On the Importance of Understanding Regardless of Agreement

[unspeakablehorror]

I think understanding perspectives different from your own is a very important ability, regardless of how sympathetic you think those perspectives are. I think too often people conflate understanding with agreement, but those two things have essentially no correlation. You can agree with someone's position even if you don't understand their perspective on it, and you can oppose a position you understand perfectly. Understanding the perspectives of others is extremely important both for helping those you care about and hindering your enemies.

I think it's also important to understand our own limitations, in that it can be very difficult to understand thought processes that diverge significantly from our own. It can also be difficult to understand another person's perspective because what they are both able and willing to communicate of their thought processes will often be quite limited.