Philosophical Questions?

[_dave_]

Why do we always feel the need to be right or to best the other party in an argument?

[normalice]

Validation. We want others to appreciate what we have done with our lives and if we are wrong about reality then people have good reason to assume our experiences were meaningless. So we prefer to try make those who disagree with us instead feel like they are wrong about reality. And if the other person is actually right we tend to get angry as a defensive mechanism to make them back down: who wants to admit to themselves that they have wasted their life, after all? There is no value in such an admission unless one has the time and space to correct it, which is why it is usually older people who get the angriest when younger people don't value their work or opinions.

This "try to make those who disagree feel like they are wrong" has become the essence of religion, if it wasn't simply always the case. By adhering to a myth with no evidence for it the only way to get people who don't adhere to it to stop refusing to believe it due to lack of evidence is to force them to. And the only way to force them to is to outnumber them or to seize the levers of power. As religious participation has been on the decline for some time that leaves only seizing power as the option for forcing people to pretend to believe it, which is why the push for religious nationalisms are on the rise at the same time religious participation is on the decline. I. e. people aren't buying that we should ban abortions because a god said to, so religious people want to make it so we should ban abortions because the government said to - by taking over the government.

Another example is culture grievances. For decades people like Limbaugh were spreading the myth that white christians were being stolen from by minorities but no one with any sense believed that because minorities don't have anything that would indicate a successful heist of that magnitude. Who does have all the missing money that used to be white christians, though? Well, obviously rich people - and specifically the sort of rich people who paid to prop up guys like Limbaugh. But the people who listened to Limbaugh for 30 years want that experience validated. They want to force people to pretend that victimhood myth is true, so they, for example, get mad and try to start a civil war on days like January 6 2021 when it appeared the population rejected their nonsense. But they haven't given up because why would they? They only need their hands on power one more time to ensure it can never be taken from them again. It doesn't even have to be the next time. Maybe a cold civil war of attrition can defeat them but I suspect they'll just get more violent before that happens..

[RebelinSteel]

Humans are usually competitive and that also extends into what we say.

[IslaTheWitch]

not always... I usually try to understand the reasons behind the other person's stance

but from psychological point of view our mind cares for our well being and being right feels good :D

[jahaims]

Speak for yourself. Only insecure people feel that way.

[Alli112]

We don't.