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Jan. 4th, 2019 02:48 pmI wish we could foster a norm in our culture of commonly expressing “I strongly feel / have a strong preference for X, although I don’t endorse my preference as something that can be rationally justified” or even “...although I fully realize my preference is irrational”.
Because I get the impression that a lot of times I make a statement of this kind, it’s very easily misunderstood, often as if the “although” qualification were omitted or as if I were saying, “I had a strong preference for X but I now realize that it’s unjustified so I no longer really have that preference” or “I strongly want X but I know that’s stupid so you shouldn’t take my preference seriously”. It would seem that the concept of “to really want or feel something, treating that preference as legitimate while aware that it’s not based on rationality” is recognized so little that a lot of people seem mostly unaware that it exists, which is a problem for anyone who wants to communicate it.
Because I get the impression that a lot of times I make a statement of this kind, it’s very easily misunderstood, often as if the “although” qualification were omitted or as if I were saying, “I had a strong preference for X but I now realize that it’s unjustified so I no longer really have that preference” or “I strongly want X but I know that’s stupid so you shouldn’t take my preference seriously”. It would seem that the concept of “to really want or feel something, treating that preference as legitimate while aware that it’s not based on rationality” is recognized so little that a lot of people seem mostly unaware that it exists, which is a problem for anyone who wants to communicate it.
