Journeyman Philosopher

Recently I was reading an argument online in which an individual raised the question “Is it worth debating with the truly faithful?”

This is a wonderful question and I would love to discuss it.

I should mention the context of ‘truly faithful’ in this quote is meant to apply to blindly ignorant religious practitioners; the type that you find it impossible to reason with (IE “There is no truth but the bible, so why talk about anything else?). For the record, I feel, that truly faithful people realize that they make certain religious assumptions, and as so can partake in genuine intelligent dialogue.

However for the sake of argument let’s talk about close minded religious practitioners ones that take the stance “There is no truth but the bible, so why talk about anything else?”.

When you argue with these people, you’re more than likely going to get reason, logic, and argumentive prose shoved back in your face. They will spit at your words, while preaching their own. They argue on their terms with their rules (similar to the card game ‘I Win’ in Big Daddy). This stresses people out, which is understandable.

Personally I love arguing with these people, but not for the reason I love to argue with others. When I argue generally I do it in an attempt to find the truth, but when I argue with people whose goal is to simply convince me I attempt to find holes in their argument.

Think of it like practice for serious conversations. And if you’re lucky you may even convince them to examine their own reasoning later. Its very important to be flexible enough with yourself that you can be confident when arguing with these people and not to be overwhelmed with frustration.

Its all psychological, with chip after chip you can eventually breakdown that wall and learn something about yourself while doing it. I have had many of these experiences in my life, some with success and some without. However all were meaningful in terms of me understanding more and more about good argument and contradiction.

What do you think, or as well what experiences have you had that relate to these situations?

For the blog post that inspired me indirectly to write this click on this link .