While discussing hypothetical situations or speculating towards the reasoning behind some rule or behavior, my fiancée will sometimes put forward an idea with an obvious flaw in it. I will point out this flaw with the expectation of her correcting it to improve the idea, but instead she will respond with “Well, what do you think, then?” Often I don’t have a hypothesis of my own, and will admit it, but she seems to think that it’s unacceptable of me to criticize an argument if I don’t have a better one to replace it. In general, am I being logically rude by pointing out that an idea is illogical if I don’t have a replacement to offer, or is it acceptable to say, “I don’t know, but I know THAT’s wrong”?
While discussing hypothetical situations or speculating towards the reasoning behind some rule or behavior, my fiancée will sometimes put forward an idea with an obvious flaw in it. I will point out this flaw with the expectation of her correcting it to improve the idea, but instead she will respond with “Well, what do you think, then?” Often I don’t have a hypothesis of my own, and will admit it, but she seems to think that it’s unacceptable of me to criticize an argument if I don’t have a better one to replace it. In general, am I being logically rude by pointing out that an idea is illogical if I don’t have a replacement to offer, or is it acceptable to say, “I don’t know, but I know THAT’s wrong”?