How do you describe an open-minded person in PHILOSOPHY & how do you determine that trait from their Q&A's?

Answer 1

A person who is unbiased and flexibly objective, in their pursuits/ thoughts/ actions.
To locate this type, watch for those who are patient, listen, ask questions, and conduct themselves with constant genuine respect.

Answer 2

Knowledge will attempt to extinguish wisdom. Being philosophical is guarding against this prospect.

Your capitalization of the word PHILOSOPHY means that you probably don't really need a definition of "open-mindedness" in general.

Philosophy has available a particularly elusive brand of open-mindedness. First of all, one must be well versed in the various philosophical writings of the great philosophers throughout history. Then, you must somehow be able to absorb this knowledge without being too particularly biased towards one philosopher over the others. I've found that there are many who KNOW a great deal about philosophy, but there aren't that many who are actually PHILOSOPHICAL in their mindset.

So, therefore, being open-minded in philosophy means that obtaining a great deal of knowledge does not lead one to mistakenly believe that there is no longer a need to be philosophical (wise).

Be well...

Answer 3

Because a closed minded person would not be in a philosophical disscussion, not because the lack of
intelligents, i'm very opinonated but i can be flexible
as well, be that as it may i would never judge open
or closed mindedness by some one's answer, when
i ask a question i want the right answer not the wrong
opinon, i want an answer based on one's proven tried
and true method, some one who actualy experienced
what there telling me, even better also follow's it with
anology . . .


I have more faith in rainbows than in coloring books . . .

Answer 4

An open-minded individual is an independent thinker who welcomes and considers as many perspectives as possible on a given issue. The conclusions of such a thinker demonstrate that s/he has taken into account a number of points of view that sufficiently covers the available relevant points of view on the given issue. The conclusions grasp the most multi-sided truth that the individual could possibly infer from precise and thorough evaluations and considerations of the facts and propositions that are relevant to the given issue.

The open-minded philosophical answerer does not simply state opinions and does not operate on assumptions that are unacceptable because they require rational and/or factual support yet the answerer has failed to give that support. The open-minded answerer provides arguments and explanations for his/her conclusions. The answerer expresses broad-minded beliefs; these are beliefs which analyze and synthesize the larger picture as well as the finer details of the picture. His/her answers include statements about general tendencies and also statements about particular exceptions to those tendencies, and specific examples of the tendencies and their exceptions. The answerer explains why a rational person should identify his or her beliefs as true after considering all relevant matters, and why the exceptions are not enough to make his/her beliefs false over all.

One should exercise much caution when judging whether answerers and questioners are open-minded based simply on their answers and questions. Such conclusions need to be based on fair and sufficient premises and adequately reasonable arguments. Yet, Y!A answers are normally not long enough for answerers to get the chance to explain well their beliefs, and show their reasoning and the considerations that they made to arrive at those beliefs. So, it would most likely be unfair to judge whether users are open-minded simply based on their Y!A answers.

Philosophical questioners demonstrate open-mindedness when they select as Best Answer the one that provides the most logical reasons for its conclusions, rational explanations, and relevant examples. The questioner is no less open-minded simply because s/he chooses as Best Answer the one that agrees most with his/her question, for the answer that happens to be the most similar to his/her question could actually be the most accurate and well supported answer.

The questioning is closed-minded when the questioner does not consider the objections and disagreements of the answerers, and simply dismisses their disagreements without providing reasons for that rejection.

Looking at the contacts in the network of a user can provide clues about the open-mindedness of that user. For instance, an atheist who has contacts who are not only atheists, but also agnostics and religious persons demonstrates open-mindedness. For another example, a user who does not believe in astrology, but has a contact who is an astrologer demonstrates open-mindedness. If the contacts of the user are all very similar in their interests, styles, and beliefs, this is an indication that the user is closed-minded.

Yours is an interesting and important question, and much more could be said on this topic, but I will leave it at that.

Answer 5

1. Questions asked are not leading questions
2. Answers selected are clearly selected for content/contribution to the question, not the most agreeable to the asker
3. Questions are varied somewhat, not arbitrary, but sincere.
4. Limited usage of the words "everyone", "always", "never", or "no-one" in both questions and answers.