Our book club got into an interesting dialogue about having definite opinions on matters. And some people were rather surprised at how one could exist (?) without having definite opinions on matters that were rather obvious.
Well, opinions arise out of being quite definite about knowing something - usually in the moral domain. However, an example I came across convinced me that holding a definite, unshakeable opinion blinds one to possibilities that are different from that opinion.
From my world view it makes sense that one minimizes harm / pain to others. Kahnemann's research shows that it is the form of that pain that makes a difference. Sudden changes in pain, from pain to no pain, create a worse experience than a gradual decrease in pain. The implication being that immediate removal of another's pain is worse than keeping them in pain but gradually lessening it. So, doing the obvious of removing pain is not the best way.
This research reframed me into realizing that what I held as an obvious and incontrovertible opinion was not an optimal view.
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