"At what conclusions should I arrive, if I had planted my trees on the opposite side?"
From the reasoning which would have ensued, the following truth would most certainly have been revealed.
"If I were in the other man's place, I should certainly think as he does."
This premise once laid down, the conclusion would be reached; all the more exact, because, without abandoning their arguments, each one would present those which it is easy to turn against an adversary.
Before solving a problem, he who desires to avoid making a mistake must never fail to ask himself this question:
What should I do if my interests were those of the opposite party?
Or, yet again:
What should I reply if my adversaries used the same language to me as I purpose using when addressing them?
This method is valuable in that it raises unexpected objections, which the mind would not consider if one had simply studied the question from one's own point of view.
It is a self-evident fact that, according to the state of mind in which we are, things assume different proportions in the rendering of judgment on them.