Talking politics in 2021: Lessons on humility and truth-seeking from Benjamin Franklin

(The Conversation is an independent and nonprofit source of news, analysis and commentary from academic experts.) Mark Canada, Indiana University (THE CONVERSATION) The previous year in the United States was a turbulent one, filled with political strife, protests over racism and a devastating pandemic. Underlying all three has been a pervasive political polarization, made worse by a breakdown in civic ‘” and civil ‘” discourse, not only on Capitol Hill, but around the nation. In a new year, with a new president and a new Congress, there appears to be opportunity. Americans, starting with the president, are talking about turning away from the division of the recent past and choosing a different direction: talking civilly and productively about the problems the country faces. But how to do that? As a literary scholar, I appreciate the power of carefully crafted language, and I believe that Americans ‘” from those in government to those around the dinner table ‘” could take a lesson from one of this nation’s founders and greatest communicators: Benjamin Franklin. From ‘˜positive Argumentation’ to ‘˜modest Diffidence’ Before he achieved fame as a statesman, scientist and diplomat, Franklin, who was born in 1706 and died in 1790, made his living in Philadelphia from words ‘” as a printer, journalist and essayist. Having worked early in his life in Boston for his brother James, a fiery journalist, he knew the kind of war that could be waged with words and had even made a hobby of debating with a young friend. ‘œWe sometimes disputed,’� Franklin recalled in his autobiography, ‘œand very fond we were of Argument, & very desirous of confuting one another.’� Everything changed for Franklin, however, after he came across some examples of Socratic dialogue, in which questions figure prominently. ‘œI was charm’d with it,’� Franklin wrote, ‘œadopted it, dropt my abrupt Contradiction, and positive Argumentation, and put on the humble Enquirer & Doubter.’� The inspired Franklin eventually changed his entire manner of discourse, communicating ‘œin terms of modest Diffidence’� instead of positive assertion, dropping words such as ‘œcertainly’� and ‘œundoubtedly’� and substituting ‘œI should think it so or so’� and ‘œit is so, if I am not mistaken.’� After all, Franklin wrote, ‘œa positive, assuming manner’� tends to turn off an audience and thus undermines one’s own intentions. Such positive assertion can interfere with the exchange of valuable information. ‘œIf you wish information and improvement from the knowledge of others,’� Franklin wrote, ‘œand yet at the same time express yourself as firmly fix’d in your present opinions, modest, sensible men, who do not love disputation, will probably leave you undisturbed in the possession of your error.’� In 2021, replacing positive assertions in conversations with some ‘œterms of modest Diffidence’� just might lead to exchanges that are not only more civil, but also more productive. Pursuing truth, not victory More important than modest expression is actual intellectual humility, and here again Franklin’s example is instructive. Even before he turned his inquiring mind to groundbreaking discoveries in electricity, he showed a scientist’s dedication to open, objective investigation with only truth as its object. In 1727, when he was still in his early 20s, he founded a group called the Junto. Members, including a number of tradesmen like Franklin, took up political, philosophical and other questions such as ‘œDoes the Importation of Servants increase or advance the Wealth of our Country?’� and ‘œWherein consists the Happiness of a rational Creature?’�