Short Thought about Thinking

"I don't necessarily want you to think the same way about this issue as I do, but I do want you to really think about this issue."

So was the (since-deleted) response to one of my comments in a recent exchange I had. It really doesn't matter what the issue in question was here--the sentiment is awfully arrogant. I have far more sympathy for the person who says, "I do want you to think like I do (e.g. to agree with me) on this issue." Indeed, if the point of discussion is to get at the truth underlying an issue, then honest discussion means that all participant really do want each other to agree. Playing devil's advocate is one thing, but really advocating the diabolic philosophy that it's more important to "really think" about something than to come to the right conclusion concerning said issue is something else entirely. It's this latter bit of rank sophistry which makes any genuine conversation difficult--and that is the attitude of far too many in these times of cultural decadence.

Just thinking about something is good, but the point of pondering a question is to gain an answer, and not just any answer but the right answer. This is true even if we don't arrive immediately at the right answer, or at the whole answer. "Really thinking" about something is only worthwhile if we hope to uncover at least a part of the truth of the thing. And that, in turn, is only possible if there is a truth of the thing to be uncovered.