A discourse is asymmetric if one side can’t speak freely, because of taboos or other social pressures. If you find yourself arguing for X, ask yourself whether arguing for not-X is costly in some way. If so, don’t take weak or absent counterarguments as substantial evidence in your favor. Often simply having a minority opinion makes it difficult to speak up, so defending a majority opinion is already some sign that you might be in an asymmetric discourse situation. The presence of such an asymmetry also means that the available evidence is biased in one direction, since the arguments of the other side are expressed less often.
Always treat hypotheses as having truth values, never as having moral values.
If someone makes [what you perceive as] an offensive hypothesis, remember that the most that can be wrong with that hypothesis is that it is false or disfavored by the evidence. Never is a hypothesis by itself morally wrong. Acts and intentions can be immoral; hypotheses are neither of those. If you strongly suspect that someone has some particular intention with stating a hypothesis, then be honest and say so explicitly.
The latter guideline was inspired by quotes from Ronny Fernandez and Arturo Macias. Fernandez:
No thought should be heretical. Making thoughts heretical is almost never worth it, and the temptation to do so is so strong, that I endorse the strict rule “no person or ideology should ever bid for making any kind of thought heretical”.
So next time some public figure gets outed as a considerer of heretical thoughts, as will surely happen, know that I am already against all calls to punish them for it, even if I am not brave enough to publicly stand up for them at the time.
The separation between value and fact, between “will” and “representation” is one of the most essential epistemological facts. Reality is what it is, and our assessment of it does not alter it. Statements of fact have truth value, not moral value. No descriptive belief can ever be “good” or “bad.” (...) no one can be morally judged for their sincere opinions about this part of reality. Or rather, of course one must morally judge and roundly condemn anyone who alters their descriptive beliefs about reality for political convenience. This is exactly what is called “motivated thought”.
I would like to propose two other guidelines:
Be aware of asymmetric discourse situations.
A discourse is asymmetric if one side can’t speak freely, because of taboos or other social pressures. If you find yourself arguing for X, ask yourself whether arguing for not-X is costly in some way. If so, don’t take weak or absent counterarguments as substantial evidence in your favor. Often simply having a minority opinion makes it difficult to speak up, so defending a majority opinion is already some sign that you might be in an asymmetric discourse situation. The presence of such an asymmetry also means that the available evidence is biased in one direction, since the arguments of the other side are expressed less often.
Always treat hypotheses as having truth values, never as having moral values.
If someone makes [what you perceive as] an offensive hypothesis, remember that the most that can be wrong with that hypothesis is that it is false or disfavored by the evidence. Never is a hypothesis by itself morally wrong. Acts and intentions can be immoral; hypotheses are neither of those. If you strongly suspect that someone has some particular intention with stating a hypothesis, then be honest and say so explicitly.
The latter guideline was inspired by quotes from Ronny Fernandez and Arturo Macias. Fernandez:
(He adds some minor caveats.)
Macias: