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"Just as an intellectual exercise..."
Nov. 14th, 2017 07:36 pmThe words "just as an intellectual exercise" have something of a bad reputation in social justice circles, these days. This is understandable given that one of the most common types of intellectual exercise is that of playing devil's advocate.
Still, I confess I rather like a little intellectual exercise, now and again. It seems to me that the biggest problem with the devil's many advocates, in fact, is that they're forcing an unwelcome intellectual exercise onto other people. This is frequently accompanied by a number of false assumptions, such as "If you don't engage with this exercise, you're effectively conceding the argument."
There's a rationalist viewpoint that I don't agree with that basically says that you ought to be always on the mark, ready to defend any aspect of your worldview, at any time, against all comers. It's not a good way to live, if you ask me. Truly questioning your entire worldview is a surprisingly difficult thing to do. Rather than asking everyone to always be ready to do it, I think it would be better if we let people decide for themselves when they're up for that, and when they're not. It's a good thing to do, yes, but it's better to do it a few times, and carefully, than to do it all the time, and sloppily. This is particularly true for emotional and painful subjects.
So that's my response to those who advocate for the devil and want me to play along. Conveniently, it still allows me to engage in whatever intellectual exercises I want, when I want. And sometimes I will! But if you see me, on this blog, engaging in an intellectual exercise that you, yourself, would rather not engage in, then please know that I won't think less of you for disengaging.
Still, I confess I rather like a little intellectual exercise, now and again. It seems to me that the biggest problem with the devil's many advocates, in fact, is that they're forcing an unwelcome intellectual exercise onto other people. This is frequently accompanied by a number of false assumptions, such as "If you don't engage with this exercise, you're effectively conceding the argument."
There's a rationalist viewpoint that I don't agree with that basically says that you ought to be always on the mark, ready to defend any aspect of your worldview, at any time, against all comers. It's not a good way to live, if you ask me. Truly questioning your entire worldview is a surprisingly difficult thing to do. Rather than asking everyone to always be ready to do it, I think it would be better if we let people decide for themselves when they're up for that, and when they're not. It's a good thing to do, yes, but it's better to do it a few times, and carefully, than to do it all the time, and sloppily. This is particularly true for emotional and painful subjects.
So that's my response to those who advocate for the devil and want me to play along. Conveniently, it still allows me to engage in whatever intellectual exercises I want, when I want. And sometimes I will! But if you see me, on this blog, engaging in an intellectual exercise that you, yourself, would rather not engage in, then please know that I won't think less of you for disengaging.