On Argument

I don't believe in facts. Throughout my schooling, English teachers, even science professors, frequently got annoyed with my insistence to write "I think", or "I believe", or "Apparently" in my arguments. According to them, this is implied. Unless otherwise stated, the text is always reflecting what I think: it's my text. It makes the writing weaker. The argument less persuasive.

Somehow, I have never been able to shake the feeling that there is a big difference between writing, "People are Stupid" and "I believe people are stupid". It the eyes or the reader, at least the latter comes with the admission that I might be wrong. I might be. People aren't stupid, they are very smart... this just lends itself to surprisingly dumb decisions and actions. I can say, "people are smart", without feeling like I need the I think in the beginning. Perhaps because I don't think people are smart, I know people are smart. I know with 99.9% confidence that compared to the other species on this planet, in our known universe, and by our own style of measurement, we are technically very intelligent. That's indisputable. Essentially. This doesn't change the fact that I, personally, also believe people to be magnificently stupid.

But that's just my theory. As such, I like to clarify that and qualify it. You, dear reader, are free to disagree with me and believe whatever you'd like. You might be more or less wrong than I am. I can't be sure. By implying the potential fallacy in an argument and being humble I feel more honest, which is more important to me than being persuasive. I wish this was true for most people. The world would be a little bit better place with more honesty.

It helps keep an argument or conversation alive. If I waltz into a disagreement by asserting my own theories as factual, it tends to encourage others to walk away from the dance. This doesn't mean I've 'won' any arguments; it only means I've lost my dance partner and I can no longer learn anything. It leaves the conversation open for a listening phase, which is a rather highly-rated thought under-utilized part of every discussion.

Often, the smartest people fall victim to this problem too often. Perhaps it is their own confidence in their own reasoning which couples easily with a low confidence in everyone else's reasoning. It's hard to remember all the time that we all believe in something that isn't true.