On the question of whether we should judge someone, or should we judge someone based on their past, the question itself is a non-starter. We always are judging people, whether consciously or not, regardless of the claims to the contrary when people indefinitely state that they don’t judge others. While this conceptualization is a culturally instantiated norm as being “good”, and, in general, not judging based on physical characteristics such as race in regarding intentionality and intelligence is clearly a “bad” judgment, the general claim of not judging regardless of acquired information on the person, is not only an excepted sentiment, but it is unrepresentative of what we actually do, and more importantly, what we should do, which is, in my opinion, judge and prepare to be judged. Those that state emphatically their lack of judgment, and parade it as a virtue, are surely ignorant of the minds inherent biases and propensity to make value judgments based on information collected through perception and rationalization, and the way they interact with the world. We judge everything and everyone, and act accordingly. To make a statement about an idea you would like to be true is one thing, but recognizing the truth of the matter through your experience shows you whether you are living out those beliefs or not. Anyone who says they don’t judge people on their past, or other commonplace maxims, don’t realize that the people they choose to surround themselves with, whether family or friends, are more than circumstantial, but based on value judgments. To be indifferent is to be inhuman, we all have biases and judgments playing a role in our daily lives, whether it is in more substantial instances, such as who we are in a relationship with, who we befriend, how long we converse with someone, the manner in which we do so, or in our everyday passing by and conversation with other people. Regardless of the interaction, a form of judgment, and modification of our Being in relation to the individual(s) and our perception of them, regulated by an evaluatory system, is always taking place, we are always living out our judgments.
I take the position of always judge, for everything, and expect to be judged, for everything, as this truly is what is happening, we have no choice in the matter. As everything does contribute to our judgment, our very attention and conscious state is based upon a system of hierarchical value in accordance with our judgment of what is important. Our consciousness and our very being is directed towards content, and in a manner that reflects what we care about, or what we are concerned about. This care and concern, this value system, is reflected in every moment of our lives, and acts as a mediator between our environment and our action in response to it. We should judge people based on what we know about them, what they have done, what they currently are doing, their intelligence, age, experiences, in short – everything is grounds upon which to better inform our interactions in order to more wisely discern the most optimal way of interacting with them, or, in avoiding interaction with them. You don’t speak to a centennial the same way you speak to a newborn, for obvious reasons. We shouldn’t be passive in our interactions, we should be active in discerning good character and virtue, as well as vice and immorality, what is appropriate and useful, and what isn’t.
As to whether to judge someone based on their past, if that is all the information you have on them, absolutely, but it is not a static statement and it is always altered by the infinite amount of factors playing a role upon our psyches, and others, and the situations we find ourselves in. We should judge someone first and foremost on their present state, and secondarily upon the distant past, with every act occurring within that time on a spectrum of importance. One’s character and disposition is most readily interpreted from the most recent acts, and diminishes in relevance as time goes backwards, we should judge accordingly, always using wisdom as the filter to interpret the information we gain about someone in forming our judgment.
Seek Truth 