Seeking the Well-Articulated Opposing View

Continuing with the theme of polarized opinions, I recently discovered a few more reasons why things are unlikely to change any time soon. Like last time, this one too is for reasonable people, i.e., not fanatics.

These lines by Bertrand Russell are a warning sign as to when things may not be as black and white as you think:

“If an opinion contrary to your own makes you angry, that is a sign that you are subconsciously aware of having no good reason for thinking as you do. If some one maintains that two and two are five, or that Iceland is on the equator, you feel pity rather than anger, unless you know so little of arithmetic or geography that his opinion shakes your own contrary conviction. The most savage controversies are those about matters as to which there is no good evidence either way.”

It's hard to believe, but just because you can see some of the flaws in the views you support doesn’t mean that you can see the merits of the opposing view. To understand and evaluate the opposing view, we need to do more of what Russell said, i.e., seek out and read/hear the opposing view from its most articulate proponents:

“A good way of ridding yourself of certain kinds of dogmatism is to become aware of opinions held in social circles different from your own… Seek out people with whom you disagree, and read a newspaper belonging to a party that is not yours. If the people and the newspaper seem mad, perverse, and wicked, remind yourself that you seem so to them.”

Or as I’ve said before: watch Russia Today to balance a Western news channel; balance German sanctimoniousness on privacy from Facebook and Google with how their own security agencies were spying on Western journalists.

Russell then suggest something that’s even harder to do:

“It is a good plan to imagine an argument with a person having a different bias… you will find it a good plan to test the arguments that occur to you by considering what (your opponent) might say in refutation of them… I have frequently found myself growing less dogmatic and cocksure through realizing the possible reasonableness of a hypothetical opponent.”

As you can imagine, all of this is a lot of work; and it may shatter your long held and cherished views. And even reasonable people aren’t keen to put that effort or take that risk…