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Originally Posted by JonnyBGood
Or you can suspend definite judgement until further information becomes available.
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Well, I'd say the difference between dismissing an argument and refusing to accept it until further information becomes available is academic. It entails the same; not accepting the proposition.
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I think you missed the point. Dismissing an argument is not the same as refuting it. What you should ask for is proof when someone makes a positive assertion. If he says invest, ask for proof. If his proof is valid invest. If someone says saddam hussein is an alien, ask for proof.
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Sure, but you're still guilty of stupidifying your argumentation. Add a few qualifiers, such as 'most likely' into your whole CEO analogy (ie; he is most likely sprouting bollocks, trying to pump his own stock) it suddenly looks a lot less stupid, and is much closer to the logic people would actually use... and 'most likely' is certainly good enough for me on most issues.
Refuting arguments is all nice and splendid, but it takes a lot of bloody effort, and the supply of idiots to make stupid statements is basically unlimited (and they all seem to be employed as PR-people for some reason)... and while simply dismissing stupid arguments isn't going to convince others, it's working great for me =)