I once had a member of the LessWrong community actually tell me, “You need to interpret me more charitably, because you know I’m sane.” “Actually, buddy, I don’t know that,” I wanted to reply—but didn’t, because that would’ve been rude.
So, respond with something like “I don’t think sanity is a single personal variable which extends to all held beliefs.” It conveys the same information- “I don’t trust conclusions solely because you reached them”- but it doesn’t convey the implication that this is a personal failing on their part.
I’ve said this before when you’ve brought up the principle of charity, but I think it bears repeating. The primary benefit of the principle of charity is to help you, the person using it, and you seem to be talking mostly about how it affects discourse, and that you don’t like it when other people expect that you’ll use the principle of charity when reading them. I agree with you that they shouldn’t expect that- but I find it more likely that this is a few isolated incidents (and I can visualize a few examples) than that this is a general tendency.
So, respond with something like “I don’t think sanity is a single personal variable which extends to all held beliefs.” It conveys the same information- “I don’t trust conclusions solely because you reached them”- but it doesn’t convey the implication that this is a personal failing on their part.
I’ve said this before when you’ve brought up the principle of charity, but I think it bears repeating. The primary benefit of the principle of charity is to help you, the person using it, and you seem to be talking mostly about how it affects discourse, and that you don’t like it when other people expect that you’ll use the principle of charity when reading them. I agree with you that they shouldn’t expect that- but I find it more likely that this is a few isolated incidents (and I can visualize a few examples) than that this is a general tendency.