Seldom Affirm Never Deny Always Distinguish

"Seldom affirm, never deny, always distinguish."

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Good advice for those who would rather discuss than argue.

An admonition against taking a pig-headed absolute position, as doing so closes the door on reason, rather than opening it by revealing more information.

Explanation:

"Seldom affirm, never deny"

Avoid absolute and premature conclusions..

"Always distinguish"

between what? Details. ...meaning to open up further discussion by examining the details, to distinguish the specifics from the general, to avoid broad sweeping generalizations.

See:

• http://geraldjosephmartin.blogspot.com/2014/03/never-deny-seldom-affirm-always.html

Examples of failing to do this:

• Affirming an absolute:
  • "The only way to do X is to take Y approach."
• Denying an absolute:
  • "There is no such thing as a useful global variable."
• Failure to distinguish:
  • "You're just like Hitler!"
  • "Oh, you're one of those JavaLanguage types."
  • "Now you're sounding like a Buddhist!"

For more:

• http://www.google.com/search?q=Seldom+affirm+never+deny+always+distinguish
• Sometimes, it's the ContextThatMakesEveryDifference

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Add to CategoryCareerEmploymentAndLifeStrategies??

I disagree that this category that you added is the appropriate one; not even close -- 67.113.149.160

You are probably right. I put up the categorization because I think SeldomAffirmNeverDenyAlwaysDistinguish is a good Life Strategy. What are your thoughts? -- dl

I think it would be worthwhile for you to add your thoughts to this page as to why it is a good life strategy. But in the absence of some discussion along those lines, this page does not yet fall into that category.

It turns out that it is possible to find worthwhile philosophical lessons about life virtually in any subject whatsoever, however that doesn't mean the original subject was literally about life strategy; that's an extension, or a metaphor, or a springboard, etc.

So comment away, tell us your thoughts.

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CategoryPhilosophy