Not owning our beliefs

post by Alex Flint (alexflint) · 2011-02-15T15:02:44.137Z · LW · GW · Legacy · 4 comments

Contents

4 comments

Julian Baggini argues that we might be more willing to judge our beliefs objectively if we avoid thinking of them as "our own". I hadn't thought before about explicitly distancing myself from my beliefs in this sense.

4 comments

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comment by komponisto · 2011-02-15T17:30:02.542Z · LW(p) · GW(p)

Related: Cached Selves.

Replies from: Document
comment by David_Gerard · 2011-02-15T15:48:56.603Z · LW(p) · GW(p)

Some practical examples would be very useful.

Replies from: Perplexed
comment by Perplexed · 2011-02-15T22:45:15.377Z · LW(p) · GW(p)

I used to participate in talk.origins - a creation vs evolution forum. For reasons which now escape me, I took a moderate creationist position in a mock debate for a few days. Though that exercise did not produce enough 'distance' to convert me, I discovered that, for months thereafter, I was noticing minor flaws in evolutionist arguments that I had never noticed before.

It might prove to be an interesting exercise if one of the giants here - Eliezer, or Anna, or Wei Dai - were to try to argue against one of the LW orthodox positions under the guise of a sock puppet. It could be a good test of how well us lesser folk understand the justification for the positions we hold. And, it might be a useful stretching exercise for the 'giant'.