Is It Possible to Understand Someone Else's Perspective?
Human connection would be easy if it weren’t for other people.
As the world becomes more distracted and divisive we look for better ways to truly understand experiences different from our own.
In my TEDx talk back in 2015, I told the story of creating magic for a blind man by using the skill of “perspective taking” to understand his point-of-view.
The relevant question was, what would magic feel like to someone who is blind?
And that’s a really hard question to answer, even if you’re asking all the right questions.
Philosophy for our Times is a weekly podcast bringing you the world’s leading thinkers on today’s biggest ideas.
Their recent episode “Where language fails us” explores this very question. Here’s the blurb from their show notes:
“We think sharing experience is essential to being human. At an individual level, we share experiences to get to know others and understand them. Yet from the taste of an apple to giving birth, we know we cannot fully describe the experience to someone who has not already had it. Many now also maintain that it is impossible to communicate the experience of discrimination, and other cultures can only be understood by those who have experienced it. But even if it remains an impossible task - for language to truly bridge our separate realities - should it nevertheless remain something that is continually strived for?”
Then tell me:
Is it possible to ever truly understand someone else’s experience through the use of language?
If not, is it still worth trying?
Leave your comment on today’s LinkedIn post and let’s get a conversation rolling.
