Philosophy, et cetera 2008-05-22

Judging People

To quote Sebastian out of context:I don't know if you've ever noticed people fighting, but when they are both screaming at each other you tend to dismiss them both regardless of the merits. When one appears to be acting reasonable you tend to side with them just a touch (even if on the merits they aren't as grounded).I'm sure this is true (as a general tendency), but it seems kind of unfortunate. I've noted before that it's easier to seem reasonable than to actually be reasonable, i.e. to aptly judge issues on their merits. Further, if we tend to think badly of others for being negative, no matter how warranted their criticisms might be, that creates an unfortunate incentive against critical thought. Negativity is entirely appropriate in response to substantive flaws:[According to popular subjectivism:] Criticism is mean and nasty, something ...

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