Quote Originally Posted by ImSavy View Post
When you say open to reason what do you mean?

I'd say I was open to reason but I don't think that implies that every true thing I'm told, every correct argument that shows that my current stance was incorrect is going to result in me changing my opinion on things especially when those opinions are formed usually as a result of a collection of these arguments.

So let's say I believe X to be true not Y because A B C D E and F back that up. If you prove to me D is wrong in reasonable terms whilst I'm in a listening sort of mood I'll accept that and as a result it may weaken my position on X but not necessarily change it.
I consider this reason.

I guess what I mean by open to reason is that, over the long term, do the beliefs you form tend to land where they do based on reason or on something else? One basic example of my own life is that I used to believe that artificial sweeteners caused headaches. It was so bad that I used to get headaches from drinking diet soda and I avoided the stuff like the plague. But I researched the issue extensively and found that science says any headaches caused by artificial sweeteners can be attributed to placebo as plausibly as to the sweetener, so I decided that I no longer believed artificial sweeteners cause headaches. Then I drank a diet soda and got a headache, but I told myself it was psychogenic. The next day I drank another one and got a smaller headache. The third day I drank another one and that was the last time I got a headache from them.

Contrast this to some members of my family who completely shut down when I try to discuss this with them. They want to hear nothing of it. They're intent on believing artificial sweeteners are the devil til the day they die. They ignore evidence to the contrary, refuse to research it themselves, use heuristics like "nature=good; artificial=bad," and would get rip-roaring headaches if they were to consume some and know about it.