A pre-set conclusion reduces dialectical thought to arguing both sides.

Evidence

The harm is done by the thema probandum: the thinker uses the dialectic instead of giving himself up to it. In this way thought, masterfully dialectical, reverts to the pre-dialectical stage: the serene demonstration of the fact that there are two sides to everything. — Theodor W. Adorno, Minima Moralia, 267

Categorization

• APHORISMS: ‘The thinker uses the dialectic instead of giving himself up to it’ is genuine life-advice about honest thinking: mastery becomes a way to arrest, not further, thought.
• SEED: An essay could take ‘there are two sides to everything’ as the modern debased form of dialectic — the professional as a paid ‘both-sides’ technician.
• XREF: connects to: Closed dialectics reduce all experience to rational determinations shaped by extrasocial forces — Aris Komporozos-Athanasiou, Speculative Communities: Living With…, 157

Broader Connections

• Closed dialectics reduce all experience to rational determinations shaped by extrasocial forces #corroborates (0.82) — Aris Komporozos-Athanasiou, Speculative Communities, 157