The Jordan B. Peterson Podcast

Narrative, Story, and Writing pt. 1

We use stories to understand the world around us. It’s the reason that we appreciate a beautiful poem, why our breath is taken away during an epic movie, and get transported to another world while reading a great book. Any great piece of music is a story, with the lyrics used, but also even the instrumental arrangements. It’s hard to argue that any of the great orchestral pieces from Beethoven or Bach don’t tell a complex story, even when no words are used. Stories, and Narrative in general, allow us to play games for fun, construct cooperative relationships in business and in life, and help us successfully navigate the most difficult parts of our lives. From birth to death, every day of our lives is inundated by story. Part one of this compilation focuses on season 4 conversations between Jordan, Randall Wallace, Chloe Valdery (released soon) and Angus Fletcher. We hope you enjoy this narrative. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

January 22, 2022

69 min

Free Speech and Cambridge | James Orr & Arif Ahmed

As an alternative for those who would rather listen ad-free, sign up for a premium subscription to receive the following: • All JBP Podcast episodes are ad-free. • Monthly Ask Me Anything episodes (and the ability to ask questions). • Presale access to events. • Premium, detailed show notes for future episodes. Sign up here: https://jordanbpeterson.supercast.com/ This episode was recorded on October 11th, 2021. Dr. Arif Ahmed and Dr. James Orr come on to discuss what led to the University of Cambridge rescinding my invitation to speak there. We get into the difficulty of change in universities, anonymous reporting, the dangers of limiting free speech, microaggressions, the importance of humor, and more. Arif Ahmed MBE is a philosopher, lecturer at Cambridge, and author of “Saul Kripke”. His interests include decision theory and religion from an atheist and libertarian point of view. In the aftermath of the Cambridge incident, Dr. Ahmed remained a vocal advocate for political diversity. Dr. James Orr is a university lecturer in philosophy of religion at Cambridge and author of “The Mind of God and the Works of Nature.” He is a regular contributor to The Times Literary Supplement and The Critic. Dr. Ahmed’s profile: https://phil.cam.ac.uk/people/teaching-research-pages/ahmed “Saul Kripke”: https://amazon.com/Kripke-Bloomsbury-Contemporary-American-Thinkers/dp/0826492622 Dr. Orr’s profile: https://divinity.cam.ac.uk/directory/dr-james-orr “The Mind of God and Works of Nature”: https://amazon.co.uk/Mind-God-Works-Nature-Philosophical/dp/9042937629 _______________ Timestamps _______________ [00:00] Intro [01:13] The Cambridge repeal [09:41] A case for the repealers, their potential fears [10:19] Photos “don’t imply a position—that was one of the most outrageous things, ‘endorsement by association…’ As if standing next to someone implies [you’re in agreement]" - Dr. Ahmed [14:11] Changes in free speech policy [19:54] Speaking Up: Consequences [25:28] The difficulty of change in university [27:36] “You become what you practice” - Jordan Peterson [27:45] “If you put off fights, they don't usually get better” - Jordan Peterson [35:53] Being Silent: Perils [36:04] “In general, with any coercive principle, think what might happen in the hands of someone wicked and tyrannical. That's how we should think about these things” - Dr. Ahmed [41:46] "The idea that you should remove everything that could threaten someone's identity and you should make that a university-wide policy is actually, exactly the opposite of what you should do, speaking clinically if you're trying to help people become more resilient" - Dr. Peterson [44:32] Microaggressions and the importance of humor [44:33] "There’s no such thing as a joke that isn't a microaggression. Jokes aren't funny unless they're microaggressions–especially witty ones" - Dr. Peterson [47:19] Anonymous voting & reporting [49:52] "Politics is downstream from culture [and, for better or worse,] culture is generated in universities" - Dr. Peterson [49:59] “What happens on campus doesn't stay on campus" - Dr. Orr [50:50] "The point about anonymous reporting is that... you can't come back to them to check their evidence. The person who has been accused can't face their accuser. There’s no possibility of due process” - Dr. Ahmed [54:51] Anonymous reports circumventing due process [57:55] Tyranny & Free Speech [59:17] Details about the vote; university bureaucracy [01:05:56] UK legislation post-Cambridge [01:13:06] Anti-education & ideological purity tests at university [01:15:36] "I've heard students say ‘Well, I just write what the professor wants...’ It's like no – writing is thinking and if you don't think, that becomes part of you – those words become part of you [and] that's not bad education, it's anti-education" - Dr. Peterson Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

January 17, 2022

85 min

Talking with Russians

Mikhail Avdeev interviews Jordan Peterson in this episode. Jordan Peterson has as strong of an international following as ever with his lectures translated into fourteen languages. On his last speaking tour, he visited thirty plus number of countries speaking on the twelve rules and continues to foster relationships and connections with thinkers, speakers, and fans from around the globe. Shownotes: [00:00] Jordan Petersons is interviewed in this episode by Mikhail Avdeev, a member of his foreign translations team. The interview focuses on the impact of Petersons work beyond the western world on the international community as a whole. They begin the discussion by talking about the forming of the international translation teams. [02:00] The healing effect of Jordan's lectures on people's personal life. The outcry for new material from jordans catalog of books, lectures, and podcasts has been overwhelming. [04:00] Espousing the profundity of the works of Eric Neumann in consolidation Jungian thought in his volumes The Origins and History of Consciousness and The Great Mother. [05:20] Peterson comments on another personal favorite author of his Mircea Eliade and his history of Religious Ideas. It’s an anthropological and sociological assessment of religion but it’s also deeply psychological. [06:40] How do Russian views respond to Jordan's affinity for Alexander Solzhenitsyn? Mikail details the feelings of the Russian people by their portrayal after the fall of communism. [10:00] How we deal with the guilt of the things our ancestors or society has done is a very difficult question because as humans we are very historical creatures. The best thing for us is to try to understand what happened and therefore try not to do it again in the future because all of us are living with this to some degree. [13:30] examining the trope that all white people are racist or white supremacist and this stems from the existential guilt of history. [20:00] Richard Dawkins, Sam Harris, and Daniel Dennett seem to equate that religious belief is a set of propositions about the material world, in a way a direct competitor to scientific theory, and that’s just not fully accurate. There is something outside of strictly rationality in the human experience. [34:20] Fragmentation of the value structure necessarily leads to an increased level of constant anxiety in all experience [36:30] What parts of modern society are contributing to the integrity of consciousness, and what things are degrading that. A hatred for real success and striving for personal gain will tear us apart if it continues unchecked. [43:30] There is no doubt that economic exploitation occurs and that some wealth is gained in an unethical manner, but that is not the rule. [45:45] - Asking about the importance of beauty in all of our personal experiences as well as our collective experience as humans. [51:00] interesting to consider the differences in Fyodor Dostoevsky and Friedrich Nietzsche closeness to the ideal of beauty [56:30] The complexity of the language of Beyond Order:12 More Rules for Life. What is Jordan's process for increasing the precision of his speech and writing? [1:03:30] The divinity of the true word and the way this has been translated through Jordan’s book Beyond Order. Peterson's philosophy behind good writing and text structure of a truly complete work. [1:13:40] Mikhaila Peterson has had to choose to be strong because she has had so much suffering to overcome in her life. It’s wonderful to see her succeeding in her personal endeavors like her weekly podcast. [1:20:15] How do we best teach our children in a way that fosters their individual growth and a love of learning. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

January 13, 2022

103 min

Evolution & the Challenges of Modern Life | Bret Weinstein & Heather Heying

This episode was recorded on October 5th, 2021. Podcasters and evolutionary biology power-couple Bret Weinstein and Heather Heying join me to discuss a variety of topics related to their new book, A Hunter-Gatherer’s Guide to the 21st Century. We explore topics like niche-switching, what Darwin got wrong, Twitter, sources for modern values, hyper-novelty, the aftermath of progress, parenthood, and sexual selection – just to name a few. Bret Weinstein and Heather Heying are evolutionary biologists, former Evergreen State College professors, and the current hosts of the DarkHorse podcast. You may also know Bret through Joe Rogan, or as the twice-moderator for Jordan’s debates with Sam Harris. The couple’s book, titled “A Hunter-Gatherer’s Guide to the 21st Century: Evolution and the Challenges of Modern Life,” asks why the most prosperous age in history has scarcely offset suicide rates, tribal division, loneliness, and human misery. Follow Bret at: https://twitter.com/BretWeinstein And Heather at: https://twitter.com/HeatherEHeying The DarkHorse Podcast: https://bretweinstein.net/podcast A Hunter-Gatherer’s Guide to the 21st Century: Evolution and the Challenges of Modern Life: https://amazon.com/gp/product/B08VF32DXK/ref=dbs_a_def_rwt_hsch_vapi_tkin_p1_i0 ______________ Shownotes ______________ [00:00] Intro [00:30] Guests’ background [01:32] A Hunter-Gatherer’s Guide to the 21st Century – why they wrote it [04:30] “Values might not be [scientifically] defensible. Taken to the extreme, it might be hard to explain why existing is better than not" - Bret Weinstein [05:07] “We believe that any credible 'ought' needs to be scientifically informed" - BW [05:45] Learning to negotiate hyper-novelty in the modern world. The extremely fast rate of progress and change [06:56] “The amazing rate of change we’ve created is itself deranging us and making it very difficult to understand and remember how to be human” - Heather Heying [08:18] “It's not that progress is bad – the benefit of progress is often tremendous, but it almost always comes with important unintended consequences” - BW [09:26] Our incredible ability to adapt by “niche-switching” [15:41] Unintended consequences & modern sleeping [22:45] Twitter as a giant social experiment; what happens when you can (sort of) communicate with everyone? [25:22] “If people treated each other the way they do on Twitter, they’d get beaten up with enough regularity to stop them. So the net effect [might make us] nicer, right?” - BW [25:47] The importance of nonverbal communication; physical and chemical ways humans communicate [29:57] Small talk, gaging social skills, and nonverbal cues [31:28] “Small talk lets you take a room’s temperature–literally and metaphorically" - Heather Heying [32:35] Objections to evolutionary theory: A critique of some key Darwinian tenets [38:28] Play & Evolution [42:08] Intelligence in mate selection amongst bowerbirds [53:12] How Heather conceptualizes male/female status hierarchies [55:57] Sex, gender, and how they’re linked [01:06:44] The Hero's journey and the importance of new storytelling [01:13:42] The adaptive valley picture in evolutionary biology [01:13:46] “I'm trying to update our understanding of stories rather than the stories themselves" - Jordan Peterson [01:21:29] podcasts & collective listening [01:27:26] Parenting & Children [01:27:46] “Children will destroy your life and replace it with a better one" - BW [01:28:52] Parenting & Relationships [01:30:03] Wrapping up #Biology #Evolution #Gender #Pârenting #Darwin // SPONSORS // For Advertising Inquiries, visit https://www.advertisecast.com/TheJordanBPetersonPodcast Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

January 10, 2022

103 min

The Problem with Atheism

In this week’s compilation, we explore the idea of what happens when the religious instinct gets brushed aside – and the things that fill that void instead. Things that, depending on who you ask, may be actively contributing to the breakdown of a society founded on the Abrahamic tradition. Nietzsche has his famous God quote, “God is dead. God remains dead. And we have killed him. How shall we comfort ourselves, murderers of all murderers? What was holiest and mightiest has bled to death under our knives: who will wipe this blood off? What water is there for us to clean ourselves? What festivals of atonement, what sacred games shall we invent? Is not the greatness of this deed too great for us? Must we ourselves not become gods, simply to appear worthy of it?” The voices in this compilation may be very familiar since some of them are also featured in the Conceptualization of God series. You’re about to hear from the whole spectrum: through Jonathan Pageau and Matthew Petrusek to Stephen Fry and Lawrence Krauss, just to name a few. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

January 6, 2022

71 min

Fortitude: American Resilience | Dan Crenshaw

This episode was recorded on September 30, 2021. Congressman Dan Crenshaw and I discuss the fallout of withdrawing from Afghanistan and the details of the 20-plus-year conflict. We talk about life as a US congressman and his experience as a US Navy SEAL. About social media and politics–especially in relation to modern conservatism. And about climate change. On that note, we also examined Dan’s recently-published ”Fortitude: American Resilience in the Era of Outrage.” Dan is a retired Navy SEAL with five deployments overseas during the Afghan and Iraq wars. While in Afghanistan, an IED blast led to Dan losing his right eye. Crenshaw was elected to Congress in 2018, where he serves on the Energy and Commerce Committee (broadest jurisdiction out of all legislative committees). Dan also serves on the House Select Committee on the Climate Crisis. Find more Dan Crenshaw: @DanCrenshawTX https://twitter.com/DanCrenshawTX Or on his website: https://crenshaw.house.gov/ Check out "Fortitude: American Resilience in the Era of Outrage": https://www.amazon.com/Fortitude-American-Resilience-Era-Outrage/dp/1538733307 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

January 3, 2022

112 min

Don't Climate Panic

Over the past few weeks, we have been looking at the reality of the state of the world; not what the corporate media says, not what the politicians are saying, but a new voice - the voice of data. In the previous two episodes, we looked at the Progress of the Human Race. Today, we are tackling the topic of Climate Change. Are we experiencing an increasingly worsening climate? Is it possible that rising temperatures and tides will kill us all? Thankfully, there are a growing number of reputable scientists and authors that are presenting a much more optimistic story than the narrative we typically hear. Using the same data sets as many of the climate alarmists, people like Bjorn Lomborg, Michael Shellenberger, Marian Tupy, and Matt Ridley have been speaking to the idea that climate change is real, it’s just not the apocalyptic threat that we’ve been told it is. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

December 30, 2021

73 min

Jordan Peterson, God, and Christianity with Word on Fire

This episode was recorded on September 6, 2021. Dr. Christopher Kaczor, Dr. Matthew Petrusek, and I discuss their new book “Jordan Peterson, God, and Christianity”—the first systematic analysis of 12 Rules for Life and my biblical series from a Christian perspective. We also cover—just to name a few—truth in fiction, time before consciousness, faith, evolution, love, and acting as if God exists. Dr. Christopher Kaczor is a Professor of Philosophy at Loyola Marymount University. He was appointed a Corresponding Member of the Pontifical Academy for Life of Vatican City, is a fellow of the Word on Fire Institute, and won a Templeton Grant for his work. He has written many scholarly articles and books. Dr. Matthew R. Petrusek is an associate professor at Loyola Marymount University in LA. He holds an MA from Yale and a PhD from the University of Chicago. Dr. Petrusek specializes in Christian ethics and moral theology and lectures on a range of topics surrounding philosophy, theology, and Catholicism. Find more Dr. Christopher Kaczor on Twitter @Prof_Kaczor: https://twitter.com/prof_kaczor And more Dr. Matthew Petrusek @MattPetrusek: https://twitter.com/MattPetrusek Get their book at https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B095J3SB9M/ref=dbs_a_def_rwt_hsch_vapi_tkin_p1_i0 [00:00] Intro [02:26] The motivation behind "Jordan Peterson, God, and Christianity" [09:34] Genesis, the literal sense in scripture and the truth in fiction [10:21] "The Atheist types miss that fiction isn't false" Jordan Peterson [11:45] "A story that can change your life has a power that is best described as religious" JP [12:23] Truth in fiction and religious text [14:00] "I think truth is broader [than the empirically verifiable]" [18:44] The problem with the empirical approach and replacing God [22:07] "[When] Ceasar becomes inflated to God, all hell breaks loose" JP [22:35] "If we don't segregate off the religious instinct and give it its proper attention, [everything] starts becoming inappropriately contaminated with religious longing. That's why you see [division and] the rise in powerful political ideologies" JP [23:32] On the perversion of the religious instinct [25:41] The Bible's warning in Noah and the tower of Babel [30:43] Time before consciousness [36:43] "Matter at the quantum level makes it difficult to think of a universe without conscious observers" JP [40:45] Are science and religion at odds? [44:00] Dr. Petrusek on science/religion [46:31] On Faith [54:52] Imitating the spirit of the Father [54:56] "You can conceptualize Christ as the representation of all things admirable." JP [57:53] "Faith is the willingness to act that out in the world" JP [01:00:27] Why we must strive to be good [01:01:12] "I am loved and I wish to love, and I recognize that I will fail time and time again" Matthew Petrusek [01:05:26] Evolution and religion [01:11:09] The creation of the universe [01:11:36] The church and Dr. Peterson's popularity [01:15:41] "Faith cannot oppose reason" MP [01:16:48] The challenge of drawing younger people to church [01:33:31] Acting as if God exists [01:36:37] "Your life isn’t about you and your own thoughts" MP [01:39::46] "When people fall in love with one another, they see the perfection that could conceivably exist. It's like the curtains of illusion pull apart momentarily, and you see the paradisal state that could be there" JP [01:40:10] God's love and the love between a parent and a child [01:43:07] How to treat those we love [01:43:29] "The more love you view other people with, the higher the moral demand that’s placed on you" JP [01:44:25] “I think there’s too much moral authority in the church" JP [01:43:39] The ten commandments; the moral load of sin [01:49:25] Understanding hell [01:55:22] More on Word on Fire [01:58:04] The Exodus lectures #Christianity #Evolution #Meaning #God #Faith Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

December 27, 2021

131 min