"In any given field, the leading voices come from people who are motivated not by conviction but by the desire to present opinions and ideas that differ from those held by the majority." Somebody says it means "traditional view", but I'm not quiet sure.
You might want to try a dictionary. Here it means: a subjective perception, feeling, or suspicion regarding the validity of a concept or hypothesis.
All the above, and I would add 'strong belief'. I think your friend was confusing the word 'convention' with 'conviction'.
conviction here means... "In any given field, the leading voices come from people who are motivated not by conviction [Firmly held belief. Something that one believes implicitly to be the truth] but by the desire to present opinions and ideas that differ from those held by the majority."
Yeah, Kate is right; it is basically something which from their is completely and utterly correct. I'll change the sentence =) "In any given field, the leading voices come from people who are motivated not by conviction but by the desire to present opinions and ideas that differ from those held by the majority." In every different area, the leaders are motivated not by certainty in what they believe, but the desire to give every possible angle on the topic. In my opinion that's in simpler wording
