RE: Advice needed: My philosophical position is destroying my relationships
September 10, 2009 at 2:16 pm
Thanks for your feedback Arcanus!
Just describing astrology as "archaic" would not have been totally honest of me. I don't believe that it's archaic. To me it's BS, plain and simple. Old and new BS is still BS. That's what I said, but I didn't express it sensitively enough.
However, I think your suggestion is quite helpful because it isn't as in-your-face, and is not untrue at the same time. My worry is not expressing myself honestly, but I think I should just do things like your example and not just start with my conclusions but ease them into them. She asked me if I believed in Astrology and instead of just saying "No, it's absolutely ridiculous", I should have softened the edges and started with "Well, you know the way you may have once been sure the tooth fairy was true?" or whatever. You are right that it smells of bigotry, and I am trying to found my claims on science. The scientific method never starts with conclusions, so neither should I in my arguments.
I believe I've found a good solution to my overall problem: I have read through these forums and several websites and watched debates online and have seen how good arguers defend their position without necessarily being insensitive or thought of as bigots. I'll continue to read these (as well as the religious retorts) and see how others have this conversation and attempt to emulate this in future.
Thanks for your help
Just describing astrology as "archaic" would not have been totally honest of me. I don't believe that it's archaic. To me it's BS, plain and simple. Old and new BS is still BS. That's what I said, but I didn't express it sensitively enough.
However, I think your suggestion is quite helpful because it isn't as in-your-face, and is not untrue at the same time. My worry is not expressing myself honestly, but I think I should just do things like your example and not just start with my conclusions but ease them into them. She asked me if I believed in Astrology and instead of just saying "No, it's absolutely ridiculous", I should have softened the edges and started with "Well, you know the way you may have once been sure the tooth fairy was true?" or whatever. You are right that it smells of bigotry, and I am trying to found my claims on science. The scientific method never starts with conclusions, so neither should I in my arguments.
I believe I've found a good solution to my overall problem: I have read through these forums and several websites and watched debates online and have seen how good arguers defend their position without necessarily being insensitive or thought of as bigots. I'll continue to read these (as well as the religious retorts) and see how others have this conversation and attempt to emulate this in future.
Thanks for your help
