026 - Feminism, Marxism, Postmodernism and Jordan Peterson: Sometimes the Only Winning Move is Not to Play
Release Date: 03/26/2018
038 - Tribal Literacy and Emotional Intelligence
The Argument Ninja Podcast
On this episode of the Argument Ninja podcast I share the audio from an interview I did with Brittney-Nichole Connor-Savarda for her for a new podcast, Living and Leading with Emotional Intelligence.
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037 - 3 Honest Updates: On Failure, Living With a Stutter, and Accepting My Comfort Zone
The Argument Ninja Podcast
On this episode of the Argument Ninja podcast I talk openly about why this is the first new episode I've produced in 7 months, and the lessons I'm learning as a life-long stutterer.
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036 - Understanding Complex Social Phenomena: More Theories of the Causes of Social Polarization
The Argument Ninja Podcast
On this episode of the Argument Ninja podcast I talk about the difficulty of judging how much we really understand about the causes of complex social phenomena.
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035 - Updates and a Street Epistemology Interview
The Argument Ninja Podcast
On episode 035 of the Argument Ninja podcast I share updates on new course development over at kevindelaplante.com, and I share both the audio and the video of a one-hour interview I did with the hosts of the Epistemic podcast, which focuses on "street epistemology".
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034 - Understanding the Causes of Polarization (Part 1): Depolarization Initiatives
The Argument Ninja Podcast
In episode 024 of the Argument Ninja Podcast I'm starting a series of episodes that will explore different models of the causes of social and political polarization, and introduce some general principles for thinking critically about complex social phenomena like polarization.
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033 - Critical Thinking About Conspiracies
The Argument Ninja Podcast
On this episode of the Argument Ninja Podcast I'm presenting edited versions of last three episodes of my first podcast show that I produced in 2010-11. These were the last episodes I produced of that podcast series, and I discuss why in the introduction.
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032 - When Tribalism Becomes Pathological
The Argument Ninja Podcast
On this episode of the Argument Ninja podcast I share the audio for the three videos I recently produced on Cognitive Biases, Tribalism and Politics. It was designed as one long video presenting one long argument, so the audio works well in this continuous format.
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031 - New Cartoon Videos Plus a Fall 2018 Update
The Argument Ninja Podcast
On this episode of the Argument Ninja podcast I talk about the three new videos I recently produced on Cognitive Biases, Tribalism and Politics, and I give an update on what's been keeping me busy this fall.
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030 - Behind the Scenes of My New Video Course
The Argument Ninja Podcast
On this episode I talk about the genesis of my new video course, "The Vocabulary of Science: First Steps to Science Literacy", and my decision to start producing the Argument Ninja podcast in both audio and video formats.
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029 - How to Raise a Critical Thinker
The Argument Ninja Podcast
On this episode of the Argument Ninja podcast I talk about the importance of critical thinking education for kids and teens, and what parents can do to help their kids become better critical thinkers.
info_outlineOn this episode of the Argument Ninja podcast I offer a perspective on Jordan Peterson's criticism of left-wing ideology (what he calls "cultural Marxism") by sharing some of my intellectual history with feminism, Marxism and postmodernism.
The broader theme of this episode is how to critically engage with ideas without being sucked into the tribal psychology of ideological conflict.
Show notes and links: https://kevindelaplante.com/026-jordan-peterson
Support the podcast on Patreon: https://patreon.com/kevindelaplante
In This Episode:
(0:00 - 3:10) Introductory remarks
(3:10 - 6:10) Introduction to Jordan Peterson
(6:10 - 7:15) Email from Daniel: a question about JP and "cultural Marxism"
(7:15 - 8:00) Feminism's branding problem
(8:00 - 10:30) My philosophy mini-course in middle school
(10:30 - 17:35) The value of separating the descriptive components from the normative components of feminism
(17:35 - 19:00) Distinction: describing patterns of discrimination vs explaining those patterns
(19:00 - 20:11) Why this way of defining feminism leaves lots of room for disagreement
(20:11 - 20:45) My agnosticism about explanations for the root causes of discrimination (and social change in general)
(20:45 - 23:48) Feminism and theories of social change: the problem of how to get from here to there
(23:48 - 24:58) Help support the podcast!
(25:00 - 31:00) Introduction to Marxism: what you can learn from Marx without committing to socialism or communism
(31:00 - 42:35) A thought experiment to illustrate a Marxist approach to social change: social idealism vs social materialism in explanations of slavery
(42:35 - 50:00) Jordan Peterson (via Stephen Hicks) on cultural Marxism and postmodernism
(50:00 - 51:45) Conspiracy theories and peer review
(51:45 - 53:52) "Traditional philosophical inquiry" vs postmodernism
(53:52 - 1:03:15) A legendary graduate seminar: "Essence and Construction". Philosophy vs Theory and Criticism as a clash of intellectual cultures
(1:03:15 - 1:06:38) Breaking through: learning to communicate across an ideological divide
(1:06:38 - 1:07:55) Empathy as a tool of understanding
(1:07:55 - 1:10:11) Being socialized into a tribal view of intellectual identity and ideological conflict
(1:10:11 - 1:12:19) Criticizing Jordan Peterson is easy when every side has their champion and everyone else is a charlatan
(1:12:19 - 1:14:15) "Once you start playing this game, you will be a creature of the game from that point forward"
(1:14:15 - 1:15:30) The WarGames option: "the only way to win is not to play". What it means to take the side of people