Often people take positions I agree with for reasons I think are wrong. Sometimes that's not a huge problem, but sometimes the ideological underpinning of their thesis seems so dangerous to me that I will take some component of the opposite side to try to argue them toward taking the position we agree on for better reasons.
Also often the world is really complicated and I can see good arguments for both sides of an issue, and even though I have made my own personal decision about the balancing of those good arguments, I still find it worthwhile to discuss the good arguments on the other side.
Also sometimes I take the wrong side because I'm uncertain of my position and I want to see if I can find better arguments.
But Judaism has a concept of machloket l'shem shamayim, argument for the sake of heaven, which is all about using argument as a constructive tool to build relationships and strengthen knowledge rather than to engender pointless conflict.
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timeasmymeasure
no subject
Date: 1/11/21 12:47 am (UTC)Also often the world is really complicated and I can see good arguments for both sides of an issue, and even though I have made my own personal decision about the balancing of those good arguments, I still find it worthwhile to discuss the good arguments on the other side.
Also sometimes I take the wrong side because I'm uncertain of my position and I want to see if I can find better arguments.
But Judaism has a concept of machloket l'shem shamayim, argument for the sake of heaven, which is all about using argument as a constructive tool to build relationships and strengthen knowledge rather than to engender pointless conflict.