May 8, 2012 =========

☆ object 　反論する

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Have you ever heard of the idiom, “play devil’s advocate”? In a discussion
if you express an opinion that you don’t agree with, just to make the
discussion more interesting, then we say, “you are just playing devil’s
advocate.” Basically you are objecting to what people are saying not because
you actually believe what you are saying, but because you want the discussion
to continue. For example:

A: I think the XYZ system in our company needs to change.
B: I agree.
OR
B: Really, I disagree, it is fine as it is.

In B’s second response, he is playing devil’s advocate. If he just agreed, then A and
B would have a very agreeable, easy discussion, and perhaps no new ideas would come
up. Instead, by disagreeing, he may annoy A a little bit, but the discussion would be
more lively, and perhaps come up with some fresh new ideas on how to change the XYZ
system in the company.

See you,
Chris
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“Play devil’s advocate”という慣用句をご存知ですか？
議論などで、あえて相手の言うことに反論することを言います。
この場合、本当に相手の言うことに反対を唱えるのではなく、議論を面白くするためにわざと反論するのです。
例：

A：I think the XYZ system in our company needs to change.　
(我が社のXYZシステムは変更が必要だ)

B：I agree.　(賛成です)
または、
B：Really I disagree, it is fine as it is.　
(そうは思いません。今のままでいいのでは？)

後者の返答では、あえて反論をしています。
単に賛成をすれば、AとBの議論は簡単で、新しいアイディアなどは生まれませんね。
代わりに反論をすれば、Aはイライラするかもしれませんが、議論は活発になり、会社のXYZシステムを変更することについて、フレッシュで新しいアイディアが生まれるかもしれません。

それでは！
クリス