The Ancient Wisdom of Listening

Ancient Greek and Jewish traditions demonstrate that listening is about not only fairness but also intellectual and moral growth

“America has no problem with speech,” The Economist observed in 2022, “It has a problem with listening.”^[i] Cancel culture, speech codes, and political polarization undermine American democratic discourse. Americans suffer from a hysteria of willful ignorance.

This reluctance to listen is, unfortunately, rooted in human nature. Cognitive dissonance is the psychological term for the fact that we humans don’t like ideas that challenge our existing conceptions. The professional practice of marketing is built to adapt to this truth. As the classic marketing textbook avers, companies must find ways to connect a product to ideas people already believe, because, “Millions of dollars have been wasted trying to change minds with advertising. Once a mind is made up, it’s almost impossible to change it.” ^[ii]

Or, as Mark Twain noted in his 1889 novel, A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur’s Court, “Arguments have no chance against petrified training; they wear it as little as the waves wear a cliff.”^[iii]

A second phenomenon related to our psychological penchant to like the thoughts already in our heads is confirmation bias: we interpret new information in ways that support our existing beliefs. So, if a political leader tells a citizen something that matches their worldview, they easily accept it. And if someone shares a fact that challenges their worldview, they spurn it: often impugning their opponent’s motives and character.

A third innate obstacle to listening is human beings’ overconfidence. Most people rate themselves above average in creativity, intelligence, reliability, friendliness, and honesty.^[iv] Amongst college faculty, in one study, 94% rated themselves as above average teachers.^[v] Eighty-eight percent of Americans rate themselves as above average drivers.^[vi]

A more pernicious example of overconfidence, however, is that 72% of Republicans say Democrats are more immoral than other Americans and 63% of Democrats say the reverse about Republicans.^[vii]

This means tens of millions of Americans judge as wicked tens of millions of other fellow citizens whom they don’t know at all. This ideological hubris has potentially dire consequences for American democracy.

But listening is possible.

It is an ancient truth.

For millennia, thinkers have honed…