How to Disagree

As well as having a hierarchy of disagreement it seems to me useful to have a categorisation of statements (both in original essays, and disagreements with those essays). Such a categorisation might include:

* [1] statements of how the world is. These are statements that can in principle be tested by experiment. e.g. "broken glass is good to eat"

* [2] statements of how one would like the world to be. These obviously can't be tested. e.g. "Everyone should like cats."

* [3] definitions of terms. Where people describe how they are defining a term they'll b e using for the rest of the essay.

It seems to me that with poorly-written arguments, it's often hard to decipher which category a particular statement belongs to; and i suspect in many cases the writer doesn't know either.

" A comment like The author is a self-important dilettante. is really nothing more than a pretentious version of "u r a fag."

Well, such a comment is only " a pretension version " if it is not true... and in fact becomes trenchant if, in fact, the respondent IS a self-important dilettante. Which would have bearing on whether or not to engage the person at all... I would not disagree with a person because I thought them a faq, mainly because I don't think a faq is either a bad thing or a thing relevant to many issues I would normally discuss. I would most likely not engage with someone if I thought they were a self-important dilettante, because I DO think that both self-importance and dilettantism is bad. Or, at least, I would say to them, "I think you are a self-important dilettante and I don't have hopes that the conversation will be either enlightening or productive. If we are to engage, you have to rise above your self importance."

Of course, the accusation of dilettantism might be as baseless and rude as that of 'u r a faq' and likewise deserving of scorn. But not always and dismissing it with equal scorn in every instance may be a way of avoiding scrutinizing your own sense of importance and the meaning of dilettantism.

Graham also elides a whole cateqory of 'disagreement' with the implicit assumption that everybody has something worthwhile to say and is therefor deserving of being engaged. "u r a fag" is neither agreement nor disagreement, but simple bad manners. "You are a self-important dilettante" might be a necessary thing to say, especially if the dilettante in question may be in possession of a good brain and otherwise discerning intellect (say on matters not bearing on his/her self-importance...) Intellectual endeavor is approached at with different skill sets, attitudes and skin thickness...

The style of argument you call "Ad Hominem" should really be called "Attacking the author's credibility". The original meaning of ad hominem was not attaching the author but rather appealing to the readers emotions rather than logic. Hence, "think of all the children who will starve due to biofuels", which contains the embedded assumption that biofuels will cause starvation but does not support that argument. In most cases attacks on the author's credibility are useful and valid, since the reader will tend to rely on evidence as presented. In addition, the motivation of the author is relevant since most people decide their position on an issue and then seek supporting evidence rather than surveying all of the evidence before making up their minds.

I was not dissing your essay, just giving more information. I agree with you that most intellectual dishonesty is unintentional, and that knowing these things is important in avoding them. I was just pointing that there are other sources to draw upon, as this subject is timeless. But your essay is a much easier read than Aristotle's treatise. :-)

Oh I wasn't worried about you getting it.

It was just that when I checked back in on this about half an hour later it had already been downmodded, and that just seemed really ironic to me. Glad someone is out there stomping DH3... I would be.