Avoiding the A Priori Dismissal

February 4, 2008 in Thinking | 2 comments

Ed Brayton has an excellent post about a priori dismissal, a variant of our old friend the straw man argument.

Here’s what I think is really going on here: assuming an evil agenda is easier than engaging someone’s real position. It’s what Matt Nisbet would call a convenient cognitive shortcut. It makes the world so simple when you can just dismiss the person taking the position out of hand without having to engage the position itself. But sometimes the world just isn’t that simple; sometimes, frequently in fact, a clash of ideas really is a sincere dispute between people who both care about doing the right thing even if they disagree on what the right thing is.

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Such arguments are made as a means of a priori dismissal. They tend to cloud our judgment rather than aid in it. Once we’ve decided that the contrary position is not just wrong but evil, all serious thought about the subject ceases. So does all meaningful communication. Such shallow thinking is seductive precisely because it’s all too easy. Probably none of us are entirely immune to it; I know I’m not. But it’s something that rational people should make a concerted effort to avoid.

One sees a great deal of this from the wingnut extremists of the right, but it can be found coming from all parts of the political spectrum. Certainly I know that I am not guiltless in this regard. Ed is quite right: Anyone interested in rational discussion of the issues of the day should work very hard to avoid this fallacy.

  1. Trip on February 10, 2008 at 1:09 pm

    Very interesting. You all but admit your guilt in this form of shallow thinking while simultaneously displaying it in the same post.

    I would be tempted to call this a new form of logic but sadly admit that the straw man argument or “a priori dismissal” is typical of the left.

    The term “wingnut extremists” is the most blatant example. One that only an idiot would include in a post cautioning people against.

  2. meatbrain on February 11, 2008 at 4:00 pm

    You all but admit your guilt in this form of shallow thinking while simultaneously displaying it in the same post.

    What is it that you claim I “all but admit”?

    I would be tempted to call this a new form of logic but sadly admit that the straw man argument or “a priori dismissal” is typical of the left.

    The a priori dismissal, while it is a fallacy, is not a form of straw man. If you don’t know what you are talking about, you would be wise not to comment.