‘Always remember that to argue, and win, is to break down the reality of the person you are arguing against. It is painful to lose your reality, so be kind, even if you are right.’ Murakami quoted in this interesting post - via @briandavidearphttps://jamesclear.com/why-facts-dont-change-minds …
I'm not sure I understand your view. You believe that there are many genocidal monsters who are also homophobic, misogynistic, racist, and anti-semitic, who could be successfully dissuaded of their belief that genocide is not wrong, while leaving all those other beliefs intact?
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Then, having been persuaded of the wrongness of this one belief of theirs, somehow in isolation of all those other evil beliefs, the most morally productive next step (in, e.g., getting them to change those other evil views) would be to make sure not to be kind to them?
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You are focused only on what is productive, as if this were the alpha and omega of ethical conduct. It isn’t. Some reactions are morally justified, even if they are not themselves productive of better consequences than alternatives. /1
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I'm focused on what is productive because the article was about the pragmatics of belief formation and change (i.e., the context of this discussion), not because I was advancing a general moral theory by way of a tweet.
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And I’m focused on the “always remember” sentence quoted in the initial tweet. That sentence, as I see it, is false. The quicker we recognize its falsehood, the easier it becomes to move on to other matters. But sticking to a falsehood doesn’t help anything.
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The author of that quote was, pretty clearly, not advancing a general moral theory to be applied strictly via the universal qualifier to all situations. In any event,"Always remember" is modifying the "breaking down reality" claim; it is not clear it is modifying "be kind."
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And anyway, when someone is not writing a formal piece of philosophy but is rather trying to communicate a somewhat nuanced idea that might very well advance a more virtuous approach to disputation generally, it rather misses the mark to fire back "WHAT ABOUT X" claims.
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As far as I can tell, your view is that it's important to stress that, when arguing with a genocidal monster/racist/anti-semite, breaking down their worldview is good; the pain they may feel is morally irrelevant (or perhaps good?); and being unkind to them is justified. Yes?
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No, the pain is not morally irrelevant. Whether it is good or bad or neither depends on the situation. See, nuance. Not being kind can be justified, yes, especially when the abandoned belief is only one of a constellation of horrors.
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No, Brian. Please think. My view is that there are many people with a wide range of evil views. According to the hypothetical described in the original tweet, not my hypothetical, we are to imagine successfully convincing them that one of their views is mistaken. /1
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This is supposed to be so hard on them that we are then supposed to be kind, because they have lost their “reality”. I say that this is just not justified, in many cases that fit the original hypo. /2
End of conversation
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