Chaoticoli Posted January 14, 2013 Posted January 14, 2013 Hello. My name is Oliver. I am 18 years old and have been studying politics for 2-3 years now. At first, my favorite philosopher was Ron Paul. I used to believe that anarchy was simply impossible, thus, was not worth bothering with. I was a Minarchist for a long time. Now, I wish to explore anarchy and spark some interesting conversations about it. My Facebook page is:http://www.facebook.com/chaoticoliI use Facebook to discuss philosophy and try to openly challenge my own beliefs in a public forum. I find that if I am unable to comfortably express my opinions in front of my friends, how dare I safely present my opinions with people who have little concern for my well-being? I think that vulnerability and honesty go hand-in-hand. If you are unwilling to really show your true side and display your real intent, then you are most likely not worried about positive change, but rather, making sure you win your battles. I am always willing to admit that I am wrong. My views have changed drastically over the years and I hope that they continue to change (in accordance with reason). One thing I really want to work on is my arguing abilities. I find an issue I come across on Facebook when I argue is that I tend to not argue efficaciously. I will waste time trying to answer every what if question instead of sticking to the crucks of the matter. I hope that in this forum I will engage with others to help improve my logical abilities . Anyway, I am open to talking about anything which is remotely stimulating. Please, show me the ropes of the forum and make a man out of me!
Brandon Buck _BB_ Posted January 14, 2013 Posted January 14, 2013 Sir, you've arrived here a man, so the best we can do is help one another become better men.... and women. I can't help but reflect on how the past twenty six years would've gone had I been so open minded when I was your age. Welcome to the forum!
Drew. Posted January 15, 2013 Posted January 15, 2013 Hey Oliver, Welcome to the boards! Stef did some podcasts about logical fallacies in the 500's. It was 531 and 532 if you haven't already listened to them yet. But, I have a question. What do you hope to gain from arguing with people over facebook?
Chaoticoli Posted January 15, 2013 Author Posted January 15, 2013 I use Facebook to discuss philosophy and try to openly challenge my own beliefs in a public forum. I hope to change other people's minds and to question others into a logical corner where they logically can't disagree anymore. Facebook opens you up to a variety of new ideas. I hope that I evaluate a large amount of ideas in order to gain the best perspective. I have always believed that you can learn anything even from some of the most idiotic people out there. A goal of mine is to utilize every person in my community to my benefit. It's a win-win situation.
Drew. Posted January 15, 2013 Posted January 15, 2013 What has been your experience with people and logical arguments?
Chaoticoli Posted January 16, 2013 Author Posted January 16, 2013 I'm assuming you are talking about people on Facebook and not just people in general. But, people in general, have very little reasoning ability. People on Facebook tend to be somewhat reasonable (because I choose who those people are, to some extent). About 80-90% of my Facebook friends are either demolcrat or conservative. I realized that republicans and democrats were idiots well before I became an anarchist. When posting I initially bring up very simple arguments and then things get more and more complex as I respond to people's responses. Most of the time, they have very bad misconceptions/assumptions about Libertarianism. I try my best to correct those false assumptions and open them up to a new perspective. I know this sounds silly and/or obvious, but the reason why people are so unfamiliar with Libertarianism and closed off from it is because the ratio of statists-libertarians is very high. So, simply converting one logical person to Libertarianism is very helpful . Sorry if I got off-topic hehe. That should give ya a better idea of what I like to do, though,
Drew. Posted January 16, 2013 Posted January 16, 2013 RIght, I understand what you're saying. Most people who I talk to who are statists aren't familiar with the word statism. In my own personal experience, the ideas don't seem to take very strongly, but I like to believe that I have planted a few seeds of truth. I only mention topics of this nature if I think the person is capable of a rational discussion or if I'm bored and I want to talk for a long time. =] Best of luck!
Thobani Mhlongo Posted February 10, 2013 Posted February 10, 2013 Good day Chaoticoli Do not feel ashamed of yourself for not possessing arguing ability. It always starts like that, but by practising, you end-up improving. It is alway a normal reaction. Arguing and/or presenting sound argument is not an easy task. And the majority of people think they possess this skill while they actually clouded by ill-considered thinking. The most important thing to know when you are critically arguing with a person is to establish their point of departure so-called "conclusion" or "claim", then try to understand their premises toward such claim(s). There are many ways to establish a claim and premise as you follows one's argument. It does not end there, however. But for today, I will end here. We will proceed next time, and also give you examples in order to understand it more clearly. It is a very complex thing, we can't finish in one day.
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