devils advocate?

Question

What does it mean when someones says you like to play 'Devils Advocate'?

Answer 1

If there is an intelligent person around to argue the other side of a debate, that is best.

But if they are not around, then you may have to take their place and pretend to be them and anticipate the types of things they might say. That is known as playing "Devil's advocate", in order to make the debate more interesting and fair. You would not necessarily agree with the arguments you are making, but you are just playing a role or "acting" as if you thought that way.

As a Libertarian, I find myself playing Devil's advocate against both Democrats and Republicans all the time.

Answer 2

Everyone's answers are close, but, not quite complete. The devil's advocate besides taking the opposite side in an argument or discusional debate also attempts to draw out and identify the negative aspects of the oppositions idea or point of view.

Answer 3

In common parlance, devil's advocate has come to mean a person who takes a position for the sake of argument. This practice is generally an instruction technique, whereby one person more experienced teaches another who is more novice to argue properly, taking in mind a position the latter doesn't know well or at all. This way, the depth of perspective of the arguer-to-be increases.

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Origin
Formerly, during the canonization process of the Roman Catholic Church, the Promoter of the Faith (Latin Promotor Fidei), or Devil's Advocate (Latin advocatus diaboli), was a canon lawyer appointed by the Church to argue against the canonization of the candidate. It was his job to take a skeptical view of the candidate's character, to look for holes in the evidence, and to argue that any miracles attributed to the candidate were fraudulent, etc. The Devil's advocate was opposed by God's advocate, whose job is to make the argument in favor of canonization.

The office was established in 1587 and was abolished by Pope John Paul II in 1983. This abolition streamlined the canonization process considerably, helping John Paul II to usher in an unprecedented number of elevations: nearly 500 individuals were canonized and over 1,300 were beatified during his tenure as Pope as compared to only 98 canonizations by all his 20th-century predecessors.

Such a dramatic increase suggests that the office of the Devil's Advocate had served to reduce the number of canonizations by complicating the process. Some argue that it served a useful role in ensuring that canonizations did not proceed without due care and hence the status of sainthood was not easily achieved.

Answer 4

Say for example you are making a point about a particular subject.. the person who plays devils advocate will argue the opposite (though they may not neccesserily agree with the point) if you see what I'm getting at....

Answer 5

I don't know if I've gone that far, but I do like to spark a good debate and quite often ask questions that have got nothing to do with my personal opinions, just to see what the reactions and arguments for and against it are. Sometimes it makes you look at your own point of view in a whole different light, and I love that. I do go against what a room full of people are saying sometimes if I'm bored and want to see what happens. *evil laugh*

Answer 6

I think its when somebody argues the opposite way, to win the argument. Usually opposing the view of the person heading the argument at the time.

Thers also a film!

Answer 7

A person who takes a position for the sake of argument.

See the Wikipedia article in the link for an explanation

Answer 8

It means you take an opposing aprroach to an argument as a point of converstaion

Answer 9

It means that you like to play the opposite's side, some like to do that to check for flaws, others do that just for fun

Answer 10

It means you take the opposite side to their argument - even if you don't believe it and argue in it's support.