People like to feel comfortable. That is a universal truth. And if there is something comfortable and comfortable in this world, at least for our brains, it is clinging to a good topic. Not only does it save us from thinking about things, it also creates a soft intellectual cushion on which to settle.
“The clichés portray us because they are the symptoms of common beliefs,” reasons the philosopher Aurelio Arteta (Sangüesa, 1945), professor at the University of the Basque Country (UPV), who years ago dissected in one of his essays one of the most deeply rooted and apparently unquestionable commonplaces in our society: Are all opinions really equally respectable?
That brings us to other, equally important questions: What does it mean? ‘respect an opinion’? Do we behave in an intolerant way if we question it? And what deserves respect, the idea itself or the person behind it?
“Confront them, don’t juxtapose them”
“Let’s say that all opinions are respectable. If they were, we would not have to argue our own opinions or dare to question those of others. They would all be worth the same, which in the end means that none of them are worth anything. The degree of truth of each one would not matter, because the only thing that counts is the right to express opinions without any reply,” argued In an interview granted and The Spanish in 2012, after the publication of ‘So many silly clichés’.
For the Navarrese philosopher the key is to maintain a position open and tolerantbut starting from a crucial premise: respect does not exclude debate and is not incompatible with maintaining a critical approach. On the contrary.
“Respecting opinions means confronting them with each other, not juxtaposing them and preserving them from clashing. Ultimately, it is the person who deserves respect, and very often despite their opinions,” abounds Arteta.
“Of course many will still respond indignantly: ‘But you’re not trying to convince me!’ As if persuading with reasons were the same as use impositions. “That’s as far as the stupidity of the environment goes.”
Taking that stance is not easy. It requires an effort: thinking, reasoning and taking the risk involved in starting a confrontation of ideas that, if necessary, can force us to rethink our own convictions. It is not a minor issue because clichés often also serve as social glue.
“By repeating the clichés we also seek to fit in with the group, to blend into it, to be one of our own, to dress in the current fashion. In short, not to be left alone and out in the open,” duck the professor of Philosophy.
Aurelio Arteta is not the only one who has raised his voice to remind us what intellectual and respectful respect really consists of. knock down old clichés and hackneyed phrases like the one that says ‘I respect your ideas, but I don’t share them’.
He did something similar in his day José Antonio Marinaphilosopher and essayist, who emphasized in another interview What the rights to freedom of expression and thought protect is “the people”, “not the content of the opinion”.
“That opinion can be stupid, aggressive… No, each opinion must have its source of legitimation. If it is a mathematical opinion, mathematics; if it is a geographical opinion, geographical criteria. To a person who tells me that the earth is flat, I say: ‘I am not going to put you in jail for that because you are free to express your opinion, but I am not going to give you a professorship in Geography.’
Our tendency to turn ideas into untouchable constructs actually connects with our nature and something that the psychologist Arie Kruglanski defined as the need for cognitive closure: Humans do not like uncertainty and that leads us to quickly establish beliefs or, if necessary, demand that they be respected to keep them untouchable and not force us to revise our way of seeing the world.
Images | Carlos Torres (Unsplash)
Via | Trends
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