Ya you can be Jimmy convinced, or Alex convinced.
Irrefutable is reserved for the mind of a creationist.

How "seemingly convincing" it is. I could be tricked into suicide. I don't know if anybody on earth could actually do it through words alone (torture maybe), but I'm sure it can be done in theory.

I suppose going by that standard the moral path could work, but he'd be doing more than merely convincing me of the proposition "it is moral to kill yourself," he'd be convincing me that "my argument is worth dying for." Or... something like that.

Makes sense: strength of an argument depends on the person the argument is applied to, as well as the interpretation of the meaning of the argument which that person has.

(circumstantial)

why would anyone be morally obligated to change their position? you could say we are morally obligated to think things through, be flexible, reasonable, dissociate the issue from our own personal feelings as far as possible, but there is also a decent amount of value to fighting for your beliefs in the face of stiff opposition.

many people will have different definitions of winning and losing debates. for me, when someone says 'well we'll just have to agree to disagree' that's my sign that my opponent is raising the white flag and saying that he has no more arguments left, and that i win; for him, he is saying that he doesn't lose. if a bunch of idiots shout me down and tell me i should be a catholic and i'm going to hell and i can't engage them, so i stop, they're obviously going to think they won and i lost.

i have a lot of strongly-held beliefs, but i respect intelligent people a lot. if i engage a reasonable thinker on a subject, and they show me that my opinion is wrong, i will change it. it doesn't happen that rarely for me. it seems to happen VERY rarely for 99% of the rest of the population. if i'm talking to an idiot, it's basically impossible for me to change my opinion, unless my opinion is on what idiots say.

example?

Ooooh, you mean if we've had a bad experience in something but the way we reacted was not objectively rational, and so our viewpoint is skewed on the issue?

Nobody ever "wins" or "loses" an argument or a debate, they merely squeeze in everything important that they have to say before the discussion is over.

That will be your downfall.

Intelligent people are good at being convincing.

Strongly held beliefs are just what they are.

Neither points you in a good direction.

Can you expand on what you mean by any of those 4 points please

He can correct me if I'm wrong but I think what he is saying is what George Bernard Shaw and Bertrand Russell were trying to say with these quotes of theirs... basically, the more intelligent you become, the harder it is to have absolute conviction and certainty in your beliefs.

George Bernard Shaw

"Beware of false knowledge; it is more dangerous than ignorance."

"The moment we want to believe something, we suddenly see all the arguments for it, and become blind to the arguments against it."

"There is nothing more dangerous than the conscience of a bigot."

"We must always think about things, and we must think about things as they are, not as they are said to be."

Bertrand Russell

"The whole problem with the world is that fools and fanatics are always so certain of themselves, but wiser people so full of doubts."

"I think we ought always to entertain our opinions with some measure of doubt. I shouldn't wish people dogmatically to believe any philosophy, not even mine."

"I would never die for my beliefs because I might be wrong."

"Mathematics may be defined as the subject in which we never know what we are talking about, nor whether what we are saying is true."

"The demand for certainty is one which is natural to man, but is nevertheless an intellectual vice."

"The fact that an opinion has been widely held is no evidence whatever that it is not utterly absurd."

Total garbage.

No, but you are obligated to stop trying to convince him he's wrong

If anyone needs examples of this, just search Aaron W.'s posts in RGT. EDIT: He even does it with the ludicrous premises and assumptions.

Yes.

Having strongly held beliefs implies rigidity. Rigidity is no fun in a world in which we are learning loads of new things every day that require (if we are sensible) to change our beliefs.

If you just have strong emotions about such things as mean people suck and ponies are pretty, that is different. Liking what you like is rarely an intellectual problem.

ok, what i mean is that i'm passionate about certain subjects, but there's literally nothing i believe so strongly that there isn't someone more intelligent than me who could change my mind.