Recently, a student asked me what I thought the fallout would be from the Trump impeachment. My first reaction was that it hurt both parties. Long before the vote happened, you knew that the Democrats were going to impeach Trump and the Republicans were going to acquit him.
This partisanship is such a poor example for the country. Neither party really listened to the arguments but had decided much earlier to just follow the party line. How do we as individuals try to prevent ourselves from falling into this same trap?
Let’s begin with some self-reflection questions:
Do you listen as if you might be wrong?
Do you allow new evidence to change your opinion?
Do you search for evidence that might go against your opinion?
Do you value other opinions even if they differ from your own?
There are many times during an argument that my answer will be “no” to all these questions. I must continue to remind myself that critical thinking is the ability to change one’s mind when presented with new facts
Try not to enter an argument the same way the Democrats and Republicans do. Do not assume that people who disagree with you do not have the facts. Also, do not confuse opinions with facts.
It is not easy to really listen to other opinions when they differ from your own. However, if we all want to become critical thinkers, we must have the intellectual humility to change our perspectives when presented with new facts.
While it is extremely hard to do in the heat of an argument, my challenge to all of you is this: instead of trying to convince the person you are right, think about something you have learned and how that might have changed your perspective.
I think a lot of time when we argue, we are scared to change our minds because it makes it look like we didn’t know what we were talking about before. After all, doesn’t it make us foolish if we were holding on to incorrect information before and believing it was true? But this really is where that part about intellectual humility comes in, and I think this post offers great context for it. I have tried to do this more and more in my own life; and honestly, it is liberating to know that you don’t have to be right all the time but instead that you can learn something new from every disagreement.
ReplyDeleteCas, I think confirmation bias gets in the way of learning. We have the tendency to listen to things that confirm our beliefs instead of really trying to listen to things which might change or reshape our beliefs. If you were in my class five years ago you would see many changes in the way I teach which have evolved from things that I learned from other teachers or other students. Thanks for taking the time to post
ReplyDeletehttps://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2019/06/republicans-and-democrats-dont-understand-each-other/592324/
ReplyDeleteI think a lot of this issue comes from what we analyzed over the summer, vulnerability. As partisan opponents approach a discussion over a topic, each individual approaches with the mindset that their take is the correct take, and they are there to change the other person's mind. Neither individual can approach a partisan topic with any other mindset than this for the fear that, if they do allot any amount of truth or validity to the other individual's argument, they will be ridiculed by their adversary with claims of "I told you so." This same concept is further expanded on the partisan world stage as politicians are constantly being watched, and, if they alter any of their previous beliefs, they are slandered from both sides of the aisle as "two-faced" and a "liar", or, once again, "I told you so." Ultimately, in a politically complex world that is incessantly focused on image and integrity it is impossible to alter one's view due to harsh judgement.
ReplyDelete^ Koster by the way, I do not know how to put me name up
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