The Argument Ninja Podcast

On this episode I've got an interview lined up for you that I did with Bob Froehlich, who hosts the Thinking Clearly radio program and podcast over at KMUD community radio in Redway, California.

Our topic was critical thinking and tribalism, very much in the vein of what I've been talking about in my recent sketchbook video series titled, appropriately, "Critical Thinking and Tribalism".

(To see the first three videos in this series, follow the links in the show notes below).

If you've been following my work a certain amount of this will be familiar, but in this interview we covered some new topics relating to tribalism and polarization that I haven't discussed before; for example, the distinction between ideological polarization and social polarization; evidence that social polarization along political lines has increased dramatically in recent years, especially in the US; and some discussion of the causes of this increase in polarization.

We also answer a couple of live call-ins from listeners!

We hear a lot of talk about the "rediscovery of tribal psychology "in recent years, but my view is that it's misguided to think of tribal psychology per se as the problem.

The problem facing us today is how our tribal psychology operates when polarization becomes extreme.

So the more pressing issue is to understand the psychological and social factors that increase or decrease polarization.

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In This Episode:

(0:00 - 4:25) Introductory remarks from Kevin

(4:25 - 1:50) Introductory remarks from Bob Froelich

(5:56 - 6:34) What is a tribe?

(6:34 - 7:00) What is tribalism?

(7:40 - 9:15) What prompted me to engage with this issue of tribalism? How is it relevant to critical thinking?

(9:30 - 13:16) What is "tribal psychology"?

(13:16 - 15:47) Examples of group identities that can become tribal

(15:47 - 19:50) Tribal psychology as an evolutionary adaptation for human survival

(20:00 - 21:13) In-group solidarity and out-group antipathy/hostility

(21:13 - 22:27) Good news: tribal identification may be hardwired, but tribal categories are flexible

(22:27 - 26:15) The importance of signaling to demonstrate membership in and solidarity with tribal groups; the rationality of tribal solidarity; signaling as unconscious cognitive bias

(26:15 - 29:35) The distinction between tribalism and polarization, and why the problem is polarization, not tribalism

(30:23 - 34:50) Ideological polarization versus social polarization; evidence for increasing social polarization; shout-out to Lillian Mason

(34:50 - 35:30) Social sorting and segregation as a cause of increased social polarization

(35:30 - 37:05) Loss of viewpoint diversity as an obstacle to critical thinking

(38:05 - 40:25) What can be done to foster more productive relationships between in-groups that have become more polarized?

(40:25 - 42:30) What's ahead for me, what I'm working on right now

(43:27 - 47:45 ) Caller 1 - concerns with using the word "tribe" and "tribal" in this context when Native Americans and First Nations Peoples use that term to identify their political and social groups

(48:37 - 50:40) Caller 2 - wants me to write a book!

(50:55 - 52:12) Wrapping up: there's a broader story to be told about the forces that are exacerbating the problems discussed on this show

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References and Links:

• Thinking Clearly Radio Program
  • Podcast: https://thinkingclearly.libsyn.com/
  • Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/ThinkingClearlyRadio/
• Videos in my Critical Thinking and Tribalism series:
  • 1. "The Dangers of Tribalism"
  • 2. "Our Tribal Intelligence"
  • 3."In Our Tribe We Trust"
• Lilliana Mason's homepage, and her book, Uncivil Agreement: How Politics Became Our Identity
• My Patreon support page
• Critical Thinker Academy (criticalthinkeracademy.com)

Over the past month almost every email conversation I've had with someone about my projects and plans has ended with "I'm going to talk about this on the next podcast".

In this episode I'm going to answer the most common questions I get about the status of my finances, what my plans are to improve my situation in 2018, what video courses I'm developing for Udemy, and where we are with the development of the Argument Ninja Academy.

If you're interested in entrepreneurship and making a living online doing what you love, I think you'll find this episode interesting.

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Link to my latest sketchbook video: "In Our Tribe We Trust"

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Link to my 2017-Year-in-Review blog post

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In This Episode:

(0:00 - 0:52) Introductory remarks.

(0:53 - 1:50) New video published: "In Our Tribe We Trust"

(1:50 - 8:06) How I managed my horrible tax situation

(8:06 - 13:30) Review of my web properties and income from various components of my business

(13:30 - 15:23) Strategies in 2018 for consolidating my web presence

(15:23 - 19:28) How my approach to designing and teaching video courses has changed since I left academia. Example: How to teach critical thinking about probability and uncertainty to "ordinary people"

(19:28 - 21:13) Designing new courses for kevindelaplante.com

(21:13 - 22:17) Summary of consolidation plans and projects

(22:17 - 30:30) Returning to Udemy. Designing a new course on the Vocabulary of Science. Teaching Philosophy of Science at Carleton University this summer.

(30:30 - 31:59) Intermediate stages on the way to the Argument Ninja Academy

(31:02 - 32:35) Wrapping up

On this episode of the Argument Ninja podcast I offer a perspective on Jordan Peterson's criticism of left-wing ideology (what he calls "cultural Marxism") by sharing some of my intellectual history with feminism, Marxism and postmodernism.

The broader theme of this episode is how to critically engage with ideas without being sucked into the tribal psychology of ideological conflict.

Show notes and links: https://kevindelaplante.com/026-jordan-peterson

Support the podcast on Patreon: https://patreon.com/kevindelaplante

In This Episode:

(0:00 - 3:10) Introductory remarks

(3:10 - 6:10) Introduction to Jordan Peterson

(6:10 - 7:15) Email from Daniel: a question about JP and "cultural Marxism"

(7:15 - 8:00) Feminism's branding problem

(8:00 - 10:30) My philosophy mini-course in middle school

(10:30 - 17:35) The value of separating the descriptive components from the normative components of feminism

(17:35 - 19:00) Distinction: describing patterns of discrimination vs explaining those patterns

(19:00 - 20:11) Why this way of defining feminism leaves lots of room for disagreement

(20:11 - 20:45) My agnosticism about explanations for the root causes of discrimination (and social change in general)

(20:45 - 23:48) Feminism and theories of social change: the problem of how to get from here to there

(23:48 - 24:58) Help support the podcast!

(25:00 - 31:00) Introduction to Marxism: what you can learn from Marx without committing to socialism or communism

(31:00 - 42:35) A thought experiment to illustrate a Marxist approach to social change: social idealism vs social materialism in explanations of slavery

(42:35 - 50:00) Jordan Peterson (via Stephen Hicks) on cultural Marxism and postmodernism

(50:00 - 51:45) Conspiracy theories and peer review

(51:45 - 53:52) "Traditional philosophical inquiry" vs postmodernism

(53:52 - 1:03:15) A legendary graduate seminar: "Essence and Construction". Philosophy vs Theory and Criticism as a clash of intellectual cultures

(1:03:15 - 1:06:38) Breaking through: learning to communicate across an ideological divide

(1:06:38 - 1:07:55) Empathy as a tool of understanding

(1:07:55 - 1:10:11) Being socialized into a tribal view of intellectual identity and ideological conflict

(1:10:11 - 1:12:19) Criticizing Jordan Peterson is easy when every side has their champion and everyone else is a charlatan

(1:12:19 - 1:14:15) "Once you start playing this game, you will be a creature of the game from that point forward"

(1:14:15 - 1:15:30) The WarGames option: "the only way to win is not to play". What it means to take the side of people

On this episode of the Argument Ninja podcast I talk about TRIBALISM and the challenges that our tribal psychology poses for critical thinking. This episode includes the audio for two sketchbook videos I've done on this topic, "The Dangers of Tribalism" (11 minutes) and "Our Tribal Intelligence" (13 minutes), with additional commentary not found in those videos. I give time stamps below to help you navigate the episode if you've already watched those videos.

Show notes and links: https://kevindelaplante.com/025-why-tribal-literacy/

Support the podcast on Patreon: https://patreon.com/kevindelaplante

(0:00 - 1:45) Introductory remarks.

(1:45 - 10:40) A undeserved gift, and my reflections on the nature of grace and original sin (my "secular Christian existentialism").

(10:40 - 15:25) Commentary setting up the discussion of tribalism and critical thinking.

(15:25 - 26:52) The audio from my video on "The Dangers of Tribalism".

(26:52 - 30:18) Commentary on "The Dangers of Tribalism". The multidisciplinary character of research on tribalism. Setting up the discussion of tribal epistemology.

(30:18 - 42:40) The audio from my video on "Our Tribal Intelligence"

(42:40 - 48:16) Commentary on "Our Tribal Intelligence". Cognitive biases that have roots in our tribal nature. The "knowledge illusion". Metacognition (thinking about thinking). Who is doing research on collective intelligence and the psychology of effective teamwork.

(48:16 - 50:10) Wrapping up.

At the beginning of a new year it's customary to reflect on events of the past year in order to set new goals and chart a course for the future. This is the first in a three-part series where I discuss the lessons I've learned in 2017.

In this episode I talk about the surprising role that commerce has played in raising the relevance and impact of my work as a critical thinking educator, and other positive highlights of 2017.

I'm not the only one talking about the failings of traditional schooling. I'm not the only academic talking about developing online courses for the public that they can't find anywhere else. I'm not even the only one using the language of martial arts in this context. (e.g. Jordan Peterson, Thaddeus Russell, Mixed Mental Arts ....)

But I realize that even among my audience, it may not be clear how the Argument Ninja Academy is supposed to stand out -- how it's different from what I'm seeing in these other projects.

In this episode I want to talk about these differences. I want to talk about what makes the Argument Ninja Academy special.

There are three areas that I can point to.

• The first is the martial arts inspiration for this project. It goes way deeper than just borrowing the language of belt levels.
• The second is a unique approach to teaching and learning critical thinking and persuasion skills.
• And the third is the instructional design of the project, and the team I'm assembling to help make this a reality. The skill set they bring to the Argument Ninja Academy is powerful.

We're going to talk about all of this today on the podcast. Specifically, I'm going to talk about

• what it means to be a martial art
• the difference between bujutsu and budo, the Japanese terms for martial art and martial path, or martial way, respectively.
• the martial context of critical thinking, and why this language isn't just metaphorical
• my own relationship to the martial arts, and the original inspiration for the Argument Ninja Academy
• what teaching and learning look like, when you focus on skill development rather than rote learning
• what I've learned from my team partners about thinking clearly and thinking big.

For this episode I'm going to share an interview I did for Thinking Clearly, a radio show about critical thinking hosted by Bob Froelich and Julia Minton. On this live broadcast I answered questions about - my particular take on what critical thinking is and why it's important - why I decided to leave my tenured academic job and go solo - what video courses I offer at the Critical Thinker Academy - what is wrong with traditional approaches to critical thinking education - what's different about what I'm trying to do with the Argument Ninja program - and more We even answered a couple of questions from live callers!

On this episode I use a recent episode of Sam Harris's podcast (#87 - "Triggered: A Conversation With Scott Adams") as a springboard for exploring a variety of topics related to critical thinking and persuasive communication. When it comes to critical thinking and rational persuasion, half of my brain thinks like Sam Harris, and the other half thinks like Scott Adams. Each gets something right that the other doesn't. I'm interested in identifying what each of them gets right, as a step toward creating something that is better than each of them separately, by integrating their strengths and avoiding their weaknesses. In other words … I want the super-powered love child of Sam Harris and Scott Adams! In This Episode: (0:00 - 6:00) Introductory remarks (6:00 - 10:15) Introduction to Sam Harris and Scott Adams (10:15 - 15:30) Summary of Sam's interview with Scott on the Waking Up with Sam Harris podcast (15:50 - 16:30) Why this is relevant to the Argument Ninja Academy (17:00 - 20:15) What I Like About Sam: Intellectual virtues (20:15 - 24:50) What I like about Sam: Critical thinking values and democracy (24:50 - 30:10) What I like about Scott: The performative dimension of persuasion (30:10 - 31:55) What I like about Scott: The language of "filters" (31:55 - 39:00) Why both must be part of the foundational skill set for critical thinking and rational persuasion (39:10 - 45:30) Introducing the "rhetorical triangle": ethos, pathos and logos (45:30 - 51:18) Speech act theory and communication strategy (51:18 - 58:00) Sam vs Scott: analyzing the conversation (58:00 - 60:00) Speech act theory and Scott's defense of Trump (60:00 - 67:00) The accusation of sophistry: Sam Harris and the Very Bad Wizards (David Pizarro and Tamler Sommers) on Scott Adams (67:00 - 77:40) The philosopher-sophist spectrum, and the persuasion challenge that Scott Adams faces (77:40 - 90:00) Diving deeper: Scott Adams, the illusion of reality, and how persuasion masters can reshape the Matrix

This past month I was fortunate to be a guest of Xidian University in China for two weeks. On this episode of the podcast I share stories and reflections from my adventures as a first-time visitor to China, and I give an overview of some of the public talks and lectures I gave during my visit. The episode has four distinct parts. The first 20 minutes is stories from my trip and observations about Chinese culture. Then there are three discussions on philosophy, science and critical thinking topics: (00 min -20 min) stories from my trip and observations about Chinese culture (20 min - 30 min) on circular reasoning in the appeal to science and nature to justify social and political views (30 min - 40 min) on the elements of science literacy and why public science education doesn't teach it (40 min - 50 min) on the history of critical thinking in the west, and the challenges of talking about the value of critical thinking to audiences in modern China You can find a photo essay with lots of pics over at the blog at kevindelaplante.com: https://kevindelaplante.com/pics-from-china/ You can support the Argument Ninja podcast at http://argumentninja.com/support/

Argument Ninjas need to acquire a basic understanding of the psychology of human reasoning. This is essential for improving the quality of our own reasoning, and for mastering skills in communication and persuasion. On this episode I take you on a guided tour of our divided mind. I compare and contrast the dual-process theories of Daniel Kahneman (Thinking, Fast and Slow), Jonathan Haidt (The Righteous Mind) and Joshua Greene (Moral Tribes). The simple mental models these authors use should be part of every critical thinker's toolbox. My other goal with this episode is to help listeners think more critically about dual-process theories in cognitive science, to better understand the state of the science and the diversity of views that fall under this label. In This Episode: - Why it's important to cultivate multiple mental models (2:40) - Kahneman and Tversky: biases and heuristics (4:20) - Example: the availability heuristic (5:30) - Cognitive biases originating from mismatches between the problem a...