Using a Principle of Charity
Throughout my time in animal advocacy, I've often found myself existing simultaneously in opposing "camps" of the movement—an experience that I usually find enlightening.
For example, there was a period of time when I was pretty deeply involved with two organizations at the same time: one that promoted a grassroots, protest-oriented approach to animal rights, and the other that was working on corporate welfare changes and vegan diet promotion.
These groups weren't particularly fond of each other at the time, partially because they didn't interact much or work to understand each other's theory of change. (That has changed in the last several years, and there is now more shared understanding.)
From my perspective, I saw two things:
- Both orgs had a lot of room for growth and improvement.
- Both orgs understood a valuable piece of the puzzle that was missing from the other side, but it was hard to see because there was a lack of shared language and shared understanding.
For those of us looking to find deeper truth beneath conflict, I think one of the most powerful tools in the toolkit is the "principle of charity", or having a charitable interpretation of someone's point of view.
Can you find the core of what someone is saying? Can you explain their point of view back to them so well that they would say "yep, that's my point of view"?
Because if you can do that, you may be able to see hidden commonalities between your views, as well as exposing the true source of disagreement. If you discover ideas and information that you haven't considered before, then you've learned something. And if you expose the true source of disagreement, then you might be able to communicate about that disagreement more effectively.
