Peterson Misses The Point of Postmodernism

Jordan Peterson is infamous for his contrarian takes on everything from psychology, to education, to the importance of making your bed. But does he have anything interesting to say about French philosophy? And more importantly, does he even understand it? Let's find out in this Philosopher Reacts to Jordan Peterson on Postmodern Philosophy.

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Hosted by Michael Burns
Directed by Michael Luxemburg
Produced by Olivia Redden and Griffin Davis
Music courtesy of Epidemic Sound

#wisecrack #jordanpeterson

[WisecrackEDU]

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[grant]

I'm a psychologist reacting to a philosopher reacting to a psychologist pretending to be a philosopher. Fun times.

[markbanks]

I love how a brief introduction to Foucault is immediately followed by an ad for an app that disciplines the micro-scheduling of your everyday life

[SpaceW-]

Peterson’s problem (at least in this context) has always been that he tries to insert his own current political interpretations into philosophy that existed before said ‘problem’ did. When he says postmodernists “don’t believe in biology” what he means is that the people he believes have taken up postmodernism as a core philosophy have in turn done something that invalidates biology (of course he’s talking about trans and non-binary people). Then what he does is incorrectly pushes that ‘problem’ onto the original philosophers’ works and citing it as intrinsic truth of the philosophy itself.

Which is just not how any of that works. He uses multiple verticals that have nothing to do with each other to invalidate each one

[thomasbessette]

Its crazy how he equally seems and feels like he's going deep into details while not explaining anything at the same time. It feels like a cartoon version of a philosopher.

[DerTypDa]

It's remarkable how so many of Peterson's takes are based on like a half-remembered skim of wikipedia, and then just flatly projecting his personal grievances on the topic at hand and outright making up any connective tissue to make it fit.

[robertportillo]

I like you doing a video like this. You should do more stuff on modern real-world people. Don't get me wrong I love the Rick and Morty and pop-culture stuff, but it was cool to see a rebuttal to people that use philosophers to talk about their own beliefs.

[whatifgaming]

As a previous fan of Peterson who eventually found the truth, I want to layout why I got hooked to him in the first place.
-I was a man, and felt I was under attack. He soothed my anxiety and paranoia.
-I felt my own father was meek, and I knew in my head I wanted him as a father figure
-He expressed his ideas in ways that seemed reasonable at the time, the way he talked.
-That video of him and that news reporter willfully trying to twist his words seemed like proof he was right

[danielwall]

Reminds me of Ayn Rand in the utter cluelessness of his commentary. He has no idea what he's talking about, and yet Peterson pronounces his verdicts with absolute confidence.

[Palemagpie]

This is literally why I quit being a philosopher.

Not because my ideas didn't bring anything to the table (I mean they didn't. They were rubbish)

But because people started taking my ideas out of context. And on one occasion quoted them back to me. Not knowing I was the author. And when they found out. Literally argued that I didn't understand my own work.

[ericpalmer]

Basically Jordan Peterson is just a social media influencer now, that’s how he makes money and that’s why he constantly exaggerates and always does the sky is falling thing.

[dylanboczar]

The recurring theme seems to be that JP doesn't really actually understand *philosophy* whatsoever, despite considering himself a practitioner

[OGRE_HATES_NERDS]

he is so good at making stupid people feel smart

[lintaobohan]

"There are times when we’re like horses, we psychologists, and get restless: we see our own shadows bobbing up and down in front of us. Psychologists need to stop looking at themselves if they want to see anything at all." - Friedrich Nietzsche

[tbgold]

When listening to Peterson, the issue is you have to continually note some statements are just factually incorrect. If you interpret something starting from an incorrect fact, the interpretation is going to be incorrect.

[thomasj]

It’s so exhausting to react on Peterson, because most of his output is propelled by just this inability to accept counterarguments as arguments, if those might be able to contradict the petrified dogma. His denial is so painful to me.

Edit (German boor forgot): Thank you for your fine education ❤ I enjoyed it a lot!

[caringforall]

This just goes to show how important proper academic writing and formatting are! I bet if Peterson had to submit a list of references for what he had said about post-modernism, he would be a lot less radical and a bit more nuanced. But at the same time, he would not have become famous.

[lupo]

"I'm gonna stay in my lane today."
Something JP hasn't thought in a long time.

[MP_mafia]

It's as simple as this: he is treating postmodernist thought as though it is a monolithic ideological framework, when it is really a niche intellectual metaframework. It's fear mongering that deconstructing systems of power and knowledge is a slippery slope into burning it all down. In my opinion it is akin to the way that Christianity fearmongers about disbelief in God as temptation of evil.

[brianfoster]

Descartes walked into a bar. The bartender asked him if he would like a beer. Descartes responded, “I think not.” Immediately, Descartes disappeared.