In zijn column voor the freeman online, deze week genaamd "The Low Road and the High Ground" bespreekt econoom Horwitz hoe je aan publiek debat moet doen.
De conclusie is duidelijk:
- Until confronted with serious evidence to the contrary, assume the other person’s intentions are good and that they wish to make the world a better place.
- Do not allow others to monopolize the moral high ground; insist that you too want to make the world a better place.
- Know as many of the other sides of the argument as you can and know them as well as you can.
- Practice what the economist Ludwig Lachmann called the “Principle of Charitable Interpretation.” That is, read other people’s arguments in the best, most generous light possible.
- Make reasoned arguments of your own and back them with relevant evidence.
- Acknowledge where your arguments or evidence are weak or possibly biased; this demonstrates your own open-mindedness and your ability to think critically about your own argument.
- Finally, do all of this with a smile and a gentle sense of humor. Milton Friedman was the master at this and was, I would argue, the most effective debater for freedom in the twentieth century.
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