Bookclub: Social (in)Justice - Chapter 1: PostModernism

Social (In)justice: Why Many Popular Answers to Important Questions of Race, Gender, and Identity Are Wrong--and How to Know What's Right: A Reader-Friendly Remix of Cynical Theories

by Helen Pluckrose (Author), James Lindsay (Author), Rebecca Christiansen (Contributor)

Virtual Bookclub reading and commentary.
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Chapter 1: Post-Modernism
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"That's just a social construct"
"2+2=5"
"Power Dynamics"
"Words are violence"
"Truth is relative"

If you have heard slogans like these and found them unfamiliar or seemingly nonsensical then chances are that you have had an encounter with the remnants of postmodern ideas in contemporary discourse.

In Chapter 1 of Social (in)Justice, authors Helen Pluckrose and James Lindsey go back to the artistic, literary and philosophical origins of postmodernism and demonstrate how key concepts from (mostly) French philosophers have come to blow apart our conventional notions of reality, language, society, morality and even our ability to know or understand anything.

In todays bookclub we explore this chapter and look at the downstream effects of such ideas and how applying notions that are legitimate in the realm of art and poetry to the real world can have destructive and deleterious effects to social cohesion, professional and institutional competency and even the scientific process as a whole.

I invite you to order a copy of the book for yourself and follow along as we go through each of the ten chapters of the book, one at a time and uncover how those ideas are taking shape in the world around us!

Order the book at Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/Social-justice-Important-Wrong-Reader-Friendly/dp/1634312236/

Helen Pluckrose's site: https://counterweightsupport.com/

James Lindsey's site: https://newdiscourses.com/

TIMESTAMPS:

00:00:00 - All about PostModernism
00:01:00 - Opening comments
00:10:17 - The iconoclastic origins of postmodernism
00:58:35 - The roots of postmodernism
01:17:52 - Radical skepticism and epistemology
01:38:15 - The PostModern knowledge principle
02:16:51 - Karl Popper and Falsification
02:32:38 - The PostModern political principle
02:50:23 - The Kafka Trap
03:00:00 - Blurring of boundaries
03:11:53 - The power of language (freedom of speech)
03:49:53 - Cultural relativism
04:06:05 - Postmodern justification for pedophilia
05:02:30 - The loss of the individual and the universal
05:10:03 - Isn't PostModernism dead? Final comments.

LINKS:

Chris Hanna is a product of the academic pedagogical engine which produces the "woke" but in his case the indoctrination didn't take. He discusses classical liberalism, the perils of new illiberalism and atheism/religion/spirituality on his YouTube channel.

Chris Hanna: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCk0L0ZZSOmJHyNR-xVKufjw

Jared Higdon is a regular contributor and cohost at the "My Spiritual Life" Youtube channel.

My Spiritual Life: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCGm61vMUzmNa0o2_GD8GQIA

REFERENCES:
See reference thread below video or document here: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1Ybj9oJoF_HXYs1XHWGLWlPpds9rzzn2gh7RD9gWp0i4/edit?usp=sharing