yujiri.xyz
My thoughts about argumentation and debating
I know a lot of people like to say that reason isn't how you change people's minds and that this entire section of my site is therefore wrong-headed and in vain. I'm aware that reason isn't by itself going to convince most people of anything meaningful, but I'm also aware that it plays at least *some* role for most people. And most of these articles aren't actually about how to reason validly. Persuading people through debate is largely a contest of personality and charisma and manipulation of psychological biases, so that's what a lot of my articles here are about.
I should also point out against such a criticism that there is a strong correlation between how willing someone is to change their beliefs when they're wrong and how much of a role logic plays in doing so. That is to say, while most people won't be convinced to change their core beliefs by reasoning with them, most of the people who won't are the ones who won't be convinced by *anything*. The more willing a person is to change at all, the more likely it is that reason is how you can change them, and also the more likely that they're a good person, and are thus worth more to convince (since they're more devoted to their beliefs and make a better friend).
Also note that in this section of the site I often talk about "good people" and "bad people" under the assumption that whoever is arguing for something irrational or evil is a bad person and vice versa. This is not *always* true, but it's usually true, and "bad person" is shorter than "person arguing for something bad".
Philosophy
The misrepresentation and underappreciation of philosophy
Polymorphic Values
Know when to give up on people
"Open-mindedness" means nothing.
Propaganda words and phrases that don't merit their own articles
Hypocritical Objectivism
The experience calculation problem
The Facts Don't Matter
Why I won't read a book
Yujiri's First Law
Yujiri's Second Law
Preconditions of argument
Steps of alliance
Reasoning
Statistics are not the trump card you think
Citation fallacies
Tu Quoque - (often) not a fallacy
Things that are not Ad Hominem
The Correlated Trait Fallacy
Defining by reference
What If Everyone Thought That Way is one big fallacy
Disputed premise, not circular reasoning
The Missing Comparison fallacy
Double-counting
Conversation
Dirty tactics
Inflammatory techniques: How to provoke your opponent
Observations on Linguistic Connotations
Why I don't debate in chat
Doublespeak
Conversational Terrorism (external)
Politics and the English Language, by George Orwell (external)
Specific arguments
Screenshots Prove Nothing
A Critique of The Field of Evolutionary Psychology
IQ is a Superstition
Don't amoralize your moral arguments
Worrying is not irrational
There is no history of philosophy
There's no such thing as national debt
Trying to change a living language
Languages are not easier to learn as a kid
Punishment and reward are not alternatives
Communist/Capitalist FAQ
The common error behind leftist economics
Base 6 is the optimal number system (external)
You're wrong to focus on privilege and oppression
Stop taking tests
Fucking anti-moralists
Rebuttals
Yes, Tyler Curtis, The Bystander Effect Exists
Rebuttal to Kurzgesagt's "The Origin of Consciousness"
Rebuttal to Insula Qui's "The Ethical Notions Of Personhood And Savagery"
First Round Capital Is Sexist
Rebuttal to Shane Killian's "Ustupidtarianism in 4 Stupids"
Heimdal Security lies hysterically about the dark web
Art Carden demonstrates vulgar libertarianism
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