Thread: Can’t we just hold it?

Can’t we just hold it?

Accept or reject are not the only options one has. The most important and generally overlooked, especially by the young, is the option to ‘hold’.

It appears to me that many young people consider that ‘to be negative is to be cool’. This leads them into responding that ‘X is false’ when responding to an OP that states that ‘X is true’.

When a person takes a public position affirming or denying the truth of ‘Y’ they are often locking themselves into a difficult position. If their original position was based on opinion rather than judgment their ego will not easily allow them to change position once they have studied and analyzed ‘Y’.

The moral of this story is that holding a default position of ‘reject or accept’, when we are ignorant, is not smart because our ego will fight any attempt to modify the opinion with a later judgment. Silence, or questions directed at comprehending the matter under consideration, is the smart decision for everyone’s default position.

Our options are reject, accept, and hold. I claim that ‘hold’ is the most important and should be the most often used because everyone is ignorant of almost everything.

Do you accept, reject, or hold judgment regarding my claim?

Originally Posted by coberst

Can’t we just hold it?

Accept or reject are not the only options one has. The most important and generally overlooked, especially by the young, is the option to ‘hold’.

It appears to me that many young people consider that ‘to be negative is to be cool’. This leads them into responding that ‘X is false’ when responding to an OP that states that ‘X is true’.

When a person takes a public position affirming or denying the truth of ‘Y’ they are often locking themselves into a difficult position. If their original position was based on opinion rather than judgment their ego will not easily allow them to change position once they have studied and analyzed ‘Y’.

The moral of this story is that holding a default position of ‘reject or accept’, when we are ignorant, is not smart because our ego will fight any attempt to modify the opinion with a later judgment. Silence, or questions directed at comprehending the matter under consideration, is the smart decision for everyone’s default position.

Our options are reject, accept, and hold. I claim that ‘hold’ is the most important and should be the most often used because everyone is ignorant of almost everything.

Do you accept, reject, or hold judgment regarding my claim?

I'd ask whether judgement is the same as opinion. Are not both subjective.. Just one with more supporting objective facts?

Originally Posted by Roach

I'd ask whether judgement is the same as opinion. Are not both subjective.. Just one with more supporting objective facts?

There are opinions, considered opinions, and judgments. Opinions are a dime-a-dozen, everyone has an opinion about everything.

Iraq has weapons of mass destruction.
Freud and Darwin are frauds.
God made me.
You are driving too fast.

When faced with these statements does it matter which of the three buttons ‘accept, reject, or hold’ that you push?

Just what impact does a decision of 'reject or accept' have on my future considerations?

It is my assumption that such a decision causes me to either stop or at least to slow down any further consideration of the matter. It appears to me that many of our conclusions are “worked out” within our unconscious, especially while we sleep.

Our educational system is designed around the basic premise that the students will accept what is told to them and that this acceptance is very important for their future welfare and for the welfare of the community.

I think the idea of 'holding' is intellectual laziness. I have opinions, some of which have been proven wrong at which point I change my opinion. The problem isn't the idea of accept or reject. The problem is pride. So many people will hold on to an opinion or statement as fact even in the face of overwhelming evidence simply because they do not wan to admit a failure on their part. Reserving judgment is a better term because it implies that a person is smart enough to know that all the facts are not in.