I just want to be right all the time.
I was arguing with a friend once, and in frustration he said "Your problem is that you argue just because you just want to be right all the time." And he is correct. I just want to be right all the time. As often as possible, I'd like to have as clear an idea as possible about what's really going on, even if that means revising my opinion.
I believe that beyond reasonable differences in personal experience and value judgement there is a single objective reality that we all share. I want to be right all the time, or at least as much as possible, about the nature of that reality. Even if being 'right' means figuring out that I've been wrong and changing my mind so that now I can be right.
If I'm arguing a position to you it's because I think that position is right. But it doesn't mean I know it's right. It could be wrong, which is why I try to have discussions not debates. When I say "B is true" I'm really trying to say "Evidence A indicates to me that B is true. You don't seem to think that B is true. How do you explain A, then?" Maybe you think B is wrong because there's something I should know about A.
I pursue these arguments because I know I might be wrong, and I really don't want to be wrong. I just want to be right all the time. Even if it means realizing how wrong I've been and changing my mind so that I can be right all the time. Because if there's one thing that I believe even more than my correctness it's that I can't change the nature of objective reality simply by repeating a claim about it. Accepting that I've been wrong and changing my mind might be difficult and take longer than it should. I am human and change is sometimes painful, as Carl Sagan said. But changing my mind to a more correct view is infinitely better in the long run, especially for someone like me who just wants to be right all the time.
Update: followup here.
I believe that beyond reasonable differences in personal experience and value judgement there is a single objective reality that we all share. I want to be right all the time, or at least as much as possible, about the nature of that reality. Even if being 'right' means figuring out that I've been wrong and changing my mind so that now I can be right.
If I'm arguing a position to you it's because I think that position is right. But it doesn't mean I know it's right. It could be wrong, which is why I try to have discussions not debates. When I say "B is true" I'm really trying to say "Evidence A indicates to me that B is true. You don't seem to think that B is true. How do you explain A, then?" Maybe you think B is wrong because there's something I should know about A.
I pursue these arguments because I know I might be wrong, and I really don't want to be wrong. I just want to be right all the time. Even if it means realizing how wrong I've been and changing my mind so that I can be right all the time. Because if there's one thing that I believe even more than my correctness it's that I can't change the nature of objective reality simply by repeating a claim about it. Accepting that I've been wrong and changing my mind might be difficult and take longer than it should. I am human and change is sometimes painful, as Carl Sagan said. But changing my mind to a more correct view is infinitely better in the long run, especially for someone like me who just wants to be right all the time.
Update: followup here.