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Preliminary Description of Rudeness

Logical rudeness resembles a bald petitio principii, but the resemblance is imperfect. Rude replies presuppose the truth of the theory being rudely defended, like a petitio. But rudeness is usually a defensive weapon only. It is a form of self-defense that turns away all objections, or at least all objections of a certain kind. Unlike a petitio, it does not purport to justify a conclusion or belief; it purports to justify believers in disregarding criticism of their beliefs as if such criticism were inapplicable, irrelevant, or symptomatic of error. This is not self-justification in the manner of a petitio, in which assumed premises can validly imply the disputed conclusion. It is self-justification for the human proponent of the conclusion, who finds a license, authority, or justification in his theory itself for refusing to answer objections. Its success at insulating the believer and the belief of which it is a part seems independent of the merits or truth-value of the theory. That is one of the rudest jolts. It strikes us that theories that are false or implausible could use a rude defense as well as true or plausible theories. For this reason we suspect that the license to brush off objections is not a sign of truth or even a supporting argument. It is a gimmick, a piece of insolence that "civilized" and "reasonable" people will not stoop to use.

A related reflexivity is the self-licensing of debating behavior by the theory being debated. Rudeness highlights the sense in which beliefs authorize believers to act in certain ways, solely by virtue of the content of the beliefs and the mechanics of good faith and loyalty. If I believe that fast talkers are usually liars, then that belief will guide my responses to a fast-talking critic. But this is merely a psychological or descriptive observation. Normatively, we tend to want it this way. We want people to have freedom of inquiry and belief; and when people come to conclusions, we want them to be free (within limits) to act accordingly. Such a free society is a society of self-licensed actors. If we respect freedom of conscience in our laws and in our own minds, then these self-licensed actors are genuinely licensed; what good faith belief authorizes, we believe, is authorized —at least until it conflicts with a higher rule. In cases of logical rudeness, belief in certain theories authorizes believers to be incredibly smug. Is this a price, or an abuse, of freedom?

If the consequences of a "bad" belief are intolerable to public order, we may deal with it through the criminal law, as when we prohibit polygamous marriages while permitting, indeed protecting, the freedom of Mormons to advocate the religious obligation to marry polygamously. But if the consequences of a rude belief are inimical only to conversation or reasoned persuasion with the believer, then how shall we deal with it? We cannot revoke or refute the believer's license to be rude, say, by converting him from his iniquitous faith, for a barrier of rudeness prevents our arguments from having any effect. As inquirers we may deal with the rude believer's belief without dealing with the rude believer; but we admit that this is to abandon a valuable practice that is valued for its contribution to inquiry —debate.



The most common form of rude theory is that which contains an explanation of error that fits certain kinds —perhaps all kinds— of critics and dissenters. The theory is especially rude, but also especially implausible, if it directly equates error and disagreement (more on this in Section 4). But it may more plausibly equate error with certain states of mind or symptoms of belief, when it (not accidentally) happens that these states characterize the doubters and disbelievers. In the second example in Section 1 above, which may be called the demon theory of error, Grobian easily applies his theory of error to Gerda. In that case it seems that he could as easily have refrained, and offered any evidence he possessed. But suppose he did offer evidence and it failed to persuade Gerda (which is the likely result). Then is it as apparent that he could refrain from his rude explanation of Gerda's failure to agree? A faithful believer of the demon theory of error must apply it to Gerda sooner or later, silently or aloud.

A recurring reflexive feature of logical rudeness is the application of a theory to the context of its own defense. This is unobjectionable if the theory's subject matter includes truth and falsehood, validity and invalidity, meaning and nonsense, or other parameters of debate or demonstration. In this way, rudeness hangs in the air most around theories about theorizing or meta-theories about meta-theorizing. But when the application of the theory to the context of its own defense justifies the theory's proponent in ignoring critics, then something objectionable has entered the picture. For example, a certain sort of disciple of Wittgenstein might put forth the theory that there is no such thing as mind as traditionally conceived, although there is a word "mind" that is used in certain ways. The theorist might also claim, more radically, that all questions of existence are meaningless or reducible to questions of word usage. A critic might begin by asserting that both of them have minds, and offer reasons or evidence. The proponent might deflect such criticism by saying, yes, the word "mind" is properly used as the critic has used it. All further criticism could be deflected in a similar way. The theorist clearly is applying her theory to its own proper subject matter, and is striving to preserve her theory's consistency and her own good faith as a believer in its truth. Yet these virtues add up to the vice of treating the critic rudely and disserving inquiry by leaving the critic unanswered.

If a philosopher had a nervous tick that was triggered every time inquiry threatened to interfere with belief, and if he (not coincidentally) held the theory that inquiry creates nervous anxiety, then we could not engage that philosopher on the merits of the anxiety theory of inquiry without causing him anxiety. This whimsical case is an easy way to raise a serious question: in the name of cooperative truth-seeking, can we expect believers to put aside their beliefs or compromise their loyalty?

Some theories do not obviously apply to the context of their debate. Grobian may believe p and add that all error is caused by the confusion brought about by pain. Gerda may object that pain-free inquirers may commit errors, and that pained inquirers may speak the truth. If Grobian is satisfied that Gerda is not suffering physical pain as she speaks, he will be obliged (by logical courtesy or erudition) to answer the objection as best he can. Logical rudeness is closed to him unless he can believe the objection is raised under the duress of pain; but in that case he is licensed by his beliefs to explain the objection away rather than answer it. When the theory on the defensive may or may not apply to the context of its own debate, further inquiry or bald presumptions are required before the proponent can defend it rudely.

The point of the examples so far is that rudeness follows from unobjectionable, even praiseworthy, features of believers and their beliefs. True as well as false theories, if believed true with good faith, will be applied to all relevant contexts and will not be compromised to salve the feelings of dissenters or to serve their ideas of inquiry. Even if the tenacious good faith that leads to this result is not praiseworthy (explored in Section 5), it might be found in a believer of a true theory. Because even true theories might be believed in this way, and perhaps ought to be, we cannot automatically infer falsehood from rudeness.

But if rudeness does not imply falsehood, how do we evaluate theories that are rudely defended? It seems that they cannot be debated, at least with their proponents. If we abandon debate and examine such theories in silence or apart from their proponents, we feel that we have abandoned a valuable practice, perhaps a practice indispensable to reliable inquiry. Moreover, we may feel that a negative judgment not tested in debate with the "defendants" will be rude in its own way. Finally, even in the isolated inquiry at our desks we may fail to get around the theory's rudeness if our method requires us to imagine and anser the likely responses of the good faith believer. Then we replicate in drama what we were spared in history.

Rudeness will be possible, as noted, for any theory that properly applies to virtually any aspect of debate or demonstration, such as the truth or knowability of theories, the validity of arguments, the meaning of statements, the sincerity of believers, or the methods of inquiry. This is disturbing because it shows that most philosophical theories will be capable of rudeness in this way. And note that this rudeness is "legitimate" in the sense that it is permitted by the content of the theory being defended and the good faith of the believer. It is not like telling critics to shut up, even though this too is always possible.

More generally as well as more precisely, a theory may be rude if it treats any sub-activity of theorizing or debating and identifies any sort of flaw, fallacy, foible, or fault that could justify a theorist in dismissing an objection as false, flawed, fallacious, irrelevant, or inapplicable. Call any such theory a theory of "justified dismissal". Examples are theories of error, illogic, or nonsense. To explain and evaluate rudeness we need not reach the question when dismissal is really justified. If a theory permits dismissal of competing theories when they are consistent with the writings of Karl Marx, or might lead to disrespect for law if generally affirmed, or are unintelligible to five year old children, then that theory can be rude whenever a critic's contending theory fits the fatal mold. Any attempt to judge the theory of justified dismissal could be deflected as just another attempt to pierce the shield of rudeness. Judging the theory of justified dismissal may be done, of course, but not in debate. If a believer dismisses theories that are consistent with Marxism, then an objection to that theory will probably be dismissed as consistent with Marxism. This kind of self-applicability arises not from praiseworthy good faith and consistency alone, but also from belief in a theory of justified dismissal.


Date: 2015-02-16; view: 662


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Logical Rudeness | But holding a theory of justified dismissal also seems harmless. In fact, in philosophy it is almost obligatory.
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