Daniel Dennett’s Proposal on How to Disagree

Daniel Dennett’s recipe for a successful critical commentary:

1. You should attempt to re-express your target’s position so clearly, vividly, and fairly that your target says, “Thanks, I wish I’d thought of putting it that way.”
2. You should list any points of agreement (especially if they are not matters of general or widespread agreement).
3. You should mention anything you have learned from your target.
4. Only then are you permitted to say so much as a word of rebuttal or criticism.

Notice the total absence of ad hominem attacks. That’s good, because I listen to many sorts of people, all of them flawed human beings like me. Every day I sort through this batch of conflicting information to try to make sense of things. Some of the people I highly trust sometimes fall off the rails. Some of the people I mostly don’t trust sometimes say things that make sense. I work very hard to avoid the Manichean trap of dividing people into “good” people and “bad” people.

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Erich Vieth

Erich Vieth is an attorney focusing on civil rights (including First Amendment), consumer law litigation and appellate practice. At this website often writes about censorship, corporate news media corruption and cognitive science. He is also a working musician, artist and a writer, having founded Dangerous Intersection in 2006. Erich lives in St. Louis, Missouri with his two daughters.

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