Quick refresher:
In philosophy and rhetoric, the principle of charity is an approach to understanding a speaker's statements by interpreting the speaker's statements to be rational and, in the case of any argument, rendering the best, strongest possible interpretation of an argument. In its narrowest sense, the goal of this methodological principle is to avoid attributing irrationality, logical fallacies or falsehoods to the statements of others, when there is another coherent, rational interpretation of the statements.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Principle_of_charity
There are those who hold that this should be held inspite of the behavior of the other person in the dialog and they present it as a conversational maxim, much like those who hold pacifism even in the case of direct assault.
Personally I feel the purpose of dialog is not charity and while I prefer to be charitable, I don't do so at the sacrifice of my position, much like I prefer peace but am willing to defend myself against overt aggression.
Then there are those who seem to feel the principle of charity is an excellent rhetorical ploy to pull out when they can no longer defend their position. It has a nice one-two redherring-ad hominum punch.
In philosophy and rhetoric, the principle of charity is an approach to understanding a speaker's statements by interpreting the speaker's statements to be rational and, in the case of any argument, rendering the best, strongest possible interpretation of an argument. In its narrowest sense, the goal of this methodological principle is to avoid attributing irrationality, logical fallacies or falsehoods to the statements of others, when there is another coherent, rational interpretation of the statements.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Principle_of_charity
There are those who hold that this should be held inspite of the behavior of the other person in the dialog and they present it as a conversational maxim, much like those who hold pacifism even in the case of direct assault.
Personally I feel the purpose of dialog is not charity and while I prefer to be charitable, I don't do so at the sacrifice of my position, much like I prefer peace but am willing to defend myself against overt aggression.
Then there are those who seem to feel the principle of charity is an excellent rhetorical ploy to pull out when they can no longer defend their position. It has a nice one-two redherring-ad hominum punch.