Questioning Opinion Formation – Walter Lippmann Quote

"The first way to know something is, of course, through personal experience. You know that your living room is painted green because you’ve been in your living room and saw that it was green. (I won’t worry here about things like how you know you aren’t dreaming or insane or such.) Similarly you know what a bird is, how gravity works (again, in an everyday sense), and how to get to the nearest shopping mall, all by direct experience. The second way to know things is by authority. That is, you rely on some source of information, believing it to be reliable, when you have no experience of your own. So almost every person who has gone to school believes that the earth goes around the sun, even though very few people would be able to tell you how anybody could even detect that motion. You are relying on authority if, when asked if you know the way to San Jose, you answer yes and pull out a map. You might be able to personally test the map’s reliability by using it to navigate to San Jose, but until you do you are relying on authority. Many people believe democracy is superior to other forms of government even though they haven’t lived under any other type. They rely on the authority of textbooks and politicians, and perhaps on verbal or pictorial descriptions of what it’s like in other societies. Of course other societies do the same, and most of their defenders rely on authority." Michael J. Behe

"I realize this is a radical statement, but to me it is true. I believe I don't really listen unless there is some truth in what the other person is telling me. Not just on the surface, but underneath. What drives them? Why do they say that? What are they trying to understand? Perhaps there is something positive in them that could change me for the better. I should always look out for something that positively changes me. But I find that when I listen more mindfully, I ask myself: What is behind it? Recently, I had a conversation, or rather, I listened to a conversation on YouTube. Someone claimed that it is possible that the Earth is flat. If I had spoken with this person, I would hopefully say: "Well, how did you come to this belief? Where does this idea come from?" Because there is something good about their trying to understand how nature works. Is the Earth round or flat? What is going on here? Behind it lies something useful that I can identify with. We don't have to shout at each other all the time." Alan Alda