Principle of Charity

In debate, the "Principle of Charity" asserts that we must consider arguments in their most positive light. It is not fair or reasonable to reject a point because you can pick at a poor phrasing or an inconsequential exception to throw shade on an idea. This may seem a genteel relic of a more rule-bound or hierarchical society, but I'm going to argue that it goes much deeper than that. It is not only vital to discourse, but to sophisticated thought itself.

A couple of weeks ago, I resolved to think deeply each day about the challenges facing our country. So each day I walk and think. In less volatile times I might have thought mostly about a technical problem facing me at work. These days I think about civil liberties, democracy, and constitutional rights. What I have noticed in these periods of reflection is that none of the problems that concern me stand alone. They are all intertwined and few ideas can be expressed atomically. Even in my own internal dialog, I am nearly paralyzed by the constant weighing of exceptions, examples, counterexamples, and ways in which an idea is part of a system with complex interactions among its parts.

We cannot think about racism without thinking about power. We cannot think about power without thinking about money. We cannot think about money without thinking about economic vitality. We cannot think about economic vitality without thinking about creativity. By now we are no longer thinking about racism.

Of course, we need to keep tabs on peripheral arguments to come back and see in what ways they might matter. But when I allow an argument to be fully presented, I often find that the little voices of objection that rise up are really the desperate protests of my preconceptions that do not want to be upset. I am seeking to be challenged and to be made uncomfortable by ideas that are new to me. That requires lowering my defenses enough to examine them, and adopting or rejecting them based on the deeper consideration enabled by what in some sense amounts to a temporary willing suspension of disbelief.

This Principle of Charity is necessary even for the simple act of framing a complete thought to be discussed. Without the discipline of giving each other the benefit of the doubt, almost any idea that has depth and value can be hijacked and diverted by the most specious of asides. Without the Principle of Charity, our common effort simply cannot be brought to bear on the problems we face.