Plato is my friend; Aristotle is my friend, but my greatest friend is truth.

Affection and agreement are different things, and it takes some steadiness to keep them apart. The people who taught you most have earned your gratitude, not your permanent assent. When loyalty starts doing the work that evidence should be doing, you stop learning from them and start defending them. Valuing what is true above who said it is not coldness toward those people; it is the only way their teaching stays alive rather than hardening into a rule.

Pick one belief you hold mostly because someone you respect holds it. Look at the case for it on its own, without the name attached, and see whether it still stands.