"So: debate me! Challenge my values!" Unless your values are causing harm, I'm not sure why I would want to challenge them. The space of everything there is to explore is inexhaustible, and maybe you prefer jazz and I prefer classical music, but what does anyone have to gain by debating that one is better than the other? Maybe I'm not understanding your question. Or maybe your implicit values and mine are already highly aligned.
I appreciate the comment! Honestly I was getting a little carried away when I wrote that line, it sorta just felt appropriate in the essay (and in light of what I learned about Socrates), but in truth there's probably more nuance in terms of what I'm actually looking for.
A more accurate read of the line would be "I wish for my values to be robust to the world, and I wish to not have fear or uncertainty about them." Encouraging debate is both a means to harden values, but also (and perhaps more importantly) a posture, like "yeah my values are strong, come and get 'em." In truth that's closer to what I was thinking :)
I do also think an ideal version of myself would have a lot of "strong opinions loosely held" and would be engaged in a lot of fearless truth-seeking with others, especially others who are close to me, which might look roughly like debate. But there's clearly a boundary somewhere between discussions on value that are mutually beneficial and those that are not.
"So: debate me! Challenge my values!" Unless your values are causing harm, I'm not sure why I would want to challenge them. The space of everything there is to explore is inexhaustible, and maybe you prefer jazz and I prefer classical music, but what does anyone have to gain by debating that one is better than the other? Maybe I'm not understanding your question. Or maybe your implicit values and mine are already highly aligned.
I appreciate the comment! Honestly I was getting a little carried away when I wrote that line, it sorta just felt appropriate in the essay (and in light of what I learned about Socrates), but in truth there's probably more nuance in terms of what I'm actually looking for.
A more accurate read of the line would be "I wish for my values to be robust to the world, and I wish to not have fear or uncertainty about them." Encouraging debate is both a means to harden values, but also (and perhaps more importantly) a posture, like "yeah my values are strong, come and get 'em." In truth that's closer to what I was thinking :)
I do also think an ideal version of myself would have a lot of "strong opinions loosely held" and would be engaged in a lot of fearless truth-seeking with others, especially others who are close to me, which might look roughly like debate. But there's clearly a boundary somewhere between discussions on value that are mutually beneficial and those that are not.
Also, wait a minute Ulysses. ARE YOU DEBATING MY VALUES?!