#open-mindedness

Firstly the social justice, fandom(I’m here), and aesthetic sides of Tumblr are all gonna have vastly different outcomes just by the nature of the kind of things that tend to start disagreements over in each. But in most cases I don’t think blocking a person a few times a month will ever get you in a situation where you stop seeing opinions and beliefs you disagree with. There’s so many millions of people and every one of them contains multitudes. A person you agree with wholeheartedly on one thing might have beliefs on another thing you just kinda tolerate.

But also I think people hear peoples block criteria and assume they mean “I block people who disagree with me” instead of what people usually mean which is “I block people who do not approach conversations with civility”.

Like, I’ve had brilliant conversations on this site with people I did, and continue to, care about deeply specifically on the topic of our different worldviews! I’ve delved into discussions about the intricacies of the morality of fictional characters and how the interactions of morality within a single story reflect differently on different characters based on what point of view you see the story from. The disagreements are always numerous, yet the basic human respect still stays regardless.

I find what people don’t tend to take into account is how little you can gain from a disagreement with someone who doesn’t have basic human respect for you. There are more and less extreme examples of this across the board. But the people I tend to block after a disagreement are those who felt their beliefs had to be step by step explained to me, yet did not level the conversation to approach me like someone who might learn something from them. Because there is a vast ocean between: 1. A person who believes they have something to teach you and gets on your level to teach with compassion and respect first. And 2. people who are not going to let go of the standpoint that they have some aspect of intelligence over and above you which makes you the idiot with the wrong opinion because you can’t conceive of the right one, and them as the enlightened intellectual who can think about things. That is the difference between a compassionate disagreement between people, and a pointless argument which will bring no real change or even understanding.

The philosophy of truth seeking involves the rigorous and systematic pursuit of truth and understanding across various domains of knowledge. It encompasses the methodologies, ethical considerations, and intellectual virtues necessary for discerning what is true from what is false. This philosophy is fundamental to disciplines such as epistemology, science, and ethics, and it plays a crucial role in how individuals and societies form beliefs, make decisions, and establish values.

At its core, truth seeking is driven by the belief that truth is valuable and worth pursuing for its own sake, as well as for its practical benefits. Philosophers have long debated the nature of truth, the methods by which it can be discovered, and the criteria for determining its validity. Some key aspects of the philosophy of truth seeking include:

Epistemology: The study of knowledge and justified belief. It explores the nature, scope, and limits of human knowledge, as well as the methods for acquiring and validating it.

Scientific Method: A systematic approach to inquiry that relies on observation, experimentation, and empirical evidence to develop and test hypotheses about the natural world.

Intellectual Virtues: Traits such as open-mindedness, intellectual humility, critical thinking, and perseverance that are essential for effective truth seeking.

Ethical Considerations: The moral responsibilities associated with seeking and disseminating truth, including honesty, integrity, and respect for evidence.

Critical thinking, as we can define it, is the ability to analyze information, evaluate arguments, and form sound judgments. Photo by Ivan Bertolazzi on Pexels.com It’s a mental process that involves more than just gathering information; it’s about understanding, questioning, and evaluating that information. Developing this capacity requires a combination of cognitive skills and habits of…