The virtues of pluralism have always run through the core of my world view. This is to say that there is no single truth at which humanity might arrive – no perfect outlook. Instead, we are all using lenses that are colored by our own unique experiences. While facts may not be subjective, truth is a more complicated mix of factors that depends on perspective, and my truth (or conclusions) might be different than yours. Still, we should be able to acknowledge differences of opinion, and to sort out the peaks of those disagreements while sharing footing on the common ground we share. Usually, there’s more of the latter than the former, and sometimes we may even chage our minds.

A recent episode of Honestly is a good example of what healthy civil discourse looks like. People with substantively different outlooks working through their points without demagoguery. In the same vein, there is no push for consensus or even compromise – just a healthy conversation.

The discussion (debate?) is between Bari Weiss and Daniel Bergner, a NY Times writer, concerning mental health. It’s a follow-up to a previous episode of Honestly featuring Freddie deBoer, which is also worth a listen. The tensions of social responsibility and individualism come up quite a bit, as well as whether the social norms that govern us should be more static or fluid. Of course, it ranges beyond mental health, into the degree to which we allow (or even accommodate) the reality others have chosen for themselves.

Listen here.