Steven Pinker: Wokeism and the Limits of Rationality

Is rationality a lost cause in the universities? In this interview, he talks about the limits of rationality. In his bestselling books The Better Angels of Our Nature and Enlightenment Now, the Harvard linguist Steven Pinker made the surprisingly controversial case that humanity has been getting richer and less violent over the past two centuries.

In Rationality: What It Is, Why It Seems Scarce, and Why It Matters, he argues that our ability to reason and think critically is central to human flourishing and undergirds our phenomenal material and moral progress since the Enlightenment.

#Pinker #rationality

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[Evenflovv]

As non native english speaker I am very sorry that Steven Pinker used calculator to record his voice ;(

[alexstrang]

promoting rationality/reason at the popular level would help turn the human world only those in the cultural promotion business had an interest beyond exploitation

[hemlock]

An epic movie about Socrates might fill the "rational James Dean" role.

[samn]

The thing I find very disturbing about wokeism is the minimizing of human nature. If it's all a 'will to power' and very little room is given to the innate naturalness within the individual you can justify social construction. 
With wokeism you can remake man in the image of some rational idea, but devoid of history and nature, which seems very authoritarian since who is deciding what this image should be. 
Since 'will to power' is the cause of inequality you can justify it's use to make everything equal by fair means or foul.

[notloki]

the problem is that rationality relies on axiomatic thinking. if someone is operating with different first principles, they can use logic to get to a different conclusion.
this conflation of logic, reason, science, and truth, is a great mind virus of our time. all of those are different things. first principles and core terms have to be defined before any progress can be made with logic.

[omyriveramendoza]

mi name is omy rivera mendoza from puerto rico and i have one problem i named is neural accommodation speaking with noises and movement. how affect that you brain and you emotions.

[askidja]

Empathetic James Dean has been replaced by nihilistic Thelma and Louise, Rationality and pure science is an opaque place to live And they finally came from the theory to her “poetic type” practice to make life important
Current events are using Madison Avenue advertising principles and game theory

[Vzzdak]

We want more rational actors in society, but the evidence is that we foolishly think irrational actors will conform via social media.

Car deaths from playing chicken are still a modern reality (which includes women), but you don't need this illustration to recognize that social media provides a voice to an unlimited volume of armchair opinions, including those motivated to watch others burn.

Wokeism has nothing to do with rationality. Just look at the "white male power" that they object to, and recognize it as both racist and sexist. It's right up there with "white privilege, " stated as fact, though a sleight of hand.

But these "social movements" handily sidestep history because their ideas have no rational foundation. For example, where is their mention of the black slavers who would sell their catches to the Europeans? Where is the mention of white advocates in the UK and NA who fought to end the slave trade?

The only reason these race hustlers succeed in tearing down statues is because our politicians and police have been hoodwinked into giving them a pass, for fear of looking bad on social media, and consequently losing their jobs.

[imtiazkhan]

Wo(kism) is merely another name for S(talinism)

[theabels]

The problem with rationality is one can never know for sure if they can trust their own rationality.

[donnagjoka]

It's true....what Mr Picked..said. teenage.its metamorphosis body's immune response ..from one stage to other. to day it's much anapticsis... because the education system are metamorphosis too .from pages books to tech development..and they are free to contact what ever likes ..no matter good or bad..they needed program disciplines .. necessary..not everyone will be exact what the society likes ..but not massive march of teen problems..

[Zarathustra]

I've never seen Pinker more fluttery

[bradbecker]

There are no limits to rationality.. How can there be limits to acting and thinking within proper scale and proportion? Pinker is inspired by Immanuel Kant who said we can’t know reality through reason. Kant and Pinker are wrong. Aristotle and Ayn Rand are correct that we can know reality by means of reason. Reason is the only way to gain knowledge of reality in the first place.

[jonmcalister]

“Woke” people don’t disregard logic. That’s a straw man criticism. They merely acknowledge that it’s useful to dissect hidden premises. Some people don’t want those premises questioned, and when they are, they accuse the questioner of being “irrational” instead of dealing with the questions honestly. That decision to attack the questioner is a power move that is not logical. This is equally true when someone wants to make rules about the admissibility of certain kinds of evidence or exclude assumptions that don’t privilege them. None of these have anything to do with the actual logic of the issues, but they alter the playing field.

“Woke activists” don’t dismiss logic. They just call out the power games played by those who want to rig the terms of the debate in their favor.

Of course, calling them “irrational” also functions as an ad hominem (an illogical tactic).

[Aldermus]

Wokeism= american loss of culture.
Simple, lets focus on more important things please

[remoteviewing]

Steven "friends with Epstein" Pinker.

[drivewithbishop]

Everyone point and laugh at Steven Pinker. The more he talks, the more relevant the opposition, views become. Aka, anything he disagrees with.

[AndyAnaya]

There is a 0% chance that history will look back kindly on Steven Pinker's reactionary social commentary. He should have stuck to linguistics, maybe

[gegtyreeyuyeddffvyt]

This Pinker clown needs to be canceled!!!