Some food for thought for today

Some food for thought for today

By Hendrik van der Breggen

“Be egalitarian regarding people, but be elitist when it comes to ideas. Treat people with respect; treat ideas with differing respect, because some [ideas] are better than others.”

(I scribbled down the above words years ago from a lecture by philosopher Francis J. Beckwith, a lecture whose title and date I’ve forgotten. I notice that apologist Gregory Koukl attributes the first sentence to philosopher Peter Kreeft in Koukl’s article, “The Myth of Tolerance,” Christian Research Journal, Volume 24, Number 4 [2002]. Regardless of who said it, it’s good.)

Why be egalitarian regarding people?  Because they each have great worth. Because they each are made in God’s image. People should be respected, even though we might disagree with them.

Why be elitist when it comes to ideas? Because some ideas are better than others. To be elitist with regard to ideas is to strive for the best ideas—ideas that are true, excellent, and praiseworthy. And we should strive for the best ideas while remaining humble and respecting people who might disagree.

Surely, some ideas are better than others. Here are some examples: 

• driving with lights on at night rather than off
• chewing gum rather than glass
• 5+5=10 versus 5+5=11
• democracy versus totalitarianism
• loving your neighbour versus hating your neighbour
• seeking truth versus remaining ignorant of truth
• realizing that polite truth-seeking conversation is not hate speech
• being open to understanding others (in context) rather than misrepresenting their views (out of context)
• having polite truth-seeing conversation with those with whom we disagree rather than assassinating them

We can discern whether an idea or claim is good or true on the basis of the arguments (reasons and evidence) that can be mustered in defence of that idea or claim. Arguments (respectful truth-seeking conversations involving reasons and evidence) allow us to make informed judgments. But to pursue truth we have to make the effort to think carefully.

Here is a helpful description of what Beckwith/Kreeft is up to (from a former student, with permission):

“Beckwith [or Kreeft] is illustrating the difference between judging people for their ideas, and judging the ideas themselves. He is promoting the [correct] sense of tolerance—namely that of maintaining respect for others regardless of whether or not we agree with their views and beliefs. That we should be ‘egalitarian regarding people’ indicates that an individual’s right to opinion should be respected, and that his/her individual worth should not be judged on the basis of these opinions. The opinions themselves, however, ‘ideas’ in Beckwith’s [or Kreeft’s] quote, should in all cases be judged for their correctness. These two principles allow one to maintain a compassionate and amicable attitude toward other people, and an openness to hearing new ideas, while also striving toward an understanding of truth and correctness by evaluating each of these ideas carefully and without bias.” 

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Discussion

A good friend asked me an important, challenging, and honest question (and I post an edited version of it here, with permission, along with my edited reply).

Question:

What about people like Stalin, Hitler, Pol Pot? Some persons do not deserve respect.

My reply:

I disagree. All persons deserve respect as persons. That doesn’t mean that we have to like them. And it doesn’t mean that we have to give them carte blanche to do whatever they want. And it doesn’t mean that we do not judge (as evil) what they do.

It might be helpful to think of the 1999 movie The Green Mile. The prison guard played by Tom Hanks showed respect to evil-doers, regardless of their crimes, even while on death row. Whereas the guard named Percy (if I remember correctly) did not show respect.

Or think of the Nuremberg Trials. Even the most heinous of Nazis were shown respect, even though later they were executed.

It seems to me that we must keep our emotions in check to discern and do what is right—to show respect.

Having said all this, showing respect to evil-doers is no easy task. I no doubt would find it very hard to maintain respect if I were to come face-to-face with, say, Hitler or someone like that. It would be very hard to be a good police officer who apprehends a known serial killer. Or be a good defence lawyer for a known rapist.

Again, we should show respect to all persons—even to those whose actions we hate.

My friend’s reply:

For sure!

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BTW: I painted the above painting of the horse, rider, and car about 45 years ago.

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Hendrik van der Breggen, PhD, is a retired philosophy professor who lives in Steinbach, Manitoba, Canada.