With the election of Donald Trump, Canadian born Steven Pinker just couldn't take it any more, and so the thrice-married Pinker has written a book, Enlightenment Now: The Case for Reason, Science, Humanism, and Progress, to he could show us all what a retrograde oaf the thrice-married Trump was.
Basically, the book argues that everyone is an idiot except educated evolved Harvard professors with gray curly hair (at age 63?) that believe in Reason, Science, and Humanism.
You can tell that people like Pinker are enlightened because they believe in Reason, Science, and Humanism, and fight against racism, sexism, and homophobia. Oh and fascism.
It is only when we get to Chapter 21 that we learn that everyone manipulates Reason to equate with what their tribe believes. So while the real world confounds any "simple narrative" such as ideological conservatives, the left, and the ideological libertarians. However:
When we finally get to the last Chapter 23: Humanism, we learn that humanism means:
So what you are saying, says my inner Cathy Newman, is that Reason, Science, and Humanism equal the way that we Harvard professors think about the world. Theists can go pound sand because nobody can now seriously believe in God. And the romantic heroes of Nietzsche are a direct road to "authoritarian populism, neo-fascism, neo-reaction, and the alt-right." (Yeah! Nobody here but us rationalists and scientists!)
Well, Steven Pinker, I have a kindly and compassionate world view that does not need to condemn everyone that disagrees with me to "bottomless perdition, there to dwell. / In adamantine chains and penal fire, / Who durst defy th' Omnipotent to arms." I call it my reductive Three Peoples theory.
The idea is that it is perfectly natural and physical for many people to believe in God. In my Road to the Middle Class and elsewhere I argue that the Christian God of divine law and eternal love is just the thing for people making the transition from the country to the city, from agriculture to commerce.
But it is also true that anyone that has plunged into modern science will have a problem with the God of the Bible. That is what Nietzsche was wrestling with. Basically, I understand him saying that, if God is Dead then we will have to invent him, in the Übermensch, whatever that means. Generally, I interpret Nietzsche's notion as the Call of Creativity. If God did not create the world, then we must do so. And creativity is hard, so the creative person -- the "free spirit" or "sacrificial victim" or whoever -- needs to toughen up, because life for the creative person is a Hero's Journey, an exploration of meaning, that is not going to be conducted within the guardrails of society.
One thing that Steven Pinker should ask himself is, if Enlightenment is such a beacon of Reason, Science, Progress, and truth, why was Romanticism the first thing out of the box right after the Age of Reason? Pinker sneers at Romanticism with a jibe against Herder and "feelings." And why are so many people captivated by Marxism, old and new? And why is theism still as strong as it is? Why are people attracted to the neo-tribalism of labor unions? And why do people that have rejected God flock to "spirituality" cults?
I will tell you, Steven Pinker. The fact is that the meaning of life, the universe, and everything is still, 200 years after the Enlightenment, a mystery. I like to say that it is more of a mystery than it used to be, because every advance in knowledge just raises new questions.
But each of us must live in the here and now, eons before we finally (if ever) find out the answer to the meaning of life, the universe, and everything. That means that we must make a decision about the meaning of life, right now. Hence God. Hence religion. Hence Marxism. Hence the alt-right.
Or, if you are a romantic hero, you can make your whole life about the search for meaning.
It is understandable that a chap like Steven Pinker wouldn't get this. Life is pretty good for a Harvard professor with a solid record of research and a string of popular bestsellers. And three wives, just like Donald Trump. What is best in life for Steven Pinker is a world where smart Jewish kids get to be professors and do research and write popular bestsellers extolling Reason, Science, and Progress.
Any change is likely to end up making life worse for a chap like Steven Pinker.
By the way, Pinker mischaracterizes Edmund Burke, writing that Burke "suggested that humans were too flawed to think up schemes for improving their condition and were better off sticking with traditions and institutions that kept them from the abyss." That's not quite what Burke said, old chum. Let's just say that Burke thought we humans were too flawed to think up schemes for improving other peoples' condition, that such schemes tended to lead straight to "the gallows," as indeed they did not, because by then the French had replaced the hangman's gallows with Madame la Guillotine. Know what I mean?
Basically, the book argues that everyone is an idiot except educated evolved Harvard professors with gray curly hair (at age 63?) that believe in Reason, Science, and Humanism.
You can tell that people like Pinker are enlightened because they believe in Reason, Science, and Humanism, and fight against racism, sexism, and homophobia. Oh and fascism.
It is only when we get to Chapter 21 that we learn that everyone manipulates Reason to equate with what their tribe believes. So while the real world confounds any "simple narrative" such as ideological conservatives, the left, and the ideological libertarians. However:
I've been arguing that the main drivers [of human progress] were the non-political ideals of reason, science, and humanism which led people to seek and apply knowledge that enhanced human flourishing.No "simple narratives" here!
When we finally get to the last Chapter 23: Humanism, we learn that humanism means:
- Knowledge of the world is derived by observation, experimentation, and rational analysis.
- Humans are an integral part of nature, the result of unguided evolutionary change...
- Ethical values are derived from human need and interest as tested by experience.
- Life's fulfillment emerges from individual participation in the service of human ideals.
- Humans are social by nature and find meaning in relationships.
- Working to benefit society maximizes individual happiness.
So what you are saying, says my inner Cathy Newman, is that Reason, Science, and Humanism equal the way that we Harvard professors think about the world. Theists can go pound sand because nobody can now seriously believe in God. And the romantic heroes of Nietzsche are a direct road to "authoritarian populism, neo-fascism, neo-reaction, and the alt-right." (Yeah! Nobody here but us rationalists and scientists!)
Well, Steven Pinker, I have a kindly and compassionate world view that does not need to condemn everyone that disagrees with me to "bottomless perdition, there to dwell. / In adamantine chains and penal fire, / Who durst defy th' Omnipotent to arms." I call it my reductive Three Peoples theory.
The idea is that it is perfectly natural and physical for many people to believe in God. In my Road to the Middle Class and elsewhere I argue that the Christian God of divine law and eternal love is just the thing for people making the transition from the country to the city, from agriculture to commerce.
But it is also true that anyone that has plunged into modern science will have a problem with the God of the Bible. That is what Nietzsche was wrestling with. Basically, I understand him saying that, if God is Dead then we will have to invent him, in the Übermensch, whatever that means. Generally, I interpret Nietzsche's notion as the Call of Creativity. If God did not create the world, then we must do so. And creativity is hard, so the creative person -- the "free spirit" or "sacrificial victim" or whoever -- needs to toughen up, because life for the creative person is a Hero's Journey, an exploration of meaning, that is not going to be conducted within the guardrails of society.
One thing that Steven Pinker should ask himself is, if Enlightenment is such a beacon of Reason, Science, Progress, and truth, why was Romanticism the first thing out of the box right after the Age of Reason? Pinker sneers at Romanticism with a jibe against Herder and "feelings." And why are so many people captivated by Marxism, old and new? And why is theism still as strong as it is? Why are people attracted to the neo-tribalism of labor unions? And why do people that have rejected God flock to "spirituality" cults?
I will tell you, Steven Pinker. The fact is that the meaning of life, the universe, and everything is still, 200 years after the Enlightenment, a mystery. I like to say that it is more of a mystery than it used to be, because every advance in knowledge just raises new questions.
But each of us must live in the here and now, eons before we finally (if ever) find out the answer to the meaning of life, the universe, and everything. That means that we must make a decision about the meaning of life, right now. Hence God. Hence religion. Hence Marxism. Hence the alt-right.
Or, if you are a romantic hero, you can make your whole life about the search for meaning.
It is understandable that a chap like Steven Pinker wouldn't get this. Life is pretty good for a Harvard professor with a solid record of research and a string of popular bestsellers. And three wives, just like Donald Trump. What is best in life for Steven Pinker is a world where smart Jewish kids get to be professors and do research and write popular bestsellers extolling Reason, Science, and Progress.
Any change is likely to end up making life worse for a chap like Steven Pinker.
By the way, Pinker mischaracterizes Edmund Burke, writing that Burke "suggested that humans were too flawed to think up schemes for improving their condition and were better off sticking with traditions and institutions that kept them from the abyss." That's not quite what Burke said, old chum. Let's just say that Burke thought we humans were too flawed to think up schemes for improving other peoples' condition, that such schemes tended to lead straight to "the gallows," as indeed they did not, because by then the French had replaced the hangman's gallows with Madame la Guillotine. Know what I mean?
No comments:
Post a Comment