(July 6, 2013 at 7:10 pm)Koolay Wrote: Is it worth talking rationality to those who are irrational and clearly do not want to think rationally?
TLDR: No, you can not speak a language to someone that they don't already know.
Personally I have had no luck talking rationality to irrational people. I have found it to be the same as believing that your words of English will be understood of someone who knows only Mandarin- it will just be frustrating for both parties, since the language of reason is so far beyond non reason.
If someone clearly is not responding to reason and evidence, they are simply talking in emotional defence, so I think the best course of action is to ask them questions about what they are feeling when their belief in God or Government or whatever it is is being questioned. How was there childhood? Were they punished for rational thinking and questioning 'authority' figures? If so, it's probably no secret why they would be so defensive now, since rational thinking was always associated with parental hostility or beatings or being attacked by peers. That fight or flight mechanism comes when you ask them about the morality of their religion or government or whatever irrational belief they hold.
If someone's experience of curiosity and rational thinking was met by someone 10 times larger than them spanking them with a huge hand - it's no mystery why they feel fight or flight when their irrational beliefs are questioned.
And if they aren't willing to open up to you and talking about what they are feeling and why they might have those feelings and instead just lash out at you - I think the best course of action is to simply leave the conversation. Being a container for their poison is harmful to both parties, you do not want to enable bad behaviour under any circumstance. But if they are interested in talking to you about why they believe what they believe, and why they are uncomfortable with reason and evidence, I think you can actually have a productive conversation.
Let me put this simply, if Irrational people could be persuaded with rationality there would be no Irrational people.
And for the fun of it:
"Religion is regarded by the common people as true, by the wise as false, and by the rulers as useful" - Edward Gibbon (Offen misattributed to Lucius Annaeus Seneca or Seneca the Younger) (Thanks to apophenia for the correction)
'I am driven by two main philosophies:
Know more about the world than I knew yesterday and lessen the suffering of others. You'd be surprised how far that gets you' - Neil deGrasse Tyson
"Sometimes I wonder whether the world is being run by smart people who are putting us on or by imbeciles who really mean it." - Mark Twain
'I am driven by two main philosophies:
Know more about the world than I knew yesterday and lessen the suffering of others. You'd be surprised how far that gets you' - Neil deGrasse Tyson
"Sometimes I wonder whether the world is being run by smart people who are putting us on or by imbeciles who really mean it." - Mark Twain
