mahgister,
My remark about your mind set is not a more ad hominem act than your
assimilation of subjectivist audiophiles, who report something about
cables, to the flat earther, and anti-vaxing crowd ...
Are you unaware of how a principle of reason can be often be defended by deliberately choosing extreme examples on the assumption that both parties agree on that example, hence establishing the principle?
As in, the parent to the child "You tried smoking because Eddie told you to? WOULD YOU JUMP OFF A CLIFF IF EDDIE TOLD YOU TO?"
The extreme example is adduced not to show that two examples are the same, but that the PRINCIPLE applied to the two examples are the same.
That was my point about neutrality. You seemed to imply that merely being "not neutral" amounted to some critique of my position. My appeal to being "neutral" about flat or round earth was deliberately extreme so that you'd agree with the principle that "neutrality" is not in of itself some intrinsic virtue or indication of reasonableness.
Of course any argument has to be "neutral" in terms of not begging the question. You can't assume X is the case but have to produce the argument for it being the case.
But beyond that, it's hard to see what point you could have been making about "not being neutral."
By the way an argument can be perfectly rational and sound and used
in a non neutral way, motivated by an agenda. (examples abound: using
Darwinian science facts in a political agenda etc).
Er...yes. Of course. That's perfectly compatible with what I already wrote about arguments themselves not being neutral. Someone will have their motivations/reasons for defending a particular position. The motivations can vary wildly among people.
That doesn't tell us whether the arguments are reasonable or sound or not, so...again...it's often hard to find your point. How does any of that relate to audiophile claims? Should no one make claims? Should only one viewpoint (e.g. the purely subjectivist) be allowed to make claims?What is your actual point?