We can learn much more from people whose views we share than from people whose views contradict our own.Write a response in which you discuss the extent to which you agree or disagree with the statement and explain your reasoning for the position you take

Learning is a life long process perpetuated by the intent and the curiosity to discern the truth and shine light upon the obscure; the impetus that leads one from darkness into enlightenment. The continuation of this process aggregates us into schools of thought which are juxtaposed, and even antithetical at times, that help us systematically categorize our position as seekers of knowledge. With these multiple views in sight, one can be tempted to patronize other positions in order to lionize one's own 'correct' ways. But there are dangerous repercussions to being bound by the means of knowledge, which can make individuals overlook the end to the process. So, I place myself at disagreement with the statement at hand suggesting that we can learn a great deal with like-minded individuals as compared to the ones that are in contrast to our thoughts and perspectives, and for a good number of reasons at that.

To begin, the discussion with like-minded individuals, while healthy and burnishing the flaws out of one school of thought, does not invite discussion or conversation that can bring out change, but rather reiterates what has already, in fact, been accepted by the people having such discussion. For instance, what new insights would two philosophers make who subscribe to nihilism completely and believe that there is no inherent purpose to life? There would be no new inventions if all Engineers were in agreement that the problem of turbulent flow is too complex to solve. We would need existentialists to go against the futility of Nihilism. Furthermore, we could see new results if we added Absurdists to the mix. Similarly, we would need a group of Engineers who claim they can solve the problem of turbulence; some individuals who are set on giving their lives to resolving the Navier-Stokes equation. These opposing factions bring about reevaluation mutually in their value systems, and thus, bring a change that a hackneyed discussion of like-minded people cannot court.

Further, dissent and discussion has evidently been a very productive and preferable solution to lot of world's systemic problems, warding off cult culture and dogmatism. An example can be the pervasive system of democracy that has spread like wild fire all around the world. Dissent is the beauty of democracy which means you can respectfully discuss, and even disagree, on issues with individuals with a different point of view as long as the premise on which the discussion is based are equitable to both parties. Moreover, democracy has been proven to be a better alternative to fascism and dictatorship, which actually is indirectly related to the statement at hand. Since, we can learn much more from people with similar views, in contrapositive, we can also modify this statement to be that people with dissimilar views have nothing to teach us. This is the exact school of thought that tyrannical regimes have tried to impose upon the people using duress.

Not only are there harmful impacts of the statement bringing about dogmatism and partisanship, in fact, the placement of comprehensiveness of knowledge of individuals based on their position relative to our own is a bias in itself. The prejudice that this statement entails is obfuscating since the statement suggests that humans whose views align with ours are inherently more intelligent or superior. It would not allow for one to even consider the position of the next individual who is at a discord with the us. The lack of discussion inspired by the statement makes it out to be quite discriminating.

So, to conclude, everyone is aware of the importance of knowledge, and so gaining it is imperative. The sources surely need to be authentic and reliable. But while we might have our personal biases towards views that are amicable to our vision of life, we cannot simply dismiss the presence of alternative realities that can be explicated on the basis of different schools of thought. A lack of acceptance can be detrimental to us as individuals and as a group of individuals. Therefore, in firmly echoing my position, more logically so, I disagree with the statement that one can learn more from an individual with a similar view point.