{"id":26677,"date":"2026-02-20T10:55:02","date_gmt":"2026-02-20T18:55:02","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dornsife.usc.edu\/news\/?p=26677"},"modified":"2026-02-20T12:01:20","modified_gmt":"2026-02-20T20:01:20","slug":"im-a-philosopher-who-tries-to-see-the-best-in-others-but-i-know-there-are-limits","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dornsife.usc.edu\/news\/stories\/im-a-philosopher-who-tries-to-see-the-best-in-others-but-i-know-there-are-limits\/","title":{"rendered":"I\u2019m a philosopher who tries to see the best in others \u2013 but I know there are\u00a0limits"},"content":{"rendered":"\n\n\n    \n                                \n\n  \n    \n\n\n\n\n\n\n<div\n  class=\"cc--component-container cc--article-hero \"\n\n  \n  \n  \n  \n  \n  \n  >\n  <div class=\"c--component c--article-hero\"\n    \n      >\n\n    \n<div class=\"inner-wrapper\">\n          \n<div class=\"f--field f--image\">\n\n    \n    \n    \n    \n    \n    \n              \n      <img\n                            data-src=\"https:\/\/dornsife.usc.edu\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/7\/2026\/02\/schroeder-top-768x432.jpg\"\n          data-srcset=\"https:\/\/dornsife.usc.edu\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/7\/2026\/02\/schroeder-top-1920x1080.jpg 1920w,https:\/\/dornsife.usc.edu\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/7\/2026\/02\/schroeder-top-1280x720.jpg 1280w,https:\/\/dornsife.usc.edu\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/7\/2026\/02\/schroeder-top-768x432.jpg 768w\"          data-sizes=\"(min-width:1200px) 75vw, (min-width:768px) 83vw, 100vw\"          class=\"lazyload\"\n        \n                  alt=\"Illustration of two heads with a connection drawn between the heads.\"\n        \n        \n                                      \/>\n\n    \n    \n  \n  \n\n<\/div>\n  \n      <div class=\"image-caption\">\n          \n<div class=\"f--field f--description\">\n\n    \n  Interpreting someone\u2019s thoughts or actions can mean balancing their agency against the good. (Image Source: iStock.)\n\n\n<\/div>\n    <\/div>\n  \n  <div class=\"text-wrapper\">\n          <nav aria-label=\"Breadcrumb\" class=\"breadcrumbs\">\n        <ul>\n                      <li><a href=\"\/news\/stories\/\">News<\/a><\/li>\n                      <li><a href=\"\/news\/stories\/\/?category=faculty\">Faculty<\/a><\/li>\n                  <\/ul>\n      <\/nav>\n    \n              \n<div class=\"f--field f--page-title\">\n\n    \n  <h1>I\u2019m a philosopher who tries to see the best in others \u2013 but I know there are\u00a0limits<\/h1>\n\n\n<\/div>\n    \n          <div class=\"subtitle\">\n            \n<div class=\"f--field f--description\">\n\n    \n  When it comes to disagreement, a little charity can go a long way.\n\n\n<\/div>\n      <\/div>\n    \n           <strong class=\"author-field\"><span >By<\/span><a href=\"mailto:communication@dornsife.usc.edu\">Mark Schroeder<\/a><\/strong>\n    \n          <span class=\"post-date-field\">February 20, 2026<\/span>\n      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<p>Understanding one another can be hard. There is a big difference between someone snapping at you out of contempt, and calling you out for a mistake because they believe in you and know you can do better. One of these cases calls for anger, but the other for humility or even embarrassment. Or maybe they are only snapping <a href=\"https:\/\/www.merriam-webster.com\/dictionary\/hangry\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">because they\u2019re \u201changry<\/a>\u201d \u2014 they might just need a Snickers bar.<\/p>\n<p>And that\u2019s just with people we know. What about strangers, people across the political divide, or even those with very different backgrounds and cultures than your own?<\/p>\n<p>My field, philosophy, offers a tried-and-true answer to what we need to do in order to understand people and texts from very different backgrounds and cultural assumptions than our own. We need to be charitable.<\/p>\n<p>Charity in this sense isn\u2019t a matter of giving money to those who need it more. Instead, it\u2019s seeing others in a favorable light \u2014 of seeing the best in them. <a href=\"https:\/\/markschroeder.net\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">In my work<\/a>, I think of this as <a href=\"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1093\/arisup\/akac009\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">seeing other people as protagonists<\/a>: characters who \u201cdo their best\u201d with the predicament in which they find themselves. Interpreting someone charitably doesn\u2019t require agreeing with them. But it does require doing our best to find merit in their point of view.<\/p>\n<p>Of course, people and ideas don\u2019t have unlimited merit. We can err by failing to see the merit of someone\u2019s point of view \u2014 or we can err by finding merit that isn\u2019t really there.<\/p>\n<p>But the idea of charity is that <a href=\"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1093\/oso\/9780198846253.003.0005\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">it\u2019s worse to make the first kind of error<\/a> because it prevents us from getting along and learning from one another. By seeing the best in someone else and in their ideas, we can learn productively from engaging with them. Protagonists are people we can learn from and cooperate with.<\/p>\n<h2>Taking them seriously<\/h2>\n<p>It doesn\u2019t take a genius to observe that we are all better at seeing the best in the people we agree with \u2014 <a href=\"https:\/\/theconversation.com\/avoiding-your-neighbor-because-of-how-they-voted-democracy-needs-you-to-talk-to-them-instead-250376\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">and worse with those across the political divide<\/a>. Political discussions on social media are often dominated by competing attributions of more and more insidious motives to people on the other side. We see them not as protagonists, but as antagonists.<\/p>\n<p>By seeing the worst in someone else\u2019s ideas, we let ourselves off easy. We dismiss them when instead we need to be taking them seriously.<\/p>\n<p>So why, if charity requires seeing the best in others, are we so often tempted to see the worst in them?<\/p>\n<p>A better understanding of charity provides the answer. Seeing the best and the worst in others are not opposite ways of interpreting someone, but simply two sides of the same coin. Here\u2019s why:<\/p>\n<h2>Interpretation trade-offs<\/h2>\n<figure id=\"attachment_26678\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-26678\" style=\"width: 500px\" class=\"wp-caption alignright\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-26678 size-medium\" src=\"https:\/\/dornsife.usc.edu\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/7\/2026\/02\/schroeder-in-story-1-500x334.jpg\" alt=\"Photo of a man and woman arguing.\" width=\"500\" height=\"334\" srcset=\"https:\/\/dornsife.usc.edu\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/7\/2026\/02\/schroeder-in-story-1-500x334.jpg 500w, https:\/\/dornsife.usc.edu\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/7\/2026\/02\/schroeder-in-story-1-768x513.jpg 768w, https:\/\/dornsife.usc.edu\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/7\/2026\/02\/schroeder-in-story-1-900x600.jpg 900w, https:\/\/dornsife.usc.edu\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/7\/2026\/02\/schroeder-in-story-1.jpg 980w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 500px) 100vw, 500px\" \/><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-26678\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Part of charity is sifting out the signal from the noise. (Image source: iStock.)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>Interpreting someone isn\u2019t all about figuring out their motives. Sometimes it\u2019s about sorting out what is signal and what is noise. If I snap at you, you could spend a lot of time fixating over whether to be angry or embarrassed. But sometimes the right move is just to pass me a Snickers bar and move on. Our moods and actions are influenced by <a href=\"https:\/\/www.bbc.com\/future\/article\/20230822-how-hunger-can-warp-our-minds\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">hunger<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.bbc.com\/future\/article\/20251013-how-your-hormones-control-your-mind\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">hormones<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/alcoholchange.org.uk\/alcohol-facts\/fact-sheets\/alcohol-and-your-mood\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">alcohol<\/a> and <a href=\"https:\/\/sleep.hms.harvard.edu\/education-training\/public-education\/sleep-and-health-education-program\/sleep-health-education-87\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">lack of sleep<\/a>, just to name a few. Overinterpreting a snap after I missed breakfast treats as signal what is really just noise.<\/p>\n<p>Overlooking a thing or two when I am hangry can be the best way to see the best in me. When you interpret my snap as merely the result of missing a meal, you don\u2019t really see it as coming from me, the protagonist; but as the result of my predicament. You will judge me, not by whether I am hangry, but by how I overcome that. Your interpretation sees me in a more positive light, by taking away some of my agency.<\/p>\n<p>By \u201cagency,\u201d I mean <a href=\"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1093\/oso\/9780198846253.003.0005\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">the extent to which someone gets credit for what they do<\/a>. You have greater agency over something that you do on purpose, and less if was a foreseen but accepted side effect of your plan. You have less agency if it was an accident, but more if the accident was negligent; less agency if you just snapped because you\u2019re hangry, but more if you know you get hangry and chose to skip lunch anyway.<\/p>\n<p>A perfect agent wouldn\u2019t be affected by hormones and hunger. They would simply make rational choices that advance their goals. But humans aren\u2019t like that. We are imperfectly embodied agents, at best. So interpreting one another well sometimes requires seeing the good in one another, at the cost of agency. In other words, it has to <a href=\"https:\/\/www.jesp.org\/index.php\/jesp\/article\/view\/3998\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">balance agency against the good<\/a>, as I have argued in <a href=\"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.16995\/fe.17907\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">my recent work<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>But you can\u2019t find the best in someone by just ignoring more and more until all the bad things are trimmed away and only something good is left. Your interpretation has to fit with the facts of what they do and say.<\/p>\n<p>And sometimes the trade-offs between agency and the good go the other way \u2014 we interpret each other in ways that attribute more agency but less good. If passing me a Snickers bar seems to calm me down, you might try it again the next time I snap. But one day you realize that you have started carrying extra Snickers bars everywhere you go in case you run into me, and a different interpretation presents itself: Maybe instead of being a decent but mood-challenged friend, I have just been using you for your candy bars.<\/p>\n<figure style=\"width: 600px\" class=\"wp-caption alignleft\"><a href=\"https:\/\/images.theconversation.com\/files\/718269\/original\/file-20260213-56-sieqgf.jpg?ixlib=rb-4.1.0&amp;q=45&amp;auto=format&amp;w=1000&amp;fit=clip\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/images.theconversation.com\/files\/718269\/original\/file-20260213-56-sieqgf.jpg?ixlib=rb-4.1.0&amp;q=45&amp;auto=format&amp;w=600&amp;fit=clip\" sizes=\"(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px\" srcset=\"https:\/\/images.theconversation.com\/files\/718269\/original\/file-20260213-56-sieqgf.jpg?ixlib=rb-4.1.0&amp;q=45&amp;auto=format&amp;w=600&amp;h=400&amp;fit=crop&amp;dpr=1 600w, https:\/\/images.theconversation.com\/files\/718269\/original\/file-20260213-56-sieqgf.jpg?ixlib=rb-4.1.0&amp;q=30&amp;auto=format&amp;w=600&amp;h=400&amp;fit=crop&amp;dpr=2 1200w, https:\/\/images.theconversation.com\/files\/718269\/original\/file-20260213-56-sieqgf.jpg?ixlib=rb-4.1.0&amp;q=15&amp;auto=format&amp;w=600&amp;h=400&amp;fit=crop&amp;dpr=3 1800w, https:\/\/images.theconversation.com\/files\/718269\/original\/file-20260213-56-sieqgf.jpg?ixlib=rb-4.1.0&amp;q=45&amp;auto=format&amp;w=754&amp;h=503&amp;fit=crop&amp;dpr=1 754w, https:\/\/images.theconversation.com\/files\/718269\/original\/file-20260213-56-sieqgf.jpg?ixlib=rb-4.1.0&amp;q=30&amp;auto=format&amp;w=754&amp;h=503&amp;fit=crop&amp;dpr=2 1508w, https:\/\/images.theconversation.com\/files\/718269\/original\/file-20260213-56-sieqgf.jpg?ixlib=rb-4.1.0&amp;q=15&amp;auto=format&amp;w=754&amp;h=503&amp;fit=crop&amp;dpr=3 2262w\" alt=\"A young bearded man grins as he holds up a chocolate bar and sits with his feet on a desk\" width=\"600\" height=\"400\" \/><\/a><figcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Truly angry, just hangry, or taking advantage of your chocolate supply? (Image source: iStock.)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>This creates <a href=\"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.16995\/fe.17907\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">tipping points for charitable interpretation<\/a>. When we cross the tipping point, you switch from seeing someone as an imperfectly embodied protagonist to seeing them as an antagonist.<\/p>\n<h2>Charity without a cost<\/h2>\n<p>All of this is a way of arguing that it is sometimes right to see the worst in others. Sometimes other people really are the worst, and understanding them requires understanding their agency, not what is good about them. Protagonists and antagonists are just two sides of the same coin: The very same interpretive process can lead us in either direction.<\/p>\n<p>Unfortunately, this means there is no simple test for when you are doing well enough at seeing the best in others. In particular, there is no test that we can agree about across our political differences. Interpreting someone charitably requires looking hard enough for good in them, but part of what we disagree with one another about is precisely what is good. So we are bound to disagree with one another about who is being sufficiently charitable.<\/p>\n<p>But as a personal aspiration, a little more charity can go a long way. We can be generous not just with money, but in how we interpret others. But unlike giving money away, we don\u2019t lose anything when we try harder to see the best in someone else.<!-- Below is The Conversation's page counter tag. Please DO NOT REMOVE. --><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" style=\"border: none !important; box-shadow: none !important; margin: 0 !important; max-height: 1px !important; max-width: 1px !important; min-height: 1px !important; min-width: 1px !important; opacity: 0 !important; outline: none !important; padding: 0 !important;\" src=\"https:\/\/counter.theconversation.com\/content\/273446\/count.gif?distributor=republish-lightbox-basic\" alt=\"The Conversation\" width=\"1\" height=\"1\" \/><!-- End of code. If you don't see any code above, please get new code from the Advanced tab after you click the republish button. The page counter does not collect any personal data. More info: https:\/\/theconversation.com\/republishing-guidelines --><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/theconversation.com\/profiles\/mark-schroeder-1244159\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Mark Schroeder<\/a>, Professor of <a href=\"https:\/\/dornsife.usc.edu\/phil\/\">Philosophy<\/a>, <em><a href=\"https:\/\/theconversation.com\/institutions\/usc-dornsife-college-of-letters-arts-and-sciences-2669\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">USC Dornsife College of Letters, Arts and Sciences<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n<p>This article is republished from <a href=\"https:\/\/theconversation.com\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">The Conversation<\/a> under a Creative Commons license. Read the <a href=\"https:\/\/theconversation.com\/im-a-philosopher-who-tries-to-see-the-best-in-others-but-i-know-there-are-limits-273446\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">original article<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<\/div>\n\n\n  <\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n  \n        \n  \n    \n\n\n\n\n\n\n<div\n  class=\"cc--component-container cc--article-related-stories \"\n\n  \n  \n  \n  \n  \n  \n  >\n  <div class=\"c--component c--article-related-stories\"\n    \n      >\n\n    \n  <div class=\"inner-wrapper\">\n              \n<div class=\"f--field f--section-title\">\n\n    \n  <h2>\n          Related Articles\n      <\/h2>\n\n\n<\/div>\n    \n                  <article>\n              \n<div class=\"f--field f--cta-title\">\n\n    \n  <h3>\n          <a href=\"https:\/\/dornsife.usc.edu\/news\/stories\/4m-templeton-foundation-grant-funds-new-frontier-in-cosmology\/\" \n                        class=\"\" \n      >$4M grant from the John Templeton Foundation funds a new frontier in cosmology<\/a>\n      <\/h3>\n\n\n<\/div>\n        <\/article>\n              <article>\n              \n<div class=\"f--field f--cta-title\">\n\n    \n  <h3>\n          <a href=\"https:\/\/dornsife.usc.edu\/news\/stories\/can-ai-think-what-it-means-to-think-from-plato-to-chatgpt\/\" \n                        class=\"\" \n      >Can AI think \u2013 and should it? What it means to think, from Plato to\u00a0ChatGPT<\/a>\n      <\/h3>\n\n\n<\/div>\n        <\/article>\n              <article>\n              \n<div class=\"f--field f--cta-title\">\n\n    \n  <h3>\n          <a href=\"https:\/\/dornsife.usc.edu\/news\/stories\/historic-hoose-library-of-philosophy\/\" \n                        class=\"\" \n      >Historic USC library offers a feast for the eyes and the mind<\/a>\n      <\/h3>\n\n\n<\/div>\n        <\/article>\n            <\/div>\n\n\n  <\/div><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>When it comes to disagreement, a little charity can go a long way.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":52,"featured_media":26679,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[10],"tags":[87,75,193,83],"class_list":["post-26677","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-faculty","tag-expert-viewpoint","tag-humanities","tag-philosophy","tag-the-conversation"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.1.1 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>I\u2019m a philosopher who tries to see the best in others \u2013 but I know there are\u00a0limits<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"When it comes to disagreement, a little charity can go a long way.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" 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