Case Study 1: Open and Closed Minds — Erasmus Versus Luther

Abstract

We saw in Chapter 2 that if we want to identify an attitude of critical open-mindedness in someone’s speech or writing, there are three key markers to look for: (a) the consideration of different points of view; (b) the use of critical reason to evaluate and shift between those points of view; and (c) the awareness that one’s own preferred point of view is fallible. By contrast, the three main markers of uncritical closedmindedness are: (a) serious consideration of a single point of view only; (b) the use of authority rather than reason or argument to evaluate points of view; and (c) having no awareness of the fallibility of one’s point of view.