Open-mindedness key to discovering truth

To Talk of Many Things

Every day through the media of print journalism and broadcast news, there is a wide dissemination of opinion that is meant to make us think about important, relevant topics. Subjects ranging from the conflict in Iraq to prescription drug coverage to trade policy attract numerous opinions to the op-ed pages and the political exchange shows.

When many different thoughts on public affairs are brought out into the open, it is beneficial for conversation on these affairs to be undertaken.

Our political culture thrives on the exchange of opinion concerning public affairs that affects our country and the world. The political and institutional foundations of the American republic are grounded in the free distribution of opinion.

Therefore, it is very important for people to engage in substantive discussion about how best to shape public policy to serve the general welfare. Many ideas in many different areas deserve serious exploration. To do so, it is useful to examine the art of conversation and how it should be utilized to achieve a civil exploration of ideas. For beneficial discussion to flourish, it is fundamental that people who engage in it be open-minded.

Open-mindedness is a necessary component for all the participants in a productive discussion. This trait is needed in order to carry out an underlying purpose of mutual discourse. The word "conversation" has the same root as the term "convert" — that is, to change. This implies that, in conversation, there is an expectation of change on the part of all participants. Change is created by the degree of open-mindedness exhibited by conversationalists.

A fundamental objective of a true conversation is for the participants to arrive at an understanding of what each other is thinking. A mutual understanding among the participants about the ideas that each person is attempting to convey is necessary.

In this way, people taking part in the conversation should walk away from the discussion with a new appreciation of the ideas expressed by the other conversationalists. The change that takes place in the conversationalists is the new comprehension of whatever the other persons are trying to say.

In essence, true conversation requires change because each person involved should be able to comprehend differing ideas in a way he or she did not comprehend previously.

The key challenge is for all the participants to be willing to listen to and consider the ideas being expressed, even thosewith which they may disagree.

If, in a discussion, each person simply states his own opinion in a dogmatic manner without taking the time to consider the ideas of others, then the participants merely are engaging in verbal theater, not good-faith conversation. It becomes impossible for change to occur in people’s thoughts or feelings about ideas if they close their minds and convince themselves that they already know how the world works.

The participants in a conversation are not required to change their ideas and opinions about topics, although certainly this can happen. What should change is their appreciation of the ideas expressed by their fellow conversationalists.

When people engage in a discussion and come away with a new understanding of why others feel as they do on the matter discussed, they have changed themselves in a positive way intellectually. From an intellectual standpoint, people are reminded that there are many aspects to ultimate truth, and that they and others may possess some of those aspects in their ideas.

The fruit of this discourse is genuine contribution to the service of democracy. America is founded on opinion, and it is nourished by the injection of many different arguments into the public forum. Only when ideas are exchhhanged open-mindedly can all sides of a debate clearly be expressed and carefully considered, and only then can we arrive closer to ultimate truth. John Stuart Mill put it best, stating that "since the general or prevailing opinion on any subject is rarely or never the whole truth, it is only by the collision of adverse opinions that the remainder of the truth has any chance of being supplied."

The process of sorting through ideas is enhanced when everyone approaches serious discourse with a real willingness to listen. Once we adopt that mentality, we are one step closer to discovering the truth.

Jonathan Kelly is a junior political science major.