If you think about your role in an argument as attempting to revise your counterparty's beliefs, steps 1-3 represent an agreed on prior, and step 4 represents i

If you think about your role in an argument as attempting to revise your counterparty's beliefs, steps 1-3 represent an agreed on prior, and step 4 represents introduction of new evidence which you hope to be persuasive. As well, a key piece of this Dennett process is demonstrating to your counterparty that you are listening and that you have heard them - so that there is a better chance that they will listen to you. The scientfic process creates a frame for this kind of dialog. A polarized political process annihilates the frame, so that whatever you say does not matter relative to what I think. Kindness begins and ends with the act of listening.