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This phrase bothers me. It's sort of a contradiction in terms: what does it mean to hold a "strong" opinion "loosely"? In my experience, those tend to be highl

This phrase bothers me. It's sort of a contradiction in terms: what does it mean to hold a "strong" opinion "loosely"? In my experience, those tend to be highly correlated. The people who have strong opinions hold them firmly, and the people who have weak opinions (or more charitably, for whom having opinions---whether strong or weak---is not important to their identity) are much more able to accept reality as it exists rather than as they'd like it to be. I think the phrase ends up getting used to justify arguing for things (opinions) passionately, but then (supposedly) being able to turn around when proven wrong. I say "supposedly" because again my experience is that this is more wishful thinking than reality, and that in practice the correlation I identified above holds the vast majority of the time. Does anyone else feel this way?

quickthrower2 4y ago
Since the best we can hope for for an opinion is evidence based, experience based and from deductive reasoning, and new evidence and experience is always being uncovered (in science and elsewhere) let alone the amount of material a person has been exposed to, you can have a strong opinion but be willing to change your mind if you see new evidence.
taeric 4y ago
I mean, you aren't wrong. But part of the point is that you should be accepting of feeling uncomfortable. That is, the contradictions are part of the point. Logic on few variables fails to capture life.
rrishi 4y ago
Holding an opinion in the present should not beholden one to guard it even when presented with evidence that may not have been available or evaluated when forming the opinion. That's what I take it to mean.
rgoulter 4y ago
"""In simpler terms, ‘strong opinions, weakly held’ sometimes becomes a license to hold on to a bad opinion strongly, with downside protection, against the spirit and intent of Saffo’s original framework.""" https://commoncog.com/strong-opinions-weakly-held-is-bad/ https://commoncog.com/strong-opinions-weakly-held-is-bad/

quickthrower2 4y ago

Since the best we can hope for for an opinion is evidence based, experience based and from deductive reasoning, and new evidence and experience is always being uncovered (in science and elsewhere) let alone the amount of material a person has been exposed to, you can have a strong opinion but be willing to change your mind if you see new evidence.

taeric 4y ago

I mean, you aren't wrong. But part of the point is that you should be accepting of feeling uncomfortable. That is, the contradictions are part of the point. Logic on few variables fails to capture life.

rrishi 4y ago

Holding an opinion in the present should not beholden one to guard it even when presented with evidence that may not have been available or evaluated when forming the opinion. That's what I take it to mean.

rgoulter 4y ago

"""In simpler terms, ‘strong opinions, weakly held’ sometimes becomes a license to hold on to a bad opinion strongly, with downside protection, against the spirit and intent of Saffo’s original framework.""" https://commoncog.com/strong-opinions-weakly-held-is-bad/ https://commoncog.com/strong-opinions-weakly-held-is-bad/