Pedagogical Principle 3: Discussing IDEAS from a Higher Level - Also called Meta-Level Thinking.
PP2 (Articulation) tells us that we must DISCUSS, DEBATE, and ARGUE about ideas in order to understand them better. We must express ideas in our own words, and explain them to others, to create understanding. A major obstacle is created to this process of understanding ideas when we get involved personally and emotionally with the ideas under discussion.
SCHOLARS must learn DETACHMENT. They must learn to study and analyze ideas, and discuss pros and cons of ideas without having ANY PERSONAL attachment to any of the ideas. What often happens is that one person X expresses idea A. A second person Y says that A is wrong. Now X thinks that Y is attacking the PERSON X and not the idea A -- both parties identify the idea with the person. In scholarly discussion, we must RISE ABOVE the personal plane -- we must discuss IDEAS and not personalities. Even when person X expresses idea A, he must detach himself and say the A is an X-thought -- I am examining the person X and the thought A from a higher level. Person Y expresses idea B which is against idea A. Again Y must rise to the meta-level by thinking that B is a Y-thought. Now both parties examine the idea A as an X-thought, based on the experiences of X, and idea B as a Y-thought based on the experiences of Y. Persons X and Y should try to find out the reasons for the differences in ways of thinking based on differences in experiences of X and Y in a DETACHED manner, without getting emotionally involved, without taking SIDES, and without trying to WIN ARGUMENTS.
We must learn to think of the process of debate, argument, discussion, as a process of a cooperative search for truth, and NOT as a game where we are seeking to WIN the debate.
There are three posts of mine on the WEA Pedagogy Blog which are devoted to the idea of META-Thinking - these should be read in connection with trying to learn this concept:
On the Central Importance of Meta-Theory for Economics