I disagree that answering the first question doesn’t matter—that’s a very extreme “mistake theory” lens.
If someone is actively adversarial vs. biased but open to learning, that changes quite a bit about how leaders and others in the community should approach the situation.
I do agree that it’s important to have the “are they actively adversarial” hypothesis and corresponding language. (This is why I’ve generally argued against the conflation of lying and rationalization).
But I also think, at least in most of the disagreements and conflicts I’ve seen so far, much of the problem has had more to do with rationalization (or, in some cases, different expectations of how much effort to put into intellectual integrity)
I think there is also an undercurrent of genuine conflict (as people jockey for money/status) that manifests primarily through rationalization, and in some cases duplicity.*
*where the issue is less about people lying but is about them semi-consciously presenting different faces to different people.
I disagree that answering the first question doesn’t matter—that’s a very extreme “mistake theory” lens.
If someone is actively adversarial vs. biased but open to learning, that changes quite a bit about how leaders and others in the community should approach the situation.
I do agree that it’s important to have the “are they actively adversarial” hypothesis and corresponding language. (This is why I’ve generally argued against the conflation of lying and rationalization).
But I also think, at least in most of the disagreements and conflicts I’ve seen so far, much of the problem has had more to do with rationalization (or, in some cases, different expectations of how much effort to put into intellectual integrity)
I think there is also an undercurrent of genuine conflict (as people jockey for money/status) that manifests primarily through rationalization, and in some cases duplicity.*
*where the issue is less about people lying but is about them semi-consciously presenting different faces to different people.