From Conflict to Convergence: Coming Together to Solve Tough Problems

CHAPTER 4Everyone Gets the Benefit of the Doubt

A thousand years ago, the philosopher Moses ben Maimon (Maimonides), who served as judge to Cairo's Jewish community as well as physician to the ruling Muslim court, considered how best to weigh the words and deeds of the diverse people he met in his daily work. “Judge every man to the side of merit,” he started, quoting an oft-debated line from the Talmud. “This refers to when you are unsure about a certain individual, whether or not he is righteous or wicked, and you witness him doing an act or saying something that may be interpreted as either good or bad. In such a case, judge favorably and do not think he is doing something wrong.”¹ When you don't know the person, he said, judging favorably is always the right course.

Maimonides had a reputation, even in his day, for espousing controversial ideas, and it's quite possible that some of his neighbors and colleagues dismissed his approach out of hand. Those within his own religious enclave would have known that his family had been forced to flee Spain after the invading Berber caliphs told non-Muslims they must convert or leave—or face death. His family had wandered for nearly 20 years before settling in Egypt.² How could he set aside all those years of persecution, hardship, and opposition? How could he give everyone, even Cairo's Muslim rulers, the benefit of the doubt?

For Maimonides, however, there was only one justification for skepticism: if someone is widely known for ...