When someone disagrees with you on a moral point you assume that he is one step behind in his thinking, and he assumes that he has gone one step ahead. But I take both parts, O'Hara, leapfrogging myself along the great moral issues, refuting myself and rebutting the refutation towards a truth that must be the compound of two opposite half-truths. And you never reach it because there is always something more to say.
About this quote
- What does it mean?
- Stoppard describes moral disagreement as a cycle of self-refutation and leapfrogging toward a compound truth that remains unreachable.
- In plain terms
- People think they are ahead morally, but truth is a mix of opposite views you never fully reach.
- What can you take from it?
- Moral truth is complex and often lies between opposing viewpoints.
Where it applies
Putting it to work
Questions to consider
- Can we ever reach moral truth?
- Is disagreement productive?
Another view
It suggests progress is impossible rather than just difficult.
More from Tom Stoppard
My whole life is waiting for the questions to which I have prepared answers.
Permalink to quote #3 I agree with everything you say, but I would attack to the death your right to say it.
Permalink to quote #5 Since we cannot hope for order let us withdraw with style from the chaos.
Permalink to quote #2
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