David Hume and speaking to the affections.

Thomas Kuhn and the Structure of Scientific Revolutions

The idea of the "paradigm"

Paradigms determine perceptions as well as interpretations.

Paradigms consist of concepts and relationships.

Paradigms are associated with a unique vocabulary, which carries those concepts.

But the same word can have different meanings in different paradigms

- (e.g. mass in Newtonian physics vs. Einstein's physics or justice in politics).

The Incommensurability of Paradigms

- (The classic examples from physics)

Paradigms determine how you conceive as well as how you understand.

Accompanying reading: https://apnews.com/ab8520cf80764a0dbdff2dae1b3d7b11 Amid trade fight, Trump says China will do "right thing"

Goethe

Knowledge precedes perception - not the other way around.

Perceptions of Incongruity experiment

All reasoning is motivated.

We are wired to see the world in ways that reinforce our current paradigms.

Example from the media: "Iran Test Fires Missile Can Reach Israel"

Media reflect prevailing paradigm more than they reflect "ground truth".

Paradigms are self-reinforcing (even when wrong).

Kuhn: "When paradigms change... the world changes with them."

Paradigms are soft-wired (sticky).

Soft-wiring

Political persuasion involves changing perception - not just interpretation.