It seems almost beyond saying, but then human psychology seems never finished teaching us the same lessons over and over, that there is almost always more to something than we’re led to believe at first blush. We are, as Daniel Kahneman says, “a machine for jumping to conclusions.”
This is not to say we shouldn’t decide quickly when we must. When the situation demands it, then we must make a quick decision based on the what we know at the time. Hopefully, we can correct mistakes made as they’re realized along the way.
But in many instances we don’t have to make quick decisions. We usually have time to weigh and consider, to be thoughtful and morally responsible. We have time to do the work—and it’s mental work!—that someone who really cares about truth, or the pursuit of it, will do and take seriously. And this is so very important and responsible and noble where the lives and welfare of our fellow human beings are at stake.
Jeff Wills 