- Feb 20, 2007
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Here's another housekeeping sort of thread. I just wanted to remind everyone that most people are not malicious.
Here in E&M, we talk about big, controversial issues every day, and blood pressures run very high, which is understandable. When we're having discussions about what some people regard to be civil or natural rights, it's inevitable that people on both sides of the argument will tend to find it difficult to see what positive ethical reasons their opposition might have for holding their views. But in almost every case, I think that people do have those reasons, although of course they may be bad or incorrect reasons. Most people think they are doing the right thing. And in our debates, we would usually do well to remember that, because these days we all seem to be wasting a lot of time speculating about the malicious motivations of the people with whom we disagree.
On the other side of the coin, although we like to think of ourselves as rational creatures, the fact is that people find themselves persuaded by arguments not just because of the logical soundness of those arguments, but because of confirmation bias - and that applies to every single one of us. We are all prone to errors of reasoning or to simply siding with the side we always side with because of our prejudices. We do this because we are human, and none of us is free of it.
I'm loath to use specific examples because I don't want to turn this thread into an argument about any of those tedious topics that always take up 70% of the threads on the forum page. I hope others won't turn this thread into one of those, either. My message here is that we would all do well to try to think about others' reasons for feeling the way they do about things, and also to have a little humility and remember that we are just as likely to suffer from confirmation bias as those we oppose.
To love your enemies is quite a difficult thing to do, but there is a point to it: if you have a go at loving them, you can also have a go at understanding them and their reasons for feeling the way they do. And vice versa.
It's a bit rich to claim you love your enemies but never make the effort to try to understand why they feel the way they do, and to think that perhaps there are genuine and sincere concerns behind their views - sincere even though they may be mistaken.
Peace and love and all that.
Here in E&M, we talk about big, controversial issues every day, and blood pressures run very high, which is understandable. When we're having discussions about what some people regard to be civil or natural rights, it's inevitable that people on both sides of the argument will tend to find it difficult to see what positive ethical reasons their opposition might have for holding their views. But in almost every case, I think that people do have those reasons, although of course they may be bad or incorrect reasons. Most people think they are doing the right thing. And in our debates, we would usually do well to remember that, because these days we all seem to be wasting a lot of time speculating about the malicious motivations of the people with whom we disagree.
On the other side of the coin, although we like to think of ourselves as rational creatures, the fact is that people find themselves persuaded by arguments not just because of the logical soundness of those arguments, but because of confirmation bias - and that applies to every single one of us. We are all prone to errors of reasoning or to simply siding with the side we always side with because of our prejudices. We do this because we are human, and none of us is free of it.
I'm loath to use specific examples because I don't want to turn this thread into an argument about any of those tedious topics that always take up 70% of the threads on the forum page. I hope others won't turn this thread into one of those, either. My message here is that we would all do well to try to think about others' reasons for feeling the way they do about things, and also to have a little humility and remember that we are just as likely to suffer from confirmation bias as those we oppose.
To love your enemies is quite a difficult thing to do, but there is a point to it: if you have a go at loving them, you can also have a go at understanding them and their reasons for feeling the way they do. And vice versa.
It's a bit rich to claim you love your enemies but never make the effort to try to understand why they feel the way they do, and to think that perhaps there are genuine and sincere concerns behind their views - sincere even though they may be mistaken.Peace and love and all that.
