It depends partly on your fellow students. What’s your impression of their open-mindedness?
You’re bringing back memories of a class I took where I thought the teacher was wrong about a number of things (sorry, details forgotten), and being told a number of times by fellow students that they were there to listen to the teacher and not to me.
I’d say that what you’re dealing with is not an emergency, and if you want to oppose those ideas to a large extent (if you want to do disagreement in class now and then, I’m not going to argue with you), post it at a social website where students are likely to see it.
My impression of their open mindedness is that it really is an individual thing. Some people agree with me because they want to please people (which isn’t what I’m after),
Some people disagree with me and hit me with a confident “but that’s just your opinion” (which drives me absolutely insane, what can you even do here?)
Some people listen to my arguments, think about them (this is what I’m after), then come to some sort of conclusion.
I suppose its the second group of people that really frustrate me and make me want to not bother. I say that the idea of “multiple truths” implies that anything can be true. If anything can be true, then nothing is false. If this was the case, why bother coming to University to learn at all? According to what multiple truths implies, if you think it, it’s true.
If I’m talking to someone from group 2, I’ll get variations on “No you’re wrong.”, “That’s just your opinion” or “I don’t care.”
Some people disagree with me and hit me with a confident “but that’s just your opinion” (which drives me absolutely insane, what can you even do here?)
You could try pointing out that it’s an opinion about the subject, which isn’t related to an opinion about your opinion about the subject, with only the latter being brought up by that argument.
The relevant skill is focusing on a specific topic and not lumping everything in a single connotational soup. I believe it’s important to have a clear understanding of specific reasons why even the most abysmal errors are not correct arguments.
If someone tries the just an opinion gambit ask them if it is just an opinion whether gravity exists. (Ok, so I’m advocating hitting one cached thought with another cached thought. It works surprisingly often.)
Remember Cached Thoughts: people might dismiss your arguments at the time by saying “That’s just your opinion, LOL!” Just don’t finish off by leaving a bad taste in their mouth (“Oh yeah? Well it’s also my opinion that you have a questionable genetic lineage, wherein your conception inolved a freelance contract on the part of your mother, which required her to bring a second set of underpants!”) Let them off with a “Fair enough, dude,” or similar platitude.
Six months later your ideas will have percolated through their (evidently) thick skull, and you’re likely to stumble upon them voicing your very argument to someone else, and thinking that they invented it.
It depends partly on your fellow students. What’s your impression of their open-mindedness?
You’re bringing back memories of a class I took where I thought the teacher was wrong about a number of things (sorry, details forgotten), and being told a number of times by fellow students that they were there to listen to the teacher and not to me.
I’d say that what you’re dealing with is not an emergency, and if you want to oppose those ideas to a large extent (if you want to do disagreement in class now and then, I’m not going to argue with you), post it at a social website where students are likely to see it.
My impression of their open mindedness is that it really is an individual thing. Some people agree with me because they want to please people (which isn’t what I’m after),
Some people disagree with me and hit me with a confident “but that’s just your opinion” (which drives me absolutely insane, what can you even do here?)
Some people listen to my arguments, think about them (this is what I’m after), then come to some sort of conclusion.
I suppose its the second group of people that really frustrate me and make me want to not bother. I say that the idea of “multiple truths” implies that anything can be true. If anything can be true, then nothing is false. If this was the case, why bother coming to University to learn at all? According to what multiple truths implies, if you think it, it’s true.
If I’m talking to someone from group 2, I’ll get variations on “No you’re wrong.”, “That’s just your opinion” or “I don’t care.”
All three responses really push my buttons.
You could try pointing out that it’s an opinion about the subject, which isn’t related to an opinion about your opinion about the subject, with only the latter being brought up by that argument.
The relevant skill is focusing on a specific topic and not lumping everything in a single connotational soup. I believe it’s important to have a clear understanding of specific reasons why even the most abysmal errors are not correct arguments.
If someone tries the just an opinion gambit ask them if it is just an opinion whether gravity exists. (Ok, so I’m advocating hitting one cached thought with another cached thought. It works surprisingly often.)
Remember Cached Thoughts: people might dismiss your arguments at the time by saying “That’s just your opinion, LOL!” Just don’t finish off by leaving a bad taste in their mouth (“Oh yeah? Well it’s also my opinion that you have a questionable genetic lineage, wherein your conception inolved a freelance contract on the part of your mother, which required her to bring a second set of underpants!”) Let them off with a “Fair enough, dude,” or similar platitude.
Six months later your ideas will have percolated through their (evidently) thick skull, and you’re likely to stumble upon them voicing your very argument to someone else, and thinking that they invented it.
I’ve experienced this many a time.