“You may be right…I may be crazy” Billy Joel (1980)

The timing this week was profound.

It was ANZAC Day, April 25, and a philosophical rumination was published on truth and humility by two US religion and philosophy scholars, Traphagan & Kaag (2023) , chewing on the sinewy question of “what if…I’m wrong?!?”

Technically speaking it’s called intellectual humility , and it opens a terrifying prospect that how I conceive of, experience, and move through this wondrous life might benefit from closer scrutiny.

Especially if some of my assumptions might not stack up.

Think of a fundamental belief, or idea, you hold about the world, or anything in it. It guides how you view the world, how you view yourself, what you decide might be right or wrong, or even (spoiler alert) what happens when you die. It’s what some might call a world view, or “sets of beliefs and assumptions that describe reality” (Koltko-Rivera, 2004, p. 3).

Let’s get more focused. What pedagogical and sociological views do you hold without question? For some time now, Prof Stephen Dinham has raged against the “learning styles” machine, yet it remains an approach unquestioned by some. And, recently, far-reaching questions were posed about how we might reimagine Australian education in both non-government and government schools. Still further, growing voices can be heard for an approach that values the “spiritual, intellectual, moral and physical dimensions of all people” (ACES, 2022 ) seen through the lens of classical education. Such a cacophony of educational voices and visions…

So…what is the dominant, perhaps unquestioned, approach to learning, or culture, or vision, or [fill in whatever seems most important at the moment] in my school? On what basis does this rest? How are other perspectives honoured? Or discarded? And why? And what am I to do in response?

What fundamental assumptions inform these distinctions? Or rejections, or adoptions? What doubts do I have? What certainties do I hold? And on what basis? And, as philosophers might say, a fortiori (or, more strongly), what might cause me to change my view?

These are profound questions, inferred by those preferred by our innocuously co-opted US colleagues. How do we respond to visions of a flourishing life that differ from those we hold tenaciously? And where can I ground confidence in a world where nothing seems absolute?

Thankfully, Traphagan and Kaag also offer a possible solution:

Truth – the idea of truth – matters. And we can pursue it together, if we are always open to being wrong (Traphagan & Kaag, 2023).

What?!?!? The ideas I hold with deep conviction about ultimate truth and life could turn out not to be true? Surely that must send me into existential and ontological despair, not to overlook it might not give me the script I need to live my life next week!

And yet, there is a rich and inviting tradition of doubt that sits comfortably with notions of intellectual humility, because:

[it] is not an instinctive quality, or even one that is formed naturally, but rather a condition occupied by a decision or intervention that disrupts the native condition of non-humility (Macaskill, 2018, p. 245).

In other words, it’s a question of my will. It’s not natural, says Macaskill (2018), to adopt a view of truth that admits my perspective might be limited, might gain from the insight of others, might be open to wisdom that comes from others whose world view could be sharply different from my own.

A challenge remains, though - when I come across someone whose view of the world differs from mine, do I easily discard that view, ridicule it, ignore it, or belittle it? Alternatively, how do I set out to understand such a vision, to gain insight to what is important to someone who holds such a view, to begin to see the world through their eyes? Can I even…possibly…despite the challenge…honour that view?

It’s fair to ask, “why would I do that?” Consider these two (among other) perspectives:

1. “Other people, with their differences, can also be right” (IBO, 2023). So says the mission statement of the International Baccalaureate Organisation . It’s a confronting vision. Conjure up, if you will, an image of a person whose vision of life seems irreconcilable to your own, perhaps even offensive. In what way(s) might their insights into humanity (possibly) be right? How might their perception of truth, even if different to yours, bring insight?
2. “Until and unless a ‘better’ alternative is found, however, the latter belief will not be given up” (Laura & Leahy, 1989, p. 258). Even if I fairly cede the view of another person’s “truth”, until I can see that it offers me something different, something more, something richer, I’m not bound to alter my current view.

Intellectual humility, then, may not be just about acknowledging that other people’s perspectives have value. It may be in holding in tension that other perspectives, while insightful and meaningful for others, might not be sufficient to alter my current perspective, as Laura and Leahy (1989) argue.

Let’s return to where we started. In 1980, Billy Joel challenged us (in this week’s title photo and title) to consider that difference of opinion could signal profound cognitive difference. Thirteen years later, he mused more personally “the more I find out, the less that I know” (Joel, 1993 ). It’s a sobering transition. Not knowing something is no longer a sign of being comparatively crazy, but of humility; there seems so much more to know than we currently do. Joel, exasperated, goes on to lament “the only people I fear are those who never have doubts”.

Remember when you were a teenager. In what ways is the world the same, or different? I grew up in the midst of the Cold War, yet talking with my sons about the fall of the Berlin Wall seems like a work of fiction. Try to convey to students of today the panic some felt about societal collapse at the turn of the millennium, hoarding water, and tinned vegetables in the fear of a digital Armageddon. Try to convince millennial colleagues that 17% interest rates in the 1990s seemed understandable!

The world changes. Life changes. I change.

Has my school? Has learning? Have students? How? What should I do about any of this? And what do the myriad voices that clamour for my attention have to say? More importantly, what is my attitude to what they say?

Further reading

Dinham, S. (2016, September 5). Students are not hard-wired to learn in different ways – we need to stop using unproven, harmful methods. The Conversation. https://theconversation.com/students-are-not-hard-wired-to-learn-in-different-ways-we-need-to-stop-using-unproven-harmful-methods-63715

International Baccalaureate Organisation (2023). Our mission. https://www.ibo.org/about-the-ib/mission

Joel, B. (2013, April 9). Shades of Grey [Video]. YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CopYqp0HZkY

Koltko-Rivera, M. E. (2004). The Psychology of Worldviews. Review of General Psychology, 8(1), 3–58. https://doi.org/10.1037/1089-2680.8.1.3

Laura, R.S., & Leahy, M. (1989). Religious upbringing and rational autonomy. Journal of Philosophy of Education, 23, 253–265. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-9752.1989.tb00211.x

Macaskill, G. (2018). Christian scriptures and the formation of intellectual humility. Journal of Psychology and Theology, 46, 243–252. https://doi.org/10.1177/0091647118807172

Traphagan, J. W., & Kaag, J. J. (2023, April 25). What Socrates’ ‘know nothing’ wisdom can teach a polarized America. The Conversation. https://theconversation.com/what-socrates-know-nothing-wisdom-can-teach-a-polarized-america-202696