Compared to What?
I go over the "Compared to what?" analysis to help you better articulate and dissect philosophical debates.
Compared to what?
This question is one of the most fundamental questions to ask in performing any kind of comparative philosophy. The reason is simple: What good is a criticism in the big picture if the critic themselves advocates for some idea or ideology that is far worse or far more irrational than what is being critiqued?
Of course, this doesn’t discount the fact that criticisms can be accurately levied to show fallacies or flaws in a presented argument. It just means that discourse with a focus of finding truth and consistency through philosophy requires that both criticisms and comparisons be weighed to fully analyze the arguments.
To understand this with a concrete example, look at the following situation:
Imagine for a moment someone poses the assertion that humans don’t really exist, like as nihilists or some egoists contend.
In analyzing this assertion, one should carefully consider the criteria of falsifiability, that is, what is required for proof or disproof of the presented idea, and make a “compared to what” analysis, that is comparing the assertion to the actions of the individual.
The person advancing an assertion that people don’t really exist would have difficulty coming up with a demonstrable proof, like showing that people’s consciousnesses are seeping in from some alternate world like envisioned in the Matrix films.
While this conjecture is intriguing to explore, there is a difficulty that arises in the realm of null hypotheses, that is, how it could be shown whether someone is actually in a simulation or, for that matter, how they are otherwise not in a complex set of simulations on top of simulations.
The reality is that there is no meaningful criteria for proof or disproof that someone is in a kind of simulation and, more importantly, that there aren’t a potentially unlimited number of simulations one’s consciousness could be nested in.
Further, the fact that someone is attempting to argue that existence is not real or is not of material weight has already engaged in a performative contradiction by acting as if they think they are real enough to make an argument to others. The act of arguing positions to other people is itself an assumption of existence – the idea that someone should and would listen to them as if they exist.
A person making the assertion that existence is meaningless or illusory belies that assertion in act and, accordingly, they should be ignored on their own premises.
Of course, few, if any people act as if their existence is immaterial. Even the most ardent nihilist still breathes air and eats food to survive as if that matters to sustaining their consciousness. Even the most edgy internet egoist cannot help but try to make arguments to others as if they should be listened to and valued.
As you can see in this example of philosophical inquiry, the question of “compared to what” is a critical discourse on how people act and operate compared to the assertions and arguments they make.
Likewise, this kind of thinking can apply to any philosophical discourse where one is attempting to seek truth through reason and evidence. It an essential tool for comparative philosophy as many like to make critiques of others while engaging in sophistry and performative contradictions.
So next time you engage in a philosophical discussion, bring the “compared to what” analysis and the “criteria for proof or disproof” analysis in your argumentation tool belt to help you better understand how your own positions hold up against others’.
Your discussions will be clearer and more productive with concrete ideas about what should be accepted and why.
Happy debating! ^^
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