Posts

"agreeing to disagree" and "Unilateral withdrawal"

In both of these cases, it seems that, there are divergent normative commitments upheld by various participants that lead them either to uphold the principle of "agreeing to disagree" or the principle of "Unilateral withdrawal". In other words, both of these seem to be tools to uphold and convey the demarcation which demarcates the boundary between the realm of rationality and the realm of non-rational values. There is, absolutely, no doubt about the fact that one is well within one's epistemic freedom to draw that boundary anywhere and anytime during the conversation. However, what matters is which of these two possible recourses, an agent takes, in order to draw that boundary. When one agrees to disagree, one is being rational, aware, and respectful about the limits of rationality, for one is exclusively blocking one particular mode of argumentation where the limits of her rationality are reached. By agreeing to disagree, one is merely requesting the other

Are the limits of conversation the limits of Philosophy?

Often in our conversations, we have arrived at an impasse; Reached an aporia if you will, where no further dialogue seems to be possible. Each points the finger at the other says "You are completely missing the point" and silence (often an awkward silence) follows.  I want to distinguish this feeling from what occurs when people "agree to disagree". When agreeing to disagree you are recognising the legitimacy of the other's position and treating it at par on your own arguments. In some sense it is tolerance. What has happened in our conversations is different from this. It is an inability to convince the other person. Not a recognition of the other's position. Each one is convinced that her proposition is closer to truth, is normatively justified or a more accurate description of the state of affairs.  The inability of the conversation to move forward, for epistemic reasons I must add, seems indicative of the larger inability of philosophy. Of course