Disagreeing Virtuously

Written by a theologian and therefore with a focus on religious conflict in an interdisciplinary perspective, this wide-ranging book contains an important message for our time in its title, namely that there are constructive ways of disagreeing that can enhance our shared humanity. The overall aim of the book is to 'understand the ways in which our thinking, more precisely our cognitive setup, affects the reasoning, judgements, and ultimately our behaviour in the state of disagreement' on the basis that the dynamics of disagreement are relatively similar. The first part of the book gives a historical background from Plato to contemporary voices, moving on to the nature of human rationality and decision-making, then the contribution of philosophy, and finally how we can disagree virtuously.

The author distinguishes external limitations from internal, which he then divides into personal and panhuman, the latter looking at the nature of cognitive processes and biases. This section was of particular interest in identifying ten forms of bias, including confirmation bias - with which many people are already familiar - but also coherency bias whereby we explain anomalous phenomena in ways that balance with our previous beliefs, and belief perseverance bias where we tend to cling to what we already know. Understanding the psychology, which also includes treatment of Iain McGilchrist's work, is important for self-awareness of one's own cognitive limitations. Among the virtues of disagreement are open-mindedness, humility, courage and tolerance, with a usefully nuanced treatment of this last quality which may not in all circumstances be a virtue. This is an excellent general primer.