As humans, we all want self-respect – and keeping that in mind might be the missing ingredient when you try to change someone’s mind

In today’s climate, political conversations can feel like attacks on your character, not the politician’s.& Goran 13/iStock via Getty Images by Colin Marshall, University of Washington Why is persuasion so hard, even when you have facts on your side? As a philosopher, I’m especially interested in persuasion – not just how to convince someone, but how to do it ethically, without manipulation. I’ve found that one of the deepest insights comes from the German philosopher Immanuel Kant, a focus of my research, who was born 300 years ago: April 22, 1724. In his final book on ethics, “The Doctrine of Virtue,” Kant writes that each of us has a certain duty when we try to correct others’ beliefs. If we think they’re mistaken, we shouldn’t dismiss them as “absurdities” or “poor judgment,” he says, but must suppose that their views “contain some truth.” What Kant is describing might sound like humility – just recognizing that other people often know things we don’t. But it goes beyond that. This moral duty to find truth in others’ mistakes is based on helping the other person “preserve his respect for his own understanding,” Kant claims. In other words, even when we encounter obviously...