I’d much rather see you quarrel with things piecemeal. “This long chain of logic is wrong” is much less satisfying to me than “This step here from lemma 4 to theorem 5 is wrong”. The former may make for a better-sounding essay, but it’s also harder to distinguish from rationalization and harder for readers to verify.
Also, why think of it as a “quarrel” at all? If lukeprog is making mistakes that are incidental to his main theses, then convincing him of that as soon as possible will give him more time to revise and improve his work. If he’s making mistakes that are integral to his main theses, then convincing him of that as soon as possible will avoid wasted time finishing a red-herring sequence. And even if he’s not really making mistakes at all, then letting him know what apparent-mistakes are being perceived will help him improve the clarity of his work. You don’t seem to have difficulty expressing criticism in a non-antagonistic way, and polite intelligent criticism is a positive thing, even for the (epistemically rational) person whose ideas are being criticized.
I’d much rather see you quarrel with things piecemeal. “This long chain of logic is wrong” is much less satisfying to me than “This step here from lemma 4 to theorem 5 is wrong”. The former may make for a better-sounding essay, but it’s also harder to distinguish from rationalization and harder for readers to verify.
Also, why think of it as a “quarrel” at all? If lukeprog is making mistakes that are incidental to his main theses, then convincing him of that as soon as possible will give him more time to revise and improve his work. If he’s making mistakes that are integral to his main theses, then convincing him of that as soon as possible will avoid wasted time finishing a red-herring sequence. And even if he’s not really making mistakes at all, then letting him know what apparent-mistakes are being perceived will help him improve the clarity of his work. You don’t seem to have difficulty expressing criticism in a non-antagonistic way, and polite intelligent criticism is a positive thing, even for the (epistemically rational) person whose ideas are being criticized.