Thinking about arguing

Came across this fascinating video about how one can think about arguments and prepare themselves to objectivily evaluate them. This one came via The Intepreter.

In this video Julia Galef from Measure of Doubt discusses some techniques that can help you think about the true meaning behind argumentation, herself arguing that the process should be more about striving towards having true beliefs rather than ‘winning’. She discusses argumentation as collaboration rather than combat, encouraging one to try visualise the process as seperate from ones own body or ego. Other techniques she discusses include:

• Visualising being wrong.
• Taking a long view – thinking about conceding points like putting something in the bank.
• Congratulate yourself on being objective.
• Redirecting competitive instinct – think about your opponents arguments as one that you can use later yourself.
• Visualising a frustrating argument as one coming from someone you’re friendly with.