Disposition and Belief
“If we are willing to grant, at the outset, that the people we’re debating agree about ends – that they want a healthy and prosperous society in which all people can flourish – then we can converse with them, we can see ourselves as genuine members of a community. And even if at the end of the day we have to conclude that we all do not want the same goods (which can, alas, happen), it is better that we learn it at the end of the day than decide it before sunrise. Along that path we can learn from one another in a great many ways – and we have a chance of discovering unexpected opportunities for membership: for there can be more genuine fellowship among those who share the same disposition than among those who share the same beliefs, especially if that disposition is toward kindness and generosity.”
– Alan Jacobs, How to Think: A Survival Guide for a World at Odds