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Exactly. The way I think about it is that logic is a wonderful tool for ensuring your beliefs are consistent and helping you implement them effectively, but it'
by wilg 8y ago
Exactly. The way I think about it is that logic is a wonderful tool for ensuring your beliefs are consistent and helping you implement them effectively, but it's incapable of determining what those views should be.
Put another way, you can only have a logical argument with someone who already agrees with your beliefs.
- TeMPOraL 8y ago> Put another way, you can only have a logical argument with someone who already agrees with your beliefs. Technically true, but that's an easy (and all too frequently used) way to dismiss other people's arguments and keep believing whatever you want. It's very unlikely that any real-world policy question is a question about your fundamental value. You most likely don't value marijuana intrinsically. The future of a river dam is probably not the real center of your morality. Rational reasoning is useful to illuminate connection between the subject of an argument and your moral values. A connection that usually is pretty complex, and allows for honest and patient enough people to reach the same conclusion given the same knowledge about the problem.
- wilg 8y agoI agree with you that it shouldn't be used to dismiss arguments, but I do think most contentious policy issues boil down to to fundamental values.