154. A Helpful Provocation

You come across a quotation from a book and you are immediately frustrated by it. It seems to undermine an idea that is important to you, and so your reaction to it is both strong and negative. You judge it harshly, and you want to argue passionately against it.

But a quotation is only a fragment of a much larger text. To argue against it, you would first need to understand its broader context. On its own, a fragment is always only a provocation. And you already know this, because the quotation has just provoked your frustration and judgment.

A fragment might then provoke you to investigate the larger text of which it is a part. When you do so, you might discover a more nuanced and careful argument than you expected. Or you might find that the text is of a different kind than you thought — perhaps it is poetic or satirical in its use of language. Of course, you might also find that the text really is badly constructed, and then you will easily see how to create a clear and persuasive counterargument against it.

But this is not the only kind of investigation a fragment might provoke. It might cause you to investigate the relevant ideas and concepts in a novel way, revealing unforeseen layers of depth and complexity. It might cause you to investigate your own response to the fragment and the broader context of yourself. It might even cause you to realize something about yourself, to reach a new insight that is bold or surprising.

None of this is possible if you settle for immediate judgment and opposition. Proper investigation requires openness to alternatives, to new ways of seeing and thinking, to judgments other than those close at hand. To approach all ideas and people with openness and an inclination towards investigation rather than invective is to allow your awareness of yourself and the world to continually expand.