Beyond Feelings - Vincent Ruggiero.original_ [75]
Between the person and the idea. It's easy to confuse the person with the idea. Just as we tend to overlook the faults of our friends and exaggerate those of our enemies, so we tend to look favorably on the ideas of people we like or admire and unfavorably on those we dislike or do not admire. But the most admirable person can have a shallow mistaken view, and the least admirable can have profound one. Therefore, we should make a conscious effort to keep our analysis of ideas separate from our feeling for the people who hold them.
Between what is said and the way it is said. Style and substance are quite different matters. Unfortunately, the person with the clearest and most graceful expression does not always have the soundest idea. So though it is natural for us to be impressed by effective writers or speakers, it's unwise to assume that their ideas are necessarily sound. As Augustine once said, "Our concern with a man is not with what eloquence he teaches, but with what evidence."
Between why people think as they do and whether what they think is correct. It's common to judge people's motives for thinking and acting as they do. Though such judging is sometimes rash, it can be a very helpful kind of interpretation. Ding out that a senator has connections with the handgun manufacturing industry, for example, raises interesting questions about the senator's opposition to gun control laws. But it is important for us to remember that unworthy motivations do not necessarily contaminate the position. The soundness of an idea doesn't depend on the motivations of those who support it. It depends on how well it fits the realities of the situation.
FINDING THE BEST INTERPRETATION
If we examine the evidence carefully and open-mindedly, we'll seldom find a single interpretation. Rather, we'll find several possible interpretations. Our job will then be to narrow down the possibilities to determine which is the most reasonable interpretation. The basis for deciding which is the most reasonable interpretation is not how popular it is. Neither is it its familiarity to us or our personal preference for it. The test is its relationship to the evidence. The most reasonable interpretation is the one that fits the evidence best – that is, the one that covers all the facts and reconciles conflicting opinions better than any other.
Occasionally, it will be impossible for us to decide on a single interpretation. Two or more interpretations may fit the evidence equally well. In such cases, we should not attempt to force a choice between them but wait until sufficient evidence has been found to warrant a responsible choice.
APPLICATIONS
To the evidence you gather in application 1 of Chapter 19, add any evidence from your own experience and observation. Then interpret all the evidence, asking and answering the questions detailed in this chapter. One the basis of your interpretation, decide your position on the issue.
To the evidence you gathered in application 2 of Chapter 19, add any evidence form your own experience and observation. Then interpret all the evidence, asking and answering the questions detailed in this chapter. On the basis of your interpretation, decide your position on the issue.
1 "The 2000-Year-Old Woman," Time, September 17, 1973, pp.55-56.
2 Walter Sullivan, "Early Man: The Tale Told by a Skull," new York Times, November 12, 1972, Sec.4, p.12.
3 "Donald Johanson: Professional with Lots of Luck, :"New York Times, February 8, 1979, p.41.
P3-C20-3
CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE
ANALYZING VIEWPOINTS
When we conduct our inquiry into an issue, we will often find one or two viewpoints that deserve special attention. Sometimes it will be an article of chapter in a book written by an important advocate for the particular view. Other times it will be the statement that originally prompted our inquiry – a newspaper editorial,