Jordan Peterson

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IlliniDave
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Re: Jordan Peterson

Post by IlliniDave »

ZAFCorrection wrote:
Wed Mar 06, 2019 5:53 pm
An interesting take on forming a take on Jordan Peterson.

https://medium.com/@jonathanrowson/cult ... 717b3f4148
I couldn't slog through the article, but I did go back and listen to the interview Rowson mentioned in the article. It seemed like in a few subtle ways he wanted Peterson to repackage his message a little more generically, and a little more in line with PC/progressive sensibilities. For the most part Peterson was having none of it. I guess I couldn't conjure up an interest in the article because I don't feel a need to have a "take" on Peterson. I just enjoy listening to a traditional Liberal who is willing to hold his ground.

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jennypenny
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Re: Jordan Peterson

Post by jennypenny »

ZAFCorrection wrote:
Thu Mar 07, 2019 2:41 pm
I can't speak for others but my main problem with JP is he is like the old dude who is proudly only willing to look at things in a handful of ways ...
This is the point I was trying to get at the IDW thread. Most of the better thinkers I've read have some really good ideas and some really bad ideas. I wondered if that's more likely the more intelligent one is. I think we shouldn't discount people's valuable contributions even if they have some glaring flaws.

Ego once mentioned in a thread that he didn't trust someone's judgement as much if they were religious because, to Ego, it demonstrated flawed reasoning. I've thought about what he said a lot over the last few years. I've started to wonder whether a feature of significant intelligence is a willingness to indulge in one's thoughts to the point of it being detrimental or unreasonable. I don't mean indulging in blind thinking but more like fully immersing yourself in your ideas to see where it leads you. I can see where that can lead to great breakthroughs and huge misjudgments, as well as socially unacceptable ideas that go either way.

IlliniDave
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Re: Jordan Peterson

Post by IlliniDave »

jennypenny wrote:
Fri Mar 08, 2019 7:15 am
This is the point I was trying to get at the IDW thread. Most of the better thinkers I've read have some really good ideas and some really bad ideas. I wondered if that's more likely the more intelligent one is. I think we shouldn't discount people's valuable contributions even if they have some glaring flaws.
I think this dovetails with Peterson's basic argument in favor of free speech: the freedom to be wrong (and potentially "offensive") while exploring ideas in search of what's right. And it fits with Creativity 101 (along with more good ideas, creative people also have more bad ideas than non-creative people simply because they have more ideas).

prognastat
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Re: Jordan Peterson

Post by prognastat »

Well one thing that gets worse the more intelligent you are is that you might be able to reason/convince people you are right even when you aren't simply because they aren't smart enough to counter your points even if they may be right.

The smarter you are compared to those you are arguing with the more likely this can become.

Campitor
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Re: Jordan Peterson

Post by Campitor »

prognastat wrote:
Fri Mar 08, 2019 10:53 am
Well one thing that gets worse the more intelligent you are is that you might be able to reason/convince people you are right even when you aren't simply because they aren't smart enough to counter your points even if they may be right.

The smarter you are compared to those you are arguing with the more likely this can become.
Which is why it's incumbent on the person arguing with a PhD to be very informed on the topic being debated which includes having a good recall of the research that underscore their points; and their critical thinking skills must be honed to spot logical fallacies and weaknesses in the opposing arguments. I can't have much sympathy for a regular never-hit-the-gym layperson who challenges Mike Tyson to a fist fight - same goes for intellectual lightweights debating PhD's.

For clarity, I'm not saying you need a PhD to debate with a professor. I'm saying that you need to be as educated in the subject as a PhD if you're going to have any hope of holding your own in a debate, especially if the debate in question is in the PhD's area of expertise.

IlliniDave
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Re: Jordan Peterson

Post by IlliniDave »

ZAFCorrection wrote:
Fri Mar 08, 2019 11:52 am
... But at the same time, I mark intelligence as knowing when to keep your mouth shut. A guy of his age with an intellectual bent should have figured that out by now ...
Why would he want to do that (whether or not he's figured it out)?

Campitor
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Re: Jordan Peterson

Post by Campitor »

Jordan Peterson is solicited and sometimes paid to offer his opinions in public forums. I would find it odd if he accepted those public engagements and kept silent or rebutted with " I have insufficient data to offer an opinion" repeatedly when asked for his opinion. And he has stated he has insufficient information to offer an opinion on certain topics outside his area of expertise in the past. The problem is that his sycophants accept everything he says as gospel or miss the context of his statements and his detractors wish he'd go away and/or view everything he says as wrong despite any kernels of truth that may be embedded therein or any disclaimers made by Peterson regarding his opinion.

And a lot of people get caught up on his religious parables which imho Peterson is using to highlight psychological principles embedded within religious belief systems, that helped humanity cope with the misery of existence before the advent of more modern science and psychology. I think Peterson is asking his audience to view the psychological structures developed by religion to see if they offer any mechanisms which can be extrapolated to modern interpretations that could help humanity cope with the isolation brought about by technology and population growth. For example, having a common set of religious beliefs, that promote community building, humility, sacrifice, and helping the less fortunate, is useful. Perhaps these useful traits can then be structured into a modern paradigm which is palatable to the masses (like religion was in the past) thereby increasing happiness, decreasing human suffering, and promoting a better community.

ZAFCorrection
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Re: Jordan Peterson

Post by ZAFCorrection »

@iDave:

I can think of two reasons. First, it seems reasonable to infer that as a self-proclaimed intellectual and member of the IDW, one of his goals is engaging in some kind of eternal dialectic. That requires a good amount of listening, thinking, and reading as well as talking. It would also require some effort to not be continually inflammatory so you have people to successfully interact with. Second, ego and a desire to have people think you credible should demand that you not speak much in cases where you are likely to say something stupid.

From a remunerative standpoint, talking a lot seems to work out well for the guy. So maybe that makes it a smart move. But then I still hold the position that all the IDW stuff is treated as much more intellectual than it actually is.

prognastat
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Re: Jordan Peterson

Post by prognastat »

If you don't discuss/say anything in cases where you might say something stupid. Rather than saying the stupid thing receiving feedback and improving your ideas. How are you going to learn? And just listening isn't necessarily the best way to learn.

ZAFCorrection
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Re: Jordan Peterson

Post by ZAFCorrection »

@Prognostat

As I mentioned, I did not rule out talking. This is not some binary choice of all talking or no talking.

Campitor
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Re: Jordan Peterson

Post by Campitor »

ZAFCorrection wrote:
Fri Mar 08, 2019 1:19 pm
It would also require some effort to not be continually inflammatory so you have people to successfully interact with...ego and a desire to have people think you credible should demand that you not speak much in cases where you are likely to say something stupid.
In today's climate, even the most sane ideas based in reason and fact, and expressed with humility, are eviscerated mercilessly and the author of those words painted as a totalitarian bigoted ideologue. So how can you avoid "stupid" (note the quotes) utterances when even logical discourse is viewed as illogical, stupid, and racist/fascist. And to quote Peterson "you have to risk offending people if you want to search for the truth"; this may include saying something stupid. The assumption is that Peterson is knowingly saying something which he believes to be incorrect versus he may actually believe it's correct and is in needed of enlightenment.

A PhD doesn't make Peterson all knowing or an expert in topics outside of his field of study. But if responses, statements, and questions were limited to areas of one's expertise, I imagine we would have little to say to another. It's okay for someone to say something stupid. What's not okay is the dogmatic adherence to error revealed by the introduction of facts and research.

7Wannabe5
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Re: Jordan Peterson

Post by 7Wannabe5 »

On second thought, I guess it is optimal to have an equal proportion of A-level Activists who are B-level Intellectuals on both ends of the spectrum.

It just makes me want to tear my hair out a bit when a brilliant post-modernist, such as Pierre Bourdieu, is lumped into the same category as some possessive-pronoun obsessed bureaucrat. This discussion could be had at a much higher level if true intellect on both sides was respected. For instance, although Bourdieu clearly delineated the cultural aspects of masculine dominance, he maintained that the best means by which to transform or transcend the worst aspects of this tendency was through love. I think this is true, because whatever level of personal gender identification any of us might have as individuals, those of us who have children of the other gender become very cognizant of those associated challenges also.

Also, I would like to note for the record that it is in the most highly educated, most affluent school systems that it is most likely that young boys will be allowed to rough-house up to the point of anything likely to cause injury, in good part because most people with more than a halfway decent education accept the reality of developmental psychology and hormonal influence on behavior. IOW, it is cruel to not accept that "boys will be boys" when you are interacting with 8 year old children, but it is, IMO, just another example of "soft bigotry of lowered expectations" to apply "boys will be boys" to the behavior of grown azz men, no matter how hard, or how droning repetitively, you try to dress it up as something like "the high level to which 'disagreeable' is correlated with 'competent' " :lol:

Campitor
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Re: Jordan Peterson

Post by Campitor »

@ZAFCorrection

I agree to a certain extent with your latest comments. While JP's work may not be elevating public discourse, he is getting young men and women to "clean their rooms". I think people tend to be happier when they learn they are more in control of their emotions and actions rather than accepting the narrative that they have NO control of their lives; this may have the corollary effect of reducing the us versus them mentality which may bring some sanity back into public discourse. Although I wish there was a bit more focus on Jonathon Haidt than Peterson. Haidt does a better job of dissecting the dangers of identity politics and tribalism in a more palatable manner while Peterson just seems to raise the ire of his opponents; he doesn't seem to be convincing anyone in opposition while Haidt seems to make people think more deeply.

prognastat
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Re: Jordan Peterson

Post by prognastat »

The thing I would say is that Jordan Peterson and Jonathan Haidt are on different Wheaton levels. People at level 1 might find JP and improve their situation some and hopefully a decent portion would eventually move on to Jonathan Haidt. For many Haidt might be too complex at first though.

IlliniDave
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Re: Jordan Peterson

Post by IlliniDave »

Hmm. To me Haidt seems less complex than Peterson to follow. I'm not into the whole Wheaton thing, but it's a good point that Peterson (when he's not put into a defensive position) is speaking most often to people in the early stages of personal growth. Haidt is trying to reform "the academy". One could argue Peterson should be doing the same, but instead he's trying to reach directly to the people he feels are being disserved by education. Again for Peterson that's when looking at what he does beyond debating or taking on hostile interviews.

7Wannabe5
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Re: Jordan Peterson

Post by 7Wannabe5 »

IlliniDave wrote:To me Haidt seems less complex than Peterson to follow.

Maybe because Haidt, although cognizant of higher degrees of complexity, is better able to offer sensible explanation? Here's what Haidt writes on his own site:
My research examines the intuitive foundations of morality. I have found that moral reasoning is generally done post-hoc, to search for confirmation of our fast, automatic intuitive responses. I am therefore skeptical of the power of reasoning to bring us to the right conclusions, particularly when self-interest or reputational concerns are in play. I therefore became skeptical of direct approaches to fostering ethical behavior -- particularly direct teaching in the classroom. We can't just put moral knowledge into our students' heads, and expect them to implement that knowledge after they leave the classroom.
Here's how Wikipedia describes the sociological work of post-modern thinker Pierre Bourdieu (individual who invented the frequently misunderstood and misapplied meme "symbolic violence"):
Bourdieu's sociological work emphasizes the importance of practices in the social world. Bourdieu was opposed to the intellectualist tradition and stressed that social domination and cultural reproduction were primarily focused on bodily know-how and competent practices in the society. Bourdieu fiercely opposed Rational Choice Theory because he believed it was a misunderstanding of how social agents operate. According to Bourdieu agents do not continuously calculate according to explicit rational and economic criteria. Rather, social agents operate according to an implicit practical logic—a practical sense—and bodily dispositions. Social agents act according to their "feel for the game" (the "feel" being, roughly, habitus, and the "game" being the field).
IOW, Haidt is every bit as post-modern as Bourdieu. He has to be, because that is where we are now.

IlliniDave
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Re: Jordan Peterson

Post by IlliniDave »

7Wannabe5 wrote:
Sat Mar 09, 2019 7:18 am
Maybe because Haidt, although cognizant of higher degrees of complexity, is better able to offer sensible explanation?

...
Could be, I never bothered to think about it that way. I'm not trying to rank-order the two, I was just observing that, to put it a different way, Haidt is easier for me to listen to and follow. A significant aspect of my profession involves distilling detailed results to something one or two steps deeper than executive summary-type material. So Haidt's presentation style is familiar to me. It also means I'm well aware that there's a lot beneath the surface. Peterson is more like what you get if you haul your best scientist out of the lab and throw him in front of an audience. You don't just get the what's and the top-level whys, you tend to get the whys behind the whys and sometimes the whys behind those. So it can be a lot of work keeping up. FWIW, although I don't merit the handle "scientist", my natural mode of technical communication is more like Peterson's than Haidt's.

I like Haidt and Jordan both, so I don't set them in opposition to one another. As an occasional leisure listener, I think they are complementary. While it may be the case that Haidt is the superior intellect, I have no reasonable basis on which to make that judgement. But I'd be very hesitant to bet against Peterson in a complex thinking competition irrespective of his "opponent".

Edit to add: Regarding Pierre Bourdieu, don't know anything about him. Listening to Haidt talk, I don't get the impression he self-identifies with postmodernists, and even if he does, I don't see the point. That he and Jordan may or may not have differing philosophic frameworks behind the subset of their observations that seem to be in agreement doesn't mean much to me, honestly. I'm not motivated to judge one or the other of them wrong, nor am I competent to do so. Whatever differences they have, it doesn't seem to matter much to them--at least Peterson recommends Haidt's latest book on his website.

Edit again to add: one of their talks https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eqCNTopdBBs

Campitor
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Re: Jordan Peterson

Post by Campitor »

I wasn't trying to rank Haidt or Peterson either. I was just stating that Haidt has a better paradigm for exposing the flaws in ideology at a general level while Peterson has a better paradigm for getting an individual to rethink their position or at least pointing out the flaws in their logic.

Peterson's type of argumentation is weaker at the group level because others will automatically differentiate their beliefs from the logic disproven for an individual. So if Peterson's disproves someone's point, others will just rattle off how their beliefs are based off of a more nuanced understanding not covered by Peterson's refutations.

Haidt on the other hand sticks to the major points of ideology in such a way that makes it difficult to defend any viewpoints in counterpoint - great for targeting the flaws in broad strokes but less effective at challenging individuals to change with any urgency.

Both methods are needed to combat poor ideologies but Peterson generates more views so Haidt gets less attention.
Last edited by Campitor on Sun Mar 10, 2019 12:42 pm, edited 3 times in total.

7Wannabe5
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Re: Jordan Peterson

Post by 7Wannabe5 »

IlliniDave wrote:one of their talks
Good example of Peterson being a 3 trick pony. Increased suicide rate among young teenage girls in recent years is mentioned, and somehow Peterson, once again, jumps to post-modern political philosophy and radical feminism on campus as possible explanations ????? Off the top of my head, I could come up with 2 other recent social trends much more likely to be causative. The first being dearth of siblings to offer buffer against negative peer social interactions, and the second being the obesity epidemic.

Anyways, I agree with Peterson when he says "no serious scholar...", but the point that I was trying to make is that Peterson himself is throwing the serious scholars out with the bathwater when he over-GENERALIZES with phrases like "post-modern Marxist." I mean to the extent that he uses that phrase it just starts to sound something like "kind of person who would eat a dog."

IlliniDave
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Re: Jordan Peterson

Post by IlliniDave »

Are you referring to Peterson offering the ideas of intersectionality theory and patriarchy theory (along with technology-induced political polarization and 2-3 others that went unnamed) for Haidt and his co-author to comment on? Haidt didn't seem to object to inclusion of the theories under the postmodern/marxist umbrella.

They actually talk about smaller family sizes later in the conversation. IIRC it was Haidt who debunked that when Peterson brought it up as an idea. They didn't talk about obesity specifically that I recall, but Haidt at the beginning did talk about the possibility of "social comparison sites", naming Instagram as an example, as something that seemed to affect girls adversely more than boys.

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