Lewis B. Smedes Quotes

Well, to tell you truth, I have learned a long time ago that the trick when doing a debate, any kind of debate, is to just turn off the judgment switch in my head.

The interesting thing is always to see if you can find a fact that will change your mind about something, to test and see if you can.

You must force yourself to consider opposing arguments. Especially when they challenge your best loved ideas.

Whenever a theory appears to you as the only possible one, take this as a sign that you have neither understood the theory nor the problem which it was intended to solve.

You want to come up with your own points of view first and then test them against what you see.

Civilized discourse demands critical thinking, self-reflexiveness, sober-headed analysis.

When we are in the grasp of illusion - or, for that matter, whenever we have a new idea - instead of searching for ways to prove our ideas wrong, we usually attempt to prove them correct. Psychologists call this the confirmation bias, and it presents a major impediment of our ability to break free from the misinterpretation of randomness.

Teach him a certain refinement in sorting out and selecting his arguments, with an affection for relevance and so for brevity. Above all let him be taught to throw down his arms and surrender to truth as soon as he perceives it, whether the truth is born at his rival's doing or within himself from some change in his ideas.

There is a distinct difference between having an open mind and having a hole in your head from which your brain leaks out.

In academic life, false ideas are merely false, and useless ones can be fun to play with.

If one devalues rationality, the world tends to fall apart.

Logic: The art of thinking and reasoning in strict accordance with the limitations and incapacities of the human misunderstanding.

It's not a case of: 'Read this book and then you'll think differently. I've written this book, and I don't think differently.

The power of real debate is in the language and intellectual honesty of the debaters, alongside the engagement of spectators.

Being a skeptic just means being rational and empirical: thinking and seeing before believing.

The problem with most people is that they think with their hopes or fears or wishes rather than their minds.

Ordinary readers, forgive my paradoxes: one must make them when one reflects; and whatever you may say, I prefer being a man with paradoxes than a man with prejudices.

I like disagreement because it forces both sides to question their own opinions and why they feel that way.

For those who do not think, it is best at least to rearrange their prejudices once in a while.

Too often we... enjoy the comfort of opinion without the discomfort of thought.

Be able to defend your arguments in a rational way. Otherwise, all you have is an opinion.

The world I want to live in is a world where everybody is a bit more uncertain about their arguments and is a bit more open to other people's arguments. I think that we can engage ideas without ad hominem attacks.

It is only through the opposition of ideas that we can learn to be self-critical, to work towards intellectual humility.

Disagreements are one of the fundamental positive aspects of science.

See first, think later, then test. But always see first. Otherwise, you will only see what you were expecting. Most scientists forget that.