On Mon, Dec 04, 2000 at 11:31:51PM -0500, Ben Collins wrote:
> > No, you shouldn't hide your opinions just because they're insulting. You
> > should hide them because you're wrong.
>
> Opinions by definition are neither right nor wrong. So I conceded that I
> cannot argue with you since you have no clue how to intelligently carry on
> a debate.
This is one of the more annoying logic mistakes people make. The
statement "I believe that X is true." is most likely true, since
presumably the speaker is not decieving us. But when someone says no,
that's wrong, they ussually aren't refering to that statement, but to
the proposition X, which does have either truth or falsehood.
Note that there are no declarative statements that are neither right
nor wrong (barring various exceptions unimportant here). Such a
statement would be meaningless.
So, in a nutshell, what John is saying is that he feels that you hold
to be true statements which are false. And, to continue this
unnecssarily, that statement is unlikely to be false (unless he
secretly agrees with you), but it makes a claim which may well be
false.
We now return to flaming.
sam th
sam@uchicago.edu
http://www.abisource.com/~sam/
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