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A late post – I'll be making this quick, since it's night and I'm leaving early to go hiking tomorrow.
A few days ago on IIDB, someone started a thread asking what it meant to respect another's beliefs. The consensus was mostly what I would have expected – don't mock the person, but feel free to argue against their beliefs – but I had some dissatisfaction with this answer. After all, it seemed to have less to do with respect and more to do with courtesy. I suppose the question started percolating back in my mind, because while I noodled around on Yahoo! Answers today, I think I figured it out.
The key: Most people believe what they do because they think it is true.
It's obvious, of course. After all, in the abstract, it's hard to imagine that any large group of people could make a habit of lying to themselves. I mean, would I lie to myself? Would you? It'd take pretty weird circumstances.
But when you start applying the idea to concrete examples, it's clear what a difference it makes.
That person, over there, does not believe what I believe. In fact, I know they're wrong, because I know the evidence I have for what I believe is very good. (Of course I could be wrong, but I don't believe that.) However, I also know – well, assume – that they believe what they do because they think it's true. They have evidence. They have logic. They have trusted authorities, and they considered all these and said, "Yes, this is the reasonable solution." And though I may want to correct them – after all, I don't think it's reasonable – I can't think of them as idiots. They just believe what they think is true.
So, like the IIDBers advised, I won't mock them, and I'll feel free to argue against their beliefs. But the 'why' is obvious; it's not out of a desire to avoid conflict or hurt feelings, it's because there's nothing to mock.
They just believe what they think is true. Just like me.
A few days ago on IIDB, someone started a thread asking what it meant to respect another's beliefs. The consensus was mostly what I would have expected – don't mock the person, but feel free to argue against their beliefs – but I had some dissatisfaction with this answer. After all, it seemed to have less to do with respect and more to do with courtesy. I suppose the question started percolating back in my mind, because while I noodled around on Yahoo! Answers today, I think I figured it out.
The key: Most people believe what they do because they think it is true.
It's obvious, of course. After all, in the abstract, it's hard to imagine that any large group of people could make a habit of lying to themselves. I mean, would I lie to myself? Would you? It'd take pretty weird circumstances.
But when you start applying the idea to concrete examples, it's clear what a difference it makes.
That person, over there, does not believe what I believe. In fact, I know they're wrong, because I know the evidence I have for what I believe is very good. (Of course I could be wrong, but I don't believe that.) However, I also know – well, assume – that they believe what they do because they think it's true. They have evidence. They have logic. They have trusted authorities, and they considered all these and said, "Yes, this is the reasonable solution." And though I may want to correct them – after all, I don't think it's reasonable – I can't think of them as idiots. They just believe what they think is true.
So, like the IIDBers advised, I won't mock them, and I'll feel free to argue against their beliefs. But the 'why' is obvious; it's not out of a desire to avoid conflict or hurt feelings, it's because there's nothing to mock.
They just believe what they think is true. Just like me.
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