Comment by bsder
10 years ago
The problem is that you shouldn't intrinsically believe arguments, at all.
You should believe facts. You should believe logical inference from facts.
You should believe arguments insofar as they corroborate or refute facts.
And, if an argument can't be tested, it's not a very good argument.
Lol. And what precisely is a fact, but an argument about the state of the world being a specific way?
> And what precisely is a fact, but an argument about the state of the world being a specific way?
Thankfully not. A "fact" is something that can be measured in such a way that even if you are totally antagonistic to my arguments, we will get the same result.
Now your "argument" may attempt to prove the irrelevancy or inadequacy of my facts, but the facts themselves should be unfudgeable.
The problem is that it is far far too expensive to rigorously verify all the facts one hears. So in practice humans need to rely on the trustworthiness of the person or institution saying them.
Here is the difference:
If you try to replicate a fact, you'll succeed If you try to disprove a fact, you'll fail If you find rebuttles to a fact, they'll be hollow
The only thing in the obvious list that doesn't separate a fact from a non-fact is the arguments in support. Hence why scientists are taught not to care for arguments in support, only research, and then specifically arguments that disprove more than those that prove.
Indeed, a good argument, and a logical inference from facts, should be one and the same thing.
Not buying it.