www/philosophy devils-advocate.html

[Ineiev]

CVSROOT:        /web/www
Module name:    www
Changes by:     Ineiev <ineiev> 17/10/11 10:52:34

Removed files:
        philosophy     : devils-advocate.html 

Log message:
        Removing RT #1245188.

CVSWeb URLs:
http://web.cvs.savannah.gnu.org/viewcvs/www/philosophy/devils-advocate.html?cvsroot=www&r1=1.1&r2=0

Patches:
Index: devils-advocate.html
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RCS file: devils-advocate.html
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-<!--#include virtual="/server/header.html" -->
-<title>Devil's Advocate
-- GNU Project - Free Software Foundation</title>
-<!--#include virtual="/server/gnun/initial-translations-list.html" -->
-<!--#include virtual="/server/banner.html" -->
-<h2>Why the Devil's Advocate Doesn't Help Reach the Truth</h2>
-
-<p>by Richard Stallman</p>
-
-<p>Playing the devil's advocate means challenging a position by saying
-what a hypothetical adversary would say.  I encounter this frequently
-in interviews and question periods, and many people believe that this
-is a good way to put a controversial position to the test.  What it
-really does is put the controversial position at a disadvantage.</p>
-
-<p>There is an indirect way of playing the devil's advocate: to say,
-&ldquo;If I defended your position, how should I respond if someone said
-XYZ?&rdquo;  This is less unfriendly than the ordinary devil's advocate,
-who would simply say XYZ, but has the same effect.</p>
-
-<p>Cunning adversaries try intentionally to obstruct thoughtful
-consideration of a position they oppose.  My cunning and unscrupulous
-adversary (the &ldquo;devil,&rdquo; let us say) would not want my views
-to get a proper hearing, especially if the devil thinks they are valid
-and people might agree with them.  The best way to prevent that is to
-block me from making them understood.</p>
-
-<p>The devil achieves that by twisting my words: presenting a misleading
-context in which my words appear to mean something other than what I
-intended.  If this succeeds, it will confuse the audience and distract
-it from the issue, in effect preventing it from being properly raised.
-If this makes my words appear to mean something that the audience will
-condemn, and which nobody present is really in favor of, I may need a
-long explanation to get back on track.  There may not be time for
-this, or the audience might lose focus.</p>
-
-<p>If I succeed in overcoming the first misunderstanding, the cunning
-adversary would spring another, and another.  If the adversary is
-better at verbal fencing than I am, I might never get my point across.
-If the stress makes me heated and I have trouble speaking clearly, the
-adversary will count that a success.  It matters little to the devil
-whether it is my position that is vanquished or only me personally, as
-long the audience rejects my views.</p>
-
-<p>If you are not a real &ldquo;devil,&rdquo; only playing the devil's
-advocate, you would not really wish to prevent me from presenting the
-intended point.  But you may prevent it without intending to.  Playing
-the devil's advocate means you act hostile even though you don't feel
-hostility.  Once you decide to say what an adversary would say, you
-are likely to do the job as well as you can, by imitating the toughest
-adversary you can imagine: the cunning and unscrupulous one, whose
-goal is to oppose rather than to get at the truth.</p>
-
-<p>If you know what such adversaries have said to me, or if you are
-skilled at imagining them, you would say the same things they do.
-These statements could distract the audience and block consideration
-of the issue, just as if a real adversary had said them.  But if you
-are not really my adversary, that result may not be what you really
-want.  If your goal was to shed light on the issue, your approach will
-have backfired.</p>
-
-<p>What I say on many issues goes against the establishment position, and
-I don't expect people to agree with me without considering the issue
-thoroughly, including the counterarguments.  Indeed, it would be
-almost impossible for anyone to avoid considering the establishment's
-arguments, since everyone knows them by heart.  To judge what is right
-requires getting to the bottom of the issue.</p>
-
-<p>The kind of questions that help get to the bottom of an issue are not
-those that a cunning and unscrupulous adversary would pose, but rather
-those of a thoughtful person who has not made up per mind.  They
-are questions that pare apart the aspects of the issue, so one can see
-the various possible positions on each aspect, what they imply, and
-how they relate.  Very different from playing devil's advocate.</p>
-
-<p>Thus, instead of trying to play the devil's advocate, I suggest
-that you adopt the goal of &ldquo;probing the issues.&rdquo;  And if
-you are asked how you would answer if someone else asked a hostile
-question, perhaps this essay is a good response.</p>
-
-</div><!-- for id="content", starts in the include above -->
-<!--#include virtual="/server/footer.html" -->
-<div id="footer">
-<div class="unprintable">
-
-<p>Please send general FSF &amp; GNU inquiries to
-<a href="mailto:address@hidden";>&lt;address@hidden&gt;</a>.
-There are also <a href="/contact/">other ways to contact</a>
-the FSF.  Broken links and other corrections or suggestions can be sent
-to <a href="mailto:address@hidden";>&lt;address@hidden&gt;</a>.</p>
-
-<p><!-- TRANSLATORS: Ignore the original text in this paragraph,
-        replace it with the translation of these two:
-
-        We work hard and do our best to provide accurate, good quality
-        translations.  However, we are not exempt from imperfection.
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-
-        <p>For information on coordinating and submitting translations of
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-        href="/server/standards/README.translations.html">Translations
-        README</a>. -->
-Please see the <a
-href="/server/standards/README.translations.html">Translations
-README</a> for information on coordinating and submitting translations
-of this article.</p>
-</div>
-
-<!-- Regarding copyright, in general, standalone pages (as opposed to
-     files generated as part of manuals) on the GNU web server should
-     be under CC BY-ND 4.0.  Please do NOT change or remove this
-     without talking with the webmasters or licensing team first.
-     Please make sure the copyright date is consistent with the
-     document.  For web pages, it is ok to list just the latest year the
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-     
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-     There is more detail about copyright years in the GNU Maintainers
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-
-<p>Copyright &copy; 2017 2012, 2017 Richard Stallman</p>
-
-<p>This page is licensed under a <a rel="license"
-href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nd/4.0/";>Creative
-Commons Attribution-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License</a>.</p>
-
-<!--#include virtual="/server/bottom-notes.html" -->
-
-<p class="unprintable">Updated:
-<!-- timestamp start -->
-$Date: 2017/10/11 14:50:27 $
-<!-- timestamp end -->
-</p>
-</div>
-</div>
-</body>
-</html>