How to Use “Contradictory Complexity” To Transcend Polarization
I’ve read many books on political polarization, but Peter Coleman’s The Way Out: How to Overcome Toxic Polarization is my favorite one yet. The book provides many important contributions to the field of depolarization, including Coleman’s use of complexity science to illuminate the vicious cycles and “attractors” that keep us stuck in polarizing dynamics. But my favorite chapter, which this essay examines, is chapter 7: Complicate — Embrace Contradictory Complexity.
Coleman’s contention is thus: Embracing contradictory perspectives generates more nuance and complexity, which breaks down black and white binaries and oversimplified thinking. This softens “us vs. them” forms of tribalism, as people begin to see how complicated each issue is, and that there are important points from all sides. Things are not as straightforward as once thought, as subtle nuances and key value-tradeoffs are revealed.
Complicating our thinking in this way not only improves our relations with others but also leads to more accurate perceptions of reality. Every “wicked” problem of our age — healthcare, climate change, Covid-19, polarization — are all high-dimensional, highly complex, intricately entangled issues with many causes, variables, and moving parts. Simple, linear, predictable notions of cause and effect break down completely…
