E Berlin wrote:
Alexander Georgiadis wrote:
Oh, and fuck the semantics.
Words are the most important tool we have for communicating with other
people, so questions of what they mean are among the most crucial questions.
> True, and yet not so true.
>
> I can't count the number of times I've witnessed person B's attempt
to trump
> the argument of person A by a purely sophistical attempt to claim B's own
> "expert" status. I often take that as a sign of a lack of confidence in
> one's own argument because it doesn't stand on its own without erecting a
> jargon-based scaffolding around it.
"Expert" status is an almost unrelated issue. And, in general, an
expert should be able to produce a better argument, so trying to trade
on the status is often a bit of a danger sign, I agree.
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David Dyer-Bennet, dd-b@xxxxxxxx; http://dd-b.net/dd-b
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