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Judgementalism

Lark

Active member
Joined
Jun 21, 2009
Messages
29,569
I'd like to talk about this, I tend to find that there are a lot of people in real life and online who can reason pretty well but who are seriously loath to reach a conclusion or make a judgement.

Judgementalism per se is considered wrong, you are fine so long as you state all sides of the argument and say you're undecided (I've done this myself, quite a bit, more so online or where the topic is less of a practical one or related to immediate circumstances) but dont strike out in favour of a particular position, suggest you are willing to hear out others but presently you're sticking with your own.

I think that this is to do with type, I also think its to do with group or social dynamics but I also think it has real major consequences, either on a micro scale of the individual or the macro scale of a society.

I've heard people talk in books or on talk shows about assertiveness, generally I think this is a sophisticated put down, much like "now dont be defensive" or "you're getting defensive" usually companioned with a reassuring touch on the arm or upper arm but I think the whole issue of assertiveness is defunct if people cant reach conclusions or make judgements and stick to them until they're persuaded otherwise in the first place. What do you think?
 

ragashree

Reason vs Being
Joined
Nov 3, 2008
Messages
1,770
MBTI Type
Mine
Enneagram
1w9
Generally when someone uses this as a criticism it merely means they don't like YOUR judgement, and don't have any intelligent criticisms to make in response, so they attack your character instead on the basis of "judgementalism" being deemed a negative quality. If you were expressing a judgement which was in accordance with their own beliefs, I doubt the criticism would ever get made in the first place (unless they were looking to have some fun by playing devil's advocate).

Objectively, the term refers to the making up of one's mind in advance of a full consideration of the facts, commonly associated with an implied moral superiority over the person or group being judged; but in many cases the term is simply being used as a meaningless perjorative to indicate disagreement, almost inevitably on moral or ethical issues. Certainly if someone has considered the facts carefully and come to a different conclusion to the person who is accusing them of being judgemental, and the person making the accusation refuses to agknowledge the validity of their conclusion or hear them out, but persists in the accusation, they are themselves being judgemental on the basis that their own beliefs are the only ones which can possibly be agknowledged as correct. Tit for tat... ;)
 

Ivy

Strongly Ambivalent
Joined
Apr 18, 2007
Messages
23,989
MBTI Type
INFP
Enneagram
6
IMO "judgmental" typically refers to someone who considers his/her own judgment to be unassailable, especially in subjective matters e.g. religion/morality/etc. Of course there's nothing wrong with reaching a conclusion- it's believing that conclusion to be objective when it's anything but that makes a person judgmental.
 
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