OT - Looking for a Munger Quote

[benhacker]

Can't believe I can't find this, maybe I'm mis-remembering.

 

Didn't Munger have a quote about needing to have the ability to hold two conflicting thoughts / ideas in your mind at the same time?

 

Any help is much appreciated.

 

Ben

[Cevian]

He may have been quoting Scott Fitzgerald: "The test of a first-rate intelligence is the ability to hold two opposing ideas in mind at the same time and still retain the ability to function"

[augustabound]

It doesn't appear to be a direct quote, but I found this;

 

http://www.theequitydesk.com/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=799&PN=22

 

Integrating ideas. Munger is interested in integrating ideas taken from seperate disciplines.

He likes to do this in his head, sorting out ideas that may conflict by learning more or trying to figure out the synthesis for himself. He works to find some explanation for conflicting ideas, rather than retreating to the safety of one's own orthodoxy or discipline, which is what most people do.

[benhacker]

Thank you both, that's what I needed!

[west]

For what it's worth, "cognative dissonance" is, quoting wikipedia here, "a discomfort caused by holding conflicting cognitions (e.g., ideas, beliefs, values, emotional reactions) simultaneously."

 

Quoting some more: "The theory of cognitive dissonance in social psychology proposes that people have a motivational drive to reduce dissonance by altering existing cognitions or adding new ones to create a consistent belief system."

 

I think that's what you were referring to, right?