Quote:
Originally Posted by amgoforth
That is not very polite. Most of us hold strong viewpoints on some of these issues, and dialog can be very helpful and illuminating. Personal attacks are unnecessary!  |
Huh? the point RM made was that saying "These are facts" when in fact they come right from your thumb, and then make an argument based on those "facts" is misleading, especially if the entire subsequent discussion takes those "facts" as true, and reasons from there. What results is a pointless discussion, as it wasn't about anything real.
The whole point of conversing in dialogue form is that you're supposed to be able to trust at least to some degree the people you're having the conversation with, as arguing about something (while trying to convince the other) is only useful insofar as it refers to and makes use of "true" (or at least verifiable) things/statements/'what have you'. If you're saying all kinds of things that aren't true in order to "win" an argument you're just being a lawyer/rhetorician, not a conversation partner.