I find myself falling into this trap again and again. Someone points out something they claim counters my position and instead of evaluating it fairly I start to formulate ways in which I can subsume or reconcile their critique with what I "believe"...Furthermore, in the grip of a philosophical commitment, criticisms that should count as decisive are treated as difficulties that can be resolved only after a very long, very difficult, and, of course, extremely subtle conceptual investigation.
I think one must be willing to drop whatever one believes without regret...
Almost Buddhist like...
The larger quote is interesting as well:
The parts of a philosophical perspective are intermeshed, so, even if one support is dislodged others remain to bear its burden. Worse yet, under pressure philosophical positions can mutate into new positions embodying the same basic misapprehensions. Furthermore, in the grip of a philosophical commitment, criticisms that should count as decisive are treated as difficulties that can be resolved only after a very long, very difficult, and, of course, extremely subtle conceptual investigation. For these and other reasons, only a complete global reorientation can break the spell of a picture that holds us captive. Invoking a comparison with relativity theory, Wittgenstein puts it this way: "(One might say: the axis of reference of our examination must be rotated, but about the fixed point of our real need)"
