Re: Why result to insults instead of reasoned arguements? Was: The wisdom of the object mentors

Alfredo,

> > I think your points about the validity or not of Robert et al, is
> > greatly reduced.
>
> Non sequitur. The validity of the points is independent to the insults.

The logical validity of an argument is independent of the number of insults you intersperse in it.

The effectiveness of the argument as a vehicle for convincing others, however, is very much dependent on whether it conforms to the norms of socially acceptable discourse.

When you insult people, you actively discourage them from listening to you. Worse, you discourage anyone else who's listening in - and who may have started out inclined to listen to you.

If the tone of a speaker's message is designed to close people's ears, then it's not very rational of the speaker to spend much effort on the information content of the message. When you're doing your best not to be listened to, you might as well be spouting nonsense.

It seems to me, then, that it's a safer bet to listen to people who are polite and respectful.

Laurent Received on Sat Jun 03 2006 - 22:28:14 CEST