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I propose the following razor: Never attribute to jealousy that which can be explained by a difference of perspective. Jealousy can explain any criticism of a
by maxbond 2y ago
I propose the following razor:
Never attribute to jealousy that which can be explained by a difference of perspective.
Jealousy can explain any criticism of anybody. That makes it an epistemic hazard; you can always fall back to it, and you can develop a habit of doing so. And then you have deafened yourself. Any substantive criticisms will be lost on you. As will any opportunity to learn from those you disagree with. Your ideas will be hot house flowers, comfortable and safe in their controlled environment, but unable to contend in the wild. Aspire to weeds.
- z7 2y agoThat would be tautological, as 'difference of perspective' is a restatement of the phenomenon at a higher level of abstraction. Someone who is resentful will likely have a different perspective than they would otherwise have. Psychological motives are real and don't disappear by simply assuming a variant of a problem-solving heuristic. Notice also I didn't use the word 'jealousy.' I do think that speculations about psychological motives should be made only after careful consideration and generally remain unprovable. However, the uncertainty of psychological motives shouldn't prevent us from ever addressing them.
- maxbond 2y agoYou can use whatever high minded references to philosophy and psychology you please, but from what I've read from you in this thread - you're missing the point. You aren't understanding the criticism, and you're addressing the weakest form of the argument. I'm suggesting you aspire to address the strongest form, whether the weakest is present or not. If you choose to do nothing with that information, that's up to you.