Why Good Minds Get Stuck

Goodman’s Spark, Rawls’s Upgrade, Your Cognitive Flexibility

Most people consider themselves open-minded. Neuroscience supports this notion: adult brains remain plastic, capable of pruning synapses and forming new ones throughout life. Yet once a belief is moralized - wrapped in "this is right and good" language - flexibility snaps shut. fMRI work shows moral certainty lighting up limbic circuits before deliberation engages; a challenge to the belief feels like a threat to the self.

Why did evolution wire us this way? Quick, confident decisions help a social species survive. Dogmatism broadcasts reliability inside a tribe: you can trust me, I won't flip-flop when the stakes are high. But the same circuitry that kept our ancestors alive can freeze us in outdated paradigms, be they political, scientific, or personal.

---

---

Philosophers Nelson Goodman and John Rawls offer a counter-move called reflective equilibrium. The method is simple:

List your firm judgment ("administering a lethal dose to relieve suffering is morally unacceptable")

State the principle you think justifies each judgment ("the act of killing is fundamentally wrong)

Add the acceptable background theories

1) In Biology, life is invaluable for maintaining biodiversity and preserving the natural order, which our ecosystems rely on

2) In Theology, every human life is sacred, as emphasized by religious teachings that uphold the inherent worth of each individual

3) In Game Theory, we find trust and cooperation form the cornerstones of social interaction, which are ultimately compromised by the act of killing

Then hunt for clashes

1) Conflict in Judgment: Many assert that euthanasia can be a compassionate response in instances of terminal illness, where pain becomes existentially rooted

2) Moral Principles: The unwavering principle that "killing is always wrong" is challenged by the belief that relieving suffering is of utmost importance

3) Theoretical Tension: Biological and theological perspectives may conflict with evolving societal views on end-of-life choices and personal autonomy

4) Game Theory Implications: If a person in profound anguish chooses euthanasia, does this erode trust and cooperation within a community that holds life in the highest regard?

Revise whichever element seems least secure, and iterate until the set hangs together.

This loop forces plasticity back into moralized territory without demanding that every intuition be tossed. Sometimes the principle bends; sometimes the intuition falls; sometimes a hidden assumption is the real villain. Rawls referred to the result as a wide reflective equilibrium when it encompasses psychology, history, and empirical science.

Why bother? Because marrying a worldview has side effects: brittle relationships, rhetoric with more heat than light, and a "sacredness" that blocks new data. By contrast, running periodic equilibrium audits keeps the worldview muscle limber. Intellectual humility drills, steel-manning rival positions, and gradient (rather than binary) truth-claims all work because they mimic the equilibrium cycle in miniature.

Power implicates duty. The more influence you wield - political, financial, cultural - the greater the moral cost of an ossified belief system. Leaders who update rarely may shelter injustice behind a veneer of conviction; those who update responsibly model a path from careless certainty to insight without dissolving into relativism.

Evil actors can sound certain, and eloquent doubt can mask confusion. What separates responsible belief-revision from manipulation is the public, defeasible record of why each revision occurred. Could you show your work, invite critique, and keep the loop open?

We are, each of us, part animal: limbic flashfires still influence first impressions. Yet, we also possess the tools for second impressions; for rebuilding the scaffolding of our moral and intellectual lives. Letting the brain change is no longer optional; in a world of accelerating crises, failing to adapt could be a fate worse than death.

---