The person you’re arguing with just doesn’t see the world the way you do.

From The Three Blind Spots of Politics by Russ Roberts, both a book review and an essay. The catalyst for the essay is The Three Languages of Politics by Arnold Kling.

I take idiosyncratic exception to Kling's nomenclature. He divides the political spectrum into three parts: Liberal, Conservative, and Libertarian. I think the actual division is more like Postmodernist (his Left), Classical Liberal (his Conservative), and Libertarian. But that's just me.

Roberts:

Kling argues that our political discourse is dysfunctional because we look at the world through lenses that our political opponents do not share.

Liberals see the world as a battle between victims and oppressors.

Conservatives see the world as a battle between civilization and barbarism.

Libertarians see the world as a battle between freedom and coercion.

Other than the nomenclature, I think that is a very useful insight. Scott Adams is always counseling that we do not understand the movie in the other person's head.

Scott Alexander put it this way.

Once you realize that other groups are coming from a different place than you are, you actually can empathize with their views. It may not be as fun, but you can actually view your ideological opponents as decent human beings who look at the world differently from the way you do. And it shows the foolishness, other than for therapeutic catharsis, of yelling at your opponents oblivious to why they don’t understand the wisdom of your views. The person you’re arguing with just doesn’t see the world the way you do.

Roberts goes on to point out that the three lenses of Postmodernist, Classical Liberal and Libertarian have corresponding blindspots. I think he is all over the place in his assessment. I would interpret it differently.

Postmodernists dehumanize all people. They strip people of their humanity in two ways. First they strip them of their unique humanity by lumping people into different group averages rather than dealing with them as unique individuals. Second, they deny agency to their preferred victims. The designated victim groups tautologically become lesser beings.

Classical Liberals dehumanize only some people, the out group who threaten civilization.

Libertarians struggle to acknowledge the constantly evolving balance between freedom and coercion embodied in state action.

Interesting ideas.