Everyday Ethics

In a world of mass media, instant communication, and a myriad of differing opinions about dozens of topics, disagreement is an unavoidable aspect of our lives.  Couple that with the innate desire of many people to “win” in cases of conflict and the widespread lack of reasoning skills that plagues our society, and the stage is set for an ethical faux pas.  As someone who trades in reasons and argumentation, I often find myself especially frustrated by disagreements with unreasonable people, and the temptation is to stoop to their level and respond with the same ignorant contempt that they utilize as a substitute for actual reasons.

Let me begin by clarifying who I am referring to when I talk about “the unreasonable.”  The unreasonable are people who are not capable of understanding what a rational argument is, yet insist on replying to whatever challenge you raise against them.  For example, if you say “the position advocated by person X, which you are endorsing, claims Y, which is not supported by the fact of Z,” the unreasonable will respond by saying “X is much smarter than you, and you just don’t understand Y.”  Notice that this reply is nothing more than an ad hominem attack, and that it utterly fails to account for the conflict between claim Y and the fact of Z.  Further, the unreasonable will feel genuinely vindicated by this non-response.

This is exceedingly frustrating for reasonable people, because we tend to think that reasons make a difference, and that when someone challenges your view with a legitimate argument, you ought to respond with an argument of your own.  The self-righteousness of the unreasonable, coupled with the insulting and derogatory nature of their typical responses makes it tempting to set your own standard of civility aside, and explain to them specifically why they are not only wrong, but also mildly retarded.

Despite the temptation, it is probably best to avoid putting the unreasonable in their place, for the following reasons.  First, it won’t do any good.  These people are not capable of intelligent, rational thought, and cracking the edifice of their ignorance is impossible by even the most compelling reasons.  Explaining to the unreasonable that they are failing to respond to your argument will only feed your frustration further, for the simple fact that they will continue to not understand, and to utilize the same obnoxious response strategy.

Further, and more importantly, being treated poorly by someone is not sufficient justification for treating him or her poorly in return.  I have an acquaintance with whom I’ve been engaging in a discussion about political and social philosophy.  I began by pointing out several glaring contradictions in the view of the individual whom he frequently cites.  Because he is unreasonable, his response was to inform me of how much smarter this person is than me, accuse me of elitism (somewhat inexplicably), and inform me that I am simply not capable of understanding this person’s philosophy.

As a philosopher, I find it hard to believe that I am simply incapable of understanding any philosophy.  It is my job, after all, and I’m rather good at it.  More importantly, this reply fails to address any of the philosophical problems that I raised in my initial criticism.  My temptation was to explain to this person that he is an undereducated buffoon whose personal issues motivate his tendency to respond to all challenges with personal insults.  However, this clearly wouldn’t be a very nice thing to do.  His disrespectful treatment of me does not justify my treating him in a comparably disrespectful manner.

Resisting the temptation to chastise the unreasonable is a difficult thing to do, but consider the consequences if every unreasonable person was justifiably replied to with a comparable degree of contempt and irrationality.  The very institution of reasonableness would be corrupted beyond repair.  Those of us who are reasonable have a duty to maintain a certain degree of propriety in our personal conduct, even if the unreasonable refuse to return the favor.  If what the reasonable really want to do is encourage the unreasonable to change their ways, the best way to do this is to demonstrate that no amount of ridiculous conduct justifies their behavior.

About the Author

Elijah Weber is a graduate student at Bowling Green State University. He holds a Master's degree in philosophy from Colorado State University, and Bachelor’s degrees in sociology and philosophy from Chapman Univerity. He currently lives in Ann Arbor, Michigan with his wife Laura, his son Brandon, age two and a half, and two cats, both of whom are mentally deranged.