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January 30, 2005
Agreement and Disagreement
Gerald Dworkin:
January 30, 2005
The film director Bertolucci once said that one can only
disagree with those with whom one basically agrees. This is an interesting idea and I would like
to explore what might be meant by this.
(1) Argument
is only useful if there are common premises that both parties share.
This might seem to be a truism;
actually it is false. It is possible to
argue ad hominem, i.e. showing an opponent that from premises he
accepts, although I do not, one gets a contradiction. Thus he must give up at least one of his views.
This, of course, does not show the view he abandons is false. Just that he has
no grounds for holding it.
Even if there are shared premises,
and one shows that from those premises an opponent must come to accept my
views, this does not show that my views are correct. The common premises may be false.
What is correct about (1) is that
I can only convince (rationally) an opponent of the truth of my view – and the
falsity of his—if we share true premises. But while this is necessary it is not sufficient. We must also share methods of argument. Starting from shared true premises but not
accepting shared methods of argument will not get us anywhere either.
(2) Disagreement
is only possible with those who share a common world, or a common sensibility,
or a common body of knowledge
I don’t disagree
with a two-year old about the merits of inflation-indexed bonds. I don’t disagree with someone who thinks it
would be a good idea to introduce a knightly code of honor for a fraternity on
my campus. To borrow an example from
Posner’s recent blogging, I don’t disagree with someone who believes in God;
rather God doesn’t exist for me. He
plays no role in my life.
(3) Moral
disagreement is only possible when there are shared responses.
“But I'm damned if I can say—to someone who's seen House
of Flying Daggers and says, "so?"—why that movie is so
heart-stoppingly beautiful, any more than I could play you Maria Callas singing
"Vogliatemi bene, un bene piccolino" from Madame Butterfly
and persevere past an indifferent response.” Charles Taylor (movie critic for
Slate)
As an exercise
for the reader, look at this argument for the immorality of homosexuality. http://courseweb.stthomas.edu/kwkemp/Papers/HR.html
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