Hello and welcome.
This is a site for people who care about the actual world and are interested in other possible ways the world could be.
Most of us want to know what’s true and what’s right. We want our most deeply held beliefs to be true. It can matter very much to be right about an issue of ethics or social policy, and to get others to agree. But we also have a strong desire to get along with one another – to maintain warm relationships with friends, family and colleagues, and to develop new ones.
One way to keep interactions from turning hostile is to stay away from controversial topics. While this can work in social contexts, it’s not always possible to avoid conflict without cost. Political disputes are particularly difficult. Is it possible to have discussions in which the goal is reaching the conclusion supported by the best evidence, not just winning a debate?
It would be nice if all we needed were an understanding of logic, the ability to identify unstated assumptions, knowledge of all of the relevant facts, and (of course) tact and courtesy. Unfortunately these skills are not always enough. Emotional attachments can have a stronger pull than evidence, and people often feel that change lies outside their power. It’s my hope that considering issues from a different perspective may help to get around these obstacles.
Why does it matter?
Democracy’s reputation is slightly battered, perhaps because the forms it takes are vulnerable to sabotage and abuse. Nevertheless, the ideal of democracy survives. Democracy is government in which every person has a voice. If the ideal is to be realized, it depends on every person’s responsible use of that voice, and that in turn depends on dialogue and inevitably disagreement. A country or community that cannot talk about contentious issues has surrendered its independence. A passive populace that accepts what it is told by those who hold economic or political power risks much worse than conflict: it invites tyranny.
I hope the essays and discussion in this blog will encourage all of us to consider issues in new ways, to see the exchange of ideas as a means of discovering truths together, and to change the political landscape.