Bias and the Middle Way : How to stop Absolutizing our Conditioned Assumptions

This book explores how the Middle Way can help us find the best practical response to our biases: neither believing our biased judgements uncritically, nor reacting against them to dismiss all judgement.

Human judgement is constantly distorted by biases that are due to the biological, social and cultural conditions of our lives. Cognitive psychology has identified a large number of these, whilst the critical thinking tradition has also found closely related fallacies. However, our response to these biases and fallacies is rarely considered as part of a whole personal practice. This book explores how the Middle Way can help us find the best practical response to our biases: neither believing our biased judgements uncritically, nor reacting against them to dismiss all judgement. The underlying problem of biased judgement is argued not to be one of ‘irrationality’, but of conflict created by absolutization (assuming we have the whole story). This conflict can be addressed effectively through Middle Way practices, as introduced in the earlier volumes of this series. The book offers a helpful overview and categorization of a wide range of biases and fallacies, seeking to identify balanced approaches to all of them in relation to each other.