Devil\u2019s Advocate<\/p>\n\n\n\n
It\u2019s a strange phrase. Aligning yourself with the devil is sure to isolate yourself from a broad segment of society. Yet we say we are \u201cplaying devil\u2019s advocate\u201d with some regularity. But why? Where did this phrase come from?<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The term has come to describe anyone who argues for a less popular cause, simply for the sake or arguing. Some people enjoy presenting a contrary opinion, even when they don\u2019t agree with it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The term has roots in the canonization process in the Catholic Church. From 1587 to 1983, an appointed official, the promotor fidei <\/em>(Promoter of the Faith), was tasked with finding all the flaws and misdeeds of individuals proposed for possible elevation to sainthood. He (given the church and the time period it was almost certainly a man) was called the devil\u2019s advocate because the facts he found were presented as evidence of why the person should not<\/em> be named a saint.<\/p>\n\n\n\n This position appears<\/a> to have been established by Sixtus V in 1587 (but the term itself is older, dating at least back to the early 15th<\/sup> century when it was used by Pope Leo X). In 1983, Pope John Paul II\u2019s revised the canonization process, so the promotor fidei<\/em> no longer wields such influence over the proceeding.<\/p>\n\n\n\n According to Boston Globe<\/em> columnist Ben Zimmer<\/a>, colloquial use of the term began as early as the 18th<\/sup> century (the meaning we generally use now: to reference people who take an opposing viewpoint, not because they believe in their argument but believe that the argument needs to be made).<\/p>\n\n\n\n But perhaps there is some real value to a devil\u2019s advocate. In Forbes,<\/a> Chunka Mui argues that there are advantages to deliberately creating a position of devil\u2019s advocate in the workplace; it can be a key force in innovation. Mui says, \u201cThe devil\u2019s advocate helps bring to the surface issues that might otherwise be ignored.\u201d This argument makes the devil\u2018s advocate part of the process from the start, to help identify opportunities and concerns, and to \u201cget everyone on the same page.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Bruce Eckfeldt in Inc.<\/a> seems to agree. He described what a good devil\u2019s advocate looks like: His or her role is not to \u201cjust be argumentative and create friction on the team\u201d but to serve the team by asking questions and \u201cproviding additional or alternative data, logic, or experiences.\u201d This person should present new information and suggest alternatives. The purpose of a devil\u2019s advocate is to inspire and push the team to new heights, not to frustrate and stall their efforts or stifle creativity.<\/p>\n\n\n\n While we may get frustrated by their questions, a devil\u2019s advocate is not necessarily a bad thing. A person\u2019s motive and how far they push the negativity both factor into whether they are acting as a force for good or evil. I guess like many other things, the devil is in the details.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Devil\u2019s Advocate It\u2019s a strange phrase. Aligning yourself with the devil is sure to isolate yourself from a broad segment of society. Yet we say we are \u201cplaying devil\u2019s advocate\u201d with some regularity. But why? Where did this phrase come from? The term has come to describe anyone who argues for a less popular cause,Read more<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":394,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_exactmetrics_skip_tracking":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_active":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_note":"","_exactmetrics_sitenote_category":0,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[72],"tags":[75],"class_list":["post-393","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-etymology","tag-etymology"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/kimberlyyavorski.com\/whatwhyhowcome\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/5\/2023\/03\/IMG_7430c.jpg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p7mVKP-6l","jetpack-related-posts":[],"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/kimberlyyavorski.com\/whatwhyhowcome\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/393","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/kimberlyyavorski.com\/whatwhyhowcome\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/kimberlyyavorski.com\/whatwhyhowcome\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kimberlyyavorski.com\/whatwhyhowcome\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kimberlyyavorski.com\/whatwhyhowcome\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=393"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/kimberlyyavorski.com\/whatwhyhowcome\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/393\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":396,"href":"https:\/\/kimberlyyavorski.com\/whatwhyhowcome\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/393\/revisions\/396"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kimberlyyavorski.com\/whatwhyhowcome\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/394"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/kimberlyyavorski.com\/whatwhyhowcome\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=393"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kimberlyyavorski.com\/whatwhyhowcome\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=393"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kimberlyyavorski.com\/whatwhyhowcome\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=393"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}