How To Compose A Sucessful Critical Commentary

jazdoc

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Aug 7, 2010
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Ran across this and thought it might engender some interesting discussion...

Daniel Dennett poses an apt question that probes some of the basic tendencies and dynamics of today’s everyone-is-a-critic culture: “Just how charitable are you supposed to be when criticizing the views of an opponent?”

In Intuition Pumps and Other Tools for Thinking — the same fantastic volume that gave us Dennett on the dignity and art-science of making mistakes — he offers what he calls “the best antidote [for the] tendency to caricature one’s opponent”: a list of rules formulated decades ago by the legendary social psychologist and game theorist Anatol Rapoport, best-known for originating the famous tit-of-tat strategy of game theory.



1.You should attempt to re-express your target’s position so clearly, vividly, and fairly that your target says, “Thanks, I wish I’d thought of putting it that way."
2.You should list any points of agreement (especially if they are not matters of general or widespread agreement).
3.You should mention anything you have learned from your target.

4.Only then are you permitted to say so much as a word of rebuttal or criticism.
 
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Big Dog RJ

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Feb 2, 2012
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Hey Jazdoc,

I just came across your post only today! Darn it, how did I miss that?
Anyway, for what it's worth I think it's great food for thought! Yes, agreed we as humans get carried away by our so called expert ideals and stubbornness... some of us like a good fight, I have offended quite a few on this forum, and still have learnt a lot from each one of them who have taken the time to reply to my craziness and enthusiasm. I always try to make it a point to stick to the question asked and then I tend to blabber off.

The funny thing is, when dealing with my customers at my work place and in my past jobs, I'm known as one of the best customer oriented people, virtually can handle any type of conflict and very good at conflict resolution. However, some of the darnest simplest things on social networks, I have a tendency to mess up. Perhaps I was never any good with virtual connections, and I certainly do prefer face to face, real live discussions.

We can only learn from our mistakes and take criticism humbly. Hope that adds some food for thought!
Cheers, RJ
 

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