of interest here: The link below has a rather extended review of post-modern intellectualism, at least as it plays out in academic circles, attributed by the Reddit author to Noam Chomsky - with Jordan Peterson's emailed response upon reading it (at the top, I guess we all are used to reading in upside-down order now thanks for email and listserv acculturation).
I think Chomsky puts something of a finer point on exactly which positions are being critiqued - not generically the "activist left," of which Chomsky is a particular kind of example, but a specific subset of the left, which doesn't seek to provide education (and related practical needs like access to food, democratic participation, autonomy, etc) to the masses, but instead seeks to constrain modes of social discourse such as legislating punishments for 'incorrect' pronoun use.
https://www.reddit.com/r/badphilosophy/comments/6g4zcg/jordan_peterson_responded_to_my_email_he_agrees/
(and the comments section is another interesting cultural moment)
K
________________________________
From: tree of knowledge system discussion <[log in to unmask]> on behalf of Henriques, Gregg - henriqgx
Sent: Saturday, February 3, 2018 12:00 PM
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Re: Jordan Peterson
Hi Chance,
Thanks for this question regarding Jordan Peterson. I am fast becoming fascinated by him and his place in society. In a column last week, the NY Times columnist David Brooks wondered if he might be the most important<https://www.nytimes.com/2018/01/25/opinion/jordan-peterson-moment.html> Western intellectual.
This is an excellent topic for this list for several reasons. First, it is cool that a clinical psychologist is now out there as one of the key intellectuals that is driving the conversation. Because of our understanding of psychology, that means we should be in a place to understand this phenomena. This basically gives rise to Chance’s question, why is Peterson now getting so much attention and why is he at the center of so much controversy?
The answer, IMO, has everything to do with the relationship between a classic liberal arts intellectual view of life (which, in many ways, what Peterson represents) and the modern social activist/justice warrior progressive left. Indeed, it is Peterson’s clashes with that movement that propelled him into the spotlight and have been fueling the controversy.
The basic outline of the event that propelled Peterson into the spotlight started with Peterson taking a stand against a legislative move in Canada to support transgender pronoun usage. I need to research the policy more carefully to provide details, but it was proposed and Peterson was a vocal critic saying that pronoun usage should not be legislated in the way it was proposed. This attracted both concern from the progressive left and support from the fringe right. Then a viral video emerged in October of last year when an LGBTQ activist confronted Peterson and they had a heated exchange<https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O-nvNAcvUPE>. He has been involved in a number of these kinds of exchanges since.
So what is going on? Basically, there is the “justice logic” of the activists, which is that we need to deconstruct and delegitimize the straight white male hegemony that has institutionalized power structures in our culture. Virtually all the arguments center on the idea that there was an unfair social identity privilege that is at the root of many injustices, and that these forces need to be called out and corrected. Although this is an important angle to be cognizant of, it is, of course, not the only angle. A number of social justice claims bump up against other angles on truth and justice.
As I noted in this blog<https://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/theory-knowledge/201801/seeking-justice-or-enhancing-victimized-identity>, I see the tensions between diversity justice claims and worldviews, victim identity and “overreach” to be absolutely fascinating and very much at the heart of our country’s current identity confusion.
This highlights the sociological elements as to why Peterson has drawn such attention. In the future, will exploring more on his ideas and how he communicates them.
Best,
Gregg
From: tree of knowledge system discussion [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of Chance McDermott
Sent: Tuesday, January 30, 2018 12:18 AM
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Re: Jordan Peterson
Hi list,
I want to echo Gregg's assessment about the importance of Jordan Peterson. He is one of the most influential individuals in our current time and worth discussing.
Gregg, I'm curious how we might make sense of JP's influence from a UT perspective?
-Chance
On Tue, Jan 23, 2018 at 11:28 AM, Henriques, Gregg - henriqgx <[log in to unmask]<mailto:[log in to unmask]>> wrote:
Hi List,
I thought I would let folks know that I have been tracking the developments around Jordan Peterson as of late (many thanks to Chance M who alerted me to him). Here is an article about him worth reading:
https://www.chronicle.com/article/What-s-So-Dangerous-About/242256?cid=trend_right_a<https://urldefense.proofpoint.com/v2/url?u=https-3A__www.chronicle.com_article_What-2Ds-2DSo-2DDangerous-2DAbout_242256-3Fcid-3Dtrend-5Fright-5Fa&d=DwMFaQ&c=eLbWYnpnzycBCgmb7vCI4uqNEB9RSjOdn_5nBEmmeq0&r=HPo1IXYDhKClogP-UOpybo6Cfxxz-jIYBgjO2gOz4-A&m=JVTAkcZuTQEKJYAJN5Yxf2iLPIfSh6rLeI7ms3uCa60&s=kNd_nsKftrLDZ4FYBQQUs8wDTgrKz1yDR6qT8HDFodM&e=>
He is an interesting guy who offers some I think fascinating but also controversial positions.
Best,
Gregg
___________________________________________
Gregg Henriques, Ph.D.
Professor
Department of Graduate Psychology
216 Johnston Hall
MSC 7401
James Madison University
Harrisonburg, VA 22807
(540) 568-7857<tel:(540)%20568-7857> (phone)
(540) 568-4747<tel:(540)%20568-4747> (fax)
Be that which enhances dignity and well-being with integrity.
Check out my Theory of Knowledge blog at Psychology Today at:
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