons who have hidden agendas, malicious intentions, etc. Someone with a hidden agenda is not interested in proper discourse.

1. Pointing out that no one here's an expert or is likely to solve any questions of the universe is not an appeal to authority it's having a sense of humility.

2. Yes there are opinions that are utter garbage but I never said don't listen to them in fact explicitly said the opposite. Honesty or lack of has no bearing on the quality of an opinion. Someone can dishonestly hold a correct position and honestly hold a completely nonsensical one.

(May 29, 2022 at 10:07 am)Jehanne Wrote:

(May 29, 2022 at 8:37 am)chiknsld Wrote: Of course it matters what we think. Why even have a conversation if you have no respect for the opinions of the people you are conversing with? Even if I disagree with people, I always take their opinion into consideration because it's always possible that I am wrong.

Don't view most of as being authorities, unless we are citing (even implicitly) authorities in support of our positions.  Board members, such as Polymath, are, of course, an exception, but, then again, no one can speak with absolute authority, the exception being the unanimous consensus of a scholarly community on some issue, but, then again, history has shown such consensus to be at times fallible.

Scientific truths are contingent truths, testable and correctable.

(May 29, 2022 at 10:57 am)The Grand Nudger Wrote: More or less strange than a god?

(May 29, 2022 at 10:52 am)chiknsld Wrote:

(May 29, 2022 at 10:07 am)Helios Wrote: 1. Pointing out that no one here's an expert or is likely to solve any questions of the universe is not an appeal to authority it's having a sense of humility.

2. Yes there are opinions that are utter garbage but I never said don't listen to them in fact explicitly said the opposite. Honesty or lack of has no bearing on the quality of an opinion. Someone can dishonestly hold a correct position and honestly hold a completely nonsensical one.

You've got a lot to learn.

Quote:Hmm, okay. Well then I suppose it does not matter what any of us here thinks.