both are true
on holding two conflicting ideas at once
both are true
“Life is not like formula fiction. The villain has a heart, and the hero has great flaws.”
— Anne Lamott, Bird by Bird
Logic requires that people find universal laws, but outside of scientific fields and once human psychology has a role to play, it is perfectly possible for behavior to become contradictory. A tax rise can cause you to work less because the returns of your labor are lower, or work harder to maintain your present level of disposable wealth. There are... See more
Reconciling Opposites Jul 02
Reconciling opposites in various aspects of life, such as freedom-order, individual-society, and rationality-sentiment, is explored through various perspectives and philosophical ideas.
Linka beautiful doc with compilations from Lorenzo Servitije, the founder of Grupo Bimbo (and one of the richest men in Mexico) shared by a newsletter reader in response to the “both are true” issue.
both are true: I hold a lot of conflicting beliefs, and have become happier the longer I’ve sat with them and realized that internal conflicts are a fact of life.
Reconciling modern science with ancient esoteric worldviews by holding subjective experience and objective facts without either-or thinking
TRANSCRIPT
I have what modern science tells me, and I have my experience, which is also informed much more by – it's more supported by the ancient worldview. and I hold these two things side by side and I leave them to have their own domains of authority in my life, but I allow them to communicate with each other.
Now people call this cognitive dissonance.
... See moreAt Stanford’s dy/dx program, founder Tony Xu was asked about the qualities he interviews for at DoorDash. One of the five traits is holding and making sense of opposing ideas. As F. Scott Fitzgerald wrote, “The test of a first-rate intelligence is the ability to hold two opposed ideas in the mind at the same time, and still retain the ability to... See more
Holding Opposing Ideas
nuanced piece by Anthropic CEO
Are we idealists or pragmatists? Do we have principles we hold dear, and a vision for the future we want to create? Or are we fumbling along, tinkering, finding what works, and forever allowing contact with reality to rearrange our mental furniture, make a mess on our conceptual floor, and occasionally punch so many holes in the walls that need to... See more
Chris Best • Principles and pragmatism
on pragmatism vs. idealism