Your strong disagreement with the opposing view can become a hindrance if you are not able to suppress your frustration with your opponent long enough to hear him/her out. Your primary responsibility is to understand sympathetically your opponent’s basic concerns and to discern what sources of truth she/he values and does not value.
- Be on the lookout for places where the author reveals his or her operating assumptions or basic beliefs.
- Be willing to appreciate places where the author’s reasoning is cogent and insightful.
- Read actively, asking questions and making notes of passages where the author discloses his/her presuppositions.
You should spend the majority of your research time carefully listening to and analyzing this primary text.
