More About
Listening &
Learning in a
Polarized World
Templeton World Charity Foundation has launched its Listening and Learning in a Polarized World (LLPW) Priority to support research for new scientific discoveries that can help humans flourish in a world confronted with increasing volumes of polarization.
What is
Polarization?
The term polarization is used in a variety of contexts with different meanings. A base working definition of polarization is a state in which the opinions, beliefs, or interests of a group or society no longer range along a continuum but become concentrated at opposing extremes.
Why is Polarization
Important?
Sir John Templeton, founder of Templeton World Charity Foundation, believed that “the free and friendly competition of ideas” enables the truth to “more easily emerge.” This is critical for societal progress because “humans flourish best in a system of life that stimulates novelty, innovativeness, and individuality and that rewards new approaches, new concepts, new inventions, and new and better ways of thinking about life and its ultimate ends and concerns.” While diversity of ideas, opinions, beliefs, and interests of a group or society is usually a healthy driver of advancement, extreme polarization often restricts free and friendly competition of ideas and can therefore be a powerful barrier to achieving societal progress and human flourishing.
We see 5 opportunities to address key challenges and make progress in the field.
01
Identifying
& addressing
knowledge gaps
Significant knowledge gaps in this area make it hard to identify solutions. A broad range of scholars are already working in this field, but there remains a need for more and coordinated research. We plan to implement a three-phase strategy to support research, focusing on understanding underlying mechanisms through integrated models and measurements, cross-cultural measurement and mapping, and foundational research informing effective and culturally relevant polarization preventative and mitigating innovations.
02
Facilitating
coordination
between research
groups
Research in this area is conducted by disparate groups that lack fully integrated cross-coordination. We will require open science practices and work to galvanize a community of inquiry by supporting development of a research coordination network.
03
Streamlining
communications
between researchers
& practitioners
Information flow between researchers and practitioners is restricted. We will work to strengthen a community of practice engaged with the research coordination network, with the goal of practice-informed research and research-informed practice.
04
Exploring new
opportunities to
increase the
efficiency of the
scientific research
process
Research practices are held back by not following opportunities to increase efficiency. We will implement a unique review process and actively support global collaboration and learning.
05
Exploring the
significance of
collective behavior
in the study of
polarization
Exploring the broader significance of collective behavior as a broader subject that encompasses polarization could be undervalued as a research topic. Extreme polarization can be a critical obstacle to human flourishing and effective collective behavior can help us address our most critical issues. We plan to understand and pursue this relationship.
How we will focus
our interests
We will not commit to any particular polarizing topic.
Instead, we will strive to study how people can deal with polarization in various contexts.
We will support research projects to help us better understand the problem and possibly discover solutions.
This results in less emphasis on developing or launching innovations.
We will focus on efforts that develop character virtues and strengthen our decision-making capacities.
This means moving away from purely rule-based interventions or activities that restrict individual freedoms.
