Today’s conversation will be recorded for later release. Possible topics of discussion, some suggested by listeners to our previous discussion:
* How has postmodernism evolved, a generation after Foucault, Derrida, and Rorty?
* Is the resurgent Alt-Right more or less dangerous than the angry Left?
* What do you say to those to say Cultural Marxism isn’t a real thing?
* What positive steps, aside from criticizing and complaining, should be taken?
* What are the major disagreements between you two?
Our earlier discussion (summer 2017) ranged over philosophy, psychology, and the history of ideas. The video is at YouTube and the transcription is at my site here.
Related:
My 2016 agreement with Peterson’s position on pronouns: “Hicks on Pronouns and Peterson” — transcript.
My 2018 disagreement with Peterson’s position on the roots of the Enlightenment: “A Difference with Jordan Peterson on Enlightenment Foundations.”
Is redemption possible for a fully formed post-modern pragmatist adult ?
Dr. Peterson, I have great respect for your courage in taking on the evil scourge which you have taken on, and for the generally rational approach you take to questioning viewpoints. I do take issue, though, with your assertion that “…there is no such thing as self-interest…”
That would depend on your conception of what is in one’s self-interest. According to Objectivists, your self-interest would be those actions taken in support of one’s flourishing life and values judged over the course of a lifetime. Those actions that support the life of a rational being and his interests would include all that which he valued, including his family, his loved ones, his work, and a benevolent attitude to one’s fellow human beings, his rationality, his integrity in committing to a virtuous life (what Rand called a person’s moral ambition (a person’s love of his own rectitude) – a view that is generally compatible with Aristotle’s eudaimonia. ‘His’ (of course) is used here in the sense ’embracing woman’. By that view, your self-interest would not include short term destructive behavior, but rather a life committed to virtue – virtue being habits of thought a action that lead to living a flourishing life in the long term.