Coaching practices for I'm Completely Certain I'm Right and the Other Person is Just Being Unreasonable but I'm Starting to Suspect I've Only Ever Argued Against a Cartoon Version of Their View and I've Never Honestly Tried to See What Makes Their Side Make Sense From the Inside

Describe almost anything you are working through and IX Coach finds the practices whose real-world fit is closest. For I'm Completely Certain I'm Right and the Other Person is Just Being Unreasonable but I'm Starting to Suspect I've Only Ever Argued Against a Cartoon Version of Their View and I've Never Honestly Tried to See What Makes Their Side Make Sense From the Inside, these are the strongest matches in the current practice library.

Does this sound like the set of challenges you might be facing?

• I’m completely certain I’m right and the other person is just being unreasonable
• I keep winning this argument in my head against the dumbest version of what they think, and then it goes nowhere in real life
• I’m so sure I’m right about this that I can’t even picture the other side
• There’s a view I think is flat wrong, but it won’t die and lots of people hold it
• Once I’ve made up my mind, I notice I only ever see the evidence that proves me right and the rest just slides past me

Practices that may help

1. Perspective rotation: inhabiting another’s view
   Construct the strongest, most internally coherent version of a view that opposes your own.
   Zhuangzi and the Practice of Perspective Shift
2. Steelman the opposing view before rebutting it
   Reconstruct the strongest possible version of the argument you disagree with — then respond to that.
   Naive Realism: Why Everyone Thinks They See Things as They Are
3. Deliberately consider the opposite hypothesis
   For any belief you are testing, explicitly generate the strongest case for the opposing view.
   Confirmation Bias: Seeing What You Expect to See
4. Find what is genuinely right about positions you disagree with
   Most positions you strongly disagree with are right about something important — finding that part is intellectually obligatory.
   Steelmanning
5. Consider the opposite
   Actively argue the case against your first conclusion before accepting it.
   Thinking, Fast and Slow, Made Usable
6. Ask what alternative perspectives would say
   Deliberately steelman the strongest objection to your current position before treating it as settled.
   Socratic Questioning
7. Recognize the perspective gap before responding
   Pause before reacting to disagreement to ask what information or experience could make the other view coherent.
   Naive Realism: Why Everyone Thinks They See Things as They Are
8. Separate the argument from the arguer
   Address the claim on its merits, not the person’s motives or character.
   Productive Disagreement, Made Practical
9. Invite an adversarial collaborator
   Find someone whose genuine prior is the opposite of yours, and work together on the same evidence.
   Confirmation Bias: Seeing What You Expect to See
10. Add the strongest objection to every major supporting reason
    For each supporting reason, find the best counter and put it on the map.
    Argument Mapping

Describe your situation in your own words to search the complete practice library.