In this episode of the Philosophy Bites podcast, recorded before the Covid-19 lockdowns, the political philosopher Elizabeth Anderson explains why we need to be prepared to talk more, even with people with whom we strongly disagree.
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There have always been political disagreements, but we live in a period in which people on one side of a political debate barely interact with those on the other, Republicans and Democrats, Brexiteers and remainers.
That's obviously not a healthy state of affairs.
The distinguished philosopher Elizabeth Anderson has been reflecting on how it can be overcome.
Elizabeth Anderson, welcome to philosophy Bites.
It's a pleasure to talk to you.
The topic we're going to talk about is let's talk.
What do you mean by let's talk?
I'm very concerned that the rich democracies of the world today are filled with distrust and an inability of people to constructively communicate about the issues of the day.
And that's obviously very visible in America at the moment.
Absolutely.
According to the pollsters, there's massive distrust between Republicans and Democrats.
Pollsters have asked Americans whether they would be comfortable if their child came home with a partner of the other party.
And people think that this is a disaster, even worse than bringing home a child of another race or religion.
That's amazing.
And why do you think that is?