But many disagreements, including
“Political Arguments” by Stanley Fish
political disagreement between entrenched partisans, will rest on a substratum of
difference so deep that nothing one party could say will move the other one inch.
Rather than listening to and weighing what your opponent says, you hear his
words as the surface issue of deep ideological commitments you fear and
despise.
I found this quotation by Stanley Fish to be very interesting because it explains why many debates are almost useless. As Fish articulates in this passage, both sides of a debate are often unwilling to change their viewpoint or even listen to someone with a different viewpoint.
