This grew out of a comment I made to someone who was upset over the situation we’re in and who praised it as wisdom, so I felt it needed to be shared more widely.
One thing I’ve (re)discovered due to the argument over Biden the past two weeks is the importance of recognizing that disagreement can be a useful tool for coming closer to the truth of a matter, but only when the disagreeing parties are willing to consider the points the other is making.
There’s a term called parallax, which refers to the apparent displacement of an object based on the position you see it from. As shown in the image at the top of the article, the position you view something from can drastically change how it looks to you.
Imagine that A and B started talking about whether the star was against a red background or a blue background, and neither was willing to acknowledge the other had a point. Indeed, imagine they grew angry with each other as the other was not listening to what they were trying to say, and it should give you a pretty good idea of why this argument we’ve all been having about Biden hasn’t gone anywhere. If A is not willing to listen to B, and B is not willing to listen to A, then neither can make any real headway no matter what they say, especially if they (as often happens) vent their spleens with invective aimed at the other party.
Now imagine if, instead of arguing, A and B recognized that they disagreed, and that their disagreement was due to the fact that they couldn’t actually see the other’s viewpoint. Imagine if, instead of arguing over who was correct, they were willing to listen to each other and to consider what the other was saying, and decided to look at the situation from other angles to see if they could get a better idea of what was going on. Wouldn’t that be better than an unceasing argument over who’s right?
We will often disagree with others, but it’s important to recognize that honest and forthright disagreement is a good way to get closer to the truth of a matter, as long as people are willing to listen and give consideration to what the people they disagree with say. We each have our own perspective on things, and comparing those perspectives allows us to discover inconsistencies and contradictions that would otherwise distort our thinking. The more perspectives we have, the easier this is to do, and the better decisions we make.
