Summary and Conclusion

Abstract

At the start of this book, I complained that open-mindedness was misunderstood, and because of this, not valued enough. By introducing and discussing the notion of a critical open-mindedness, I have attempted to demonstrate why open-mindedness is highly important to human cultural progress. The notion of critical open-mindedness presented in this book is not entirely new, and is similar to the characterizations of the philosophers J.S. Mill, Bertrand Russell, Karl Popper, and William Hare, but its novel feature is in showing how multiple perspective taking and critical evaluation are not at odds but can be combined in one psychological process — that of continual rational revision within a “containing” psychological space.