Minds Wide Shut

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This timely exploration delves into the intellectual dogmatism permeating politics, economics, religion, and literature, highlighting its role in the current polarization threatening democracy. Literary scholar Gary Saul Morson and economist Morton Schapiro identify a rise in "fundamentalist" thinking across various fields, which has fostered rigid ideological adherence that undermines open-mindedness and compromise essential for democratic discourse. They argue that this fundamentalist mindset is pervasive across the political spectrum, resulting in a cacophony of monologues filled with hostility, where individuals believe they hold the exclusive truth and see their opponents as either evil or misguided. Morson and Schapiro contend that this divisive atmosphere can be transformed. By drawing on insights from a diverse array of thinkers in the humanities and social sciences, they propose methods to foster meaningful dialogue, including case-based reasoning and objective analysis. Their work serves as a powerful call to abandon simplification and extremism, advocating for a future characterized by greater open-mindedness, moderation, and wisdom. Through their analysis, they illuminate pathways to reestablish constructive conversations and bridge the divides that currently threaten democratic ideals.