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" There’s a technique we use in our local rationalist cluster called “Is That
Your True Rejection?”, and it works like this: Before you stake your
argument on a point, ask yourself in advance what you would say if that
point were decisively refuted. Would you relinquish your previous
conclusion? Would you actually change your mind? If not, maybe that point
isn’t really the key issue. You should search instead for a sufficiently
important point, or collection of points, such that you would change your
mind about the conclusion if you changed your mind about the arguments.
It is, in our patois, “logically rude,” to ask someone else to painstakingly
refute points you don’t really care about yourself. "

Michael Shermer , Brain, Belief, and Politics (Cato Unbound Book 92011)


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Michael Shermer quote : There’s a technique we use in our local rationalist cluster called “Is That<br />Your True Rejection?”, and it works like this: Before you stake your<br />argument on a point, ask yourself in advance what you would say if that<br />point were decisively refuted. Would you relinquish your previous<br />conclusion? Would you actually change your mind? If not, maybe that point<br />isn’t really the key issue. You should search instead for a sufficiently<br />important point, or collection of points, such that you would change your<br />mind about the conclusion if you changed your mind about the arguments.<br />It is, in our patois, “logically rude,” to ask someone else to painstakingly<br />refute points you don’t really care about yourself.