We can learn much more from people whose views we share than from people whose views contradict our own.

The statement above is a typical example of the fallacy of false cause; between the amount of learning from others and the position of the others’ ideas regarding our views, there is not necessarily a linkage. We can learn from anyone, no matter how much they are similar to us or how they may differ. “A wise enemy rises you, and a dumb friend knocks you down.” This is a Persian proverb that summarizes my viewpoint; the proverb invites us to have a relation with wise people, even if they are enemies it is better than to befriend with a dumb one.

To begin with, we cannot always learn from people whose views we share. The more our idea overlaps, the more we are prone to become incognizant about the shortcomings and the defects of our views. To illustrate, consider why all the dictators never learned from their mistakes and ended up the same way. They never tolerated the opposite ideas and they lived among obsequious individuals who did not dare to say anything but the opinions favorable to the dictators. Their inflated power of them collapsed with all its weak-points. Hence, conforming ideas do not always lead to learning more.

Furthermore, it is only the contrasting viewpoints teaching people to see the world also through a contrasted angle_ which they may not look through it retrospectively. Those whose perspectives are opposite from us, have lived with that outlook, and they experienced so much in that view. In this case, for instance, those who are quite idealistic can become more moderate by being in contact with the pragmatic individuals and vice versa. This happens when each party is amenable to see the world from other's angle either. Hence, some learning, which balances our attitudes, are gained when we see others with different views.

Finally, learning is more a qualitative matter than a quantitative one; individuals need to learn from people whose ideas are different as much as they need to learn from people with more aligned ideas, to cultivate a comprehensive characteristics. Exposing to the opposite ideas, we can learn how to tolerate the ideas which are different from us. Such logical opposite views can also challenge our ideas and prompt us to defend our own idea, or trim its unwanted parts. At the same time, being with people who have shared ideas would buttress our ideas and we can have their approval as a social backbone of our outlook. After all, we can learn from anyone who is logical and wise.

In short, as discussed, learning from people is not predicated upon whether they are aligned with our ideas or not. We can learn from every individual who is logical and wise.