You Talkin’ About Me?

“Why is Dad so closed-minded? He won’t discuss or listen to reason about anything, especially his political choices!” Have you ever said or thought something like that about a relative or friend? I know I have. An article caught my eye last week. I read it, then sat back and wondered if the author was talking to me (or maybe about me?)

In “Everyone wants to think they’re open-minded – here’s why most people aren’t.” Daryl Van Tongeren, Prof. of Psychology at Hope College, explores why in today’s world it’s more common and comfortable to defend your position than to change your mind; how being open-minded involves awareness and ownership of biases in your beliefs, ideas and views. He says it requires willingness to revise those views when presented with strong, differing evidence.  Being open-minded means being non-defensive and admitting when you’re wrong. It means you care more about learning and preserving relationships than being right. It takes being curious, realistic and teachable.  It sounds super virtuous, and like hard work.

That article led me to another: Ross Channing Reed, Prof. of Philosophy, Missouri University wrote “Why Sophrosyne, an ancient Greek virtue, matters more than ever in the age of AI.” He concluded that closed-mindedness (the opposite of Sophrosyne) is having a detrimental effect on our democracy. What the heck is Sophrosyne?

Sophrosyne (pronounced suh-fros-uh-nee) is a constellation of virtues: moderation, reflectiveness, and self-knowledge. It is the opposite of excessive pride, dangerous overconfidence and lack of insight. Plato said it’s the ability to know oneself and to know when you don’t know something – he also named it sound-mindedness. He believed that to maintain the virtue, it had to be coupled with humility. Again, hard work.

Modern philosophers agree. Sophrosyne is not inherent but learned – and takes practice – to know the difference between good and bad, and true and false and constantly model it. Reed believes America is currently suffering a major consequence from lack of this virtue, which is an increase in incivility due to screen addiction, reduced attention span, decreased ability to focus and more. Lack of Sophrosyne, he says, has led to excessive pride and overconfidence and is hurting our ability to engage in diplomacy and to respect other’s differences, ultimately threatening our democracy and world peace.

So, what do we do? Be role models. Cut down on screen time, mingle, smile, be attentive, focus, talk, & be civil and humble…always. Be open-minded. Practice suh-fros-uh-nee.

RESIST INCIVILITY

Janet Jeffery – Gold Beach