I have bumped into a concept attributed to the philosopher J. Krishnamurti:
"observing without evaluating is the highest form of human intelligence"
The idea under this is to avoid judging and diagnosing, which is often harmful to human interaction.
My question is: I believe I have encountered parallel proposals in Chazal. Can someone point me in some of those directions?
The Jewish view is to judge others favorably as it says (Leviticus 19:15)
You shall do no unrighteousness in judgment: thou shalt not respect the person of the poor, nor honour the person of the mighty: but in righteousness shalt you judge your neighbour.
In the words of R Avrohom Ehrman in his Laws of interpersonal relationships, pp. 14-20
- the Torah commands us to give others the benefit of the doubt and to judge them favorably
- if we see someone doing something that appears evil, we should search for extenuating circumstances, ways to excuse the suspicious action and give it a favorable interpretation
- it is nearly always possible to find some way to excuse, or at least to mitigate the severity of any action or bad quality one sees
- as the Torah commands us (Leviticus 19:15) we should love our neighbor as ourselves, i.e., we should give our neighbors the same excuses we would give ourselves
You ask for sources in Chazal, here are a few
- "Judge every man to the side of merit" (Avot 1:6)
- "Do not judge your fellow until you have stood in his place" (Avot 2:4)
- “But in righteousness shall you judge your colleague,” that you should judge another favorably, and seek to find justification for his actions, even if when interpreted differently his actions could be judged unfavorably (Shevuot 30a with R Steinsaltz' interpretation)