R and P: Jordan Peterson Kicks off His "Introduction To The Idea of God"

3,488 Views | 21 Replies | Last: 6 yr ago by BusterAg
Madman
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AG
Madman
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AG


At least 65000 cross references in the bible. And his point to this is why so many people can take so many different paths to meaning from the book. Sometimes at odds with other peoples but also why it has value.

And to why you can never finish the book.
americathegreat1492
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Watched it. I think the important part of his approach is the rational part. I'm not sure he intended to say it, but he laid out why believers have such a hard time reaching non-believers and why non-believers don't understand how believers could arrive at their conclusions. To paraphrase, he says something like this:

In some sense to have faith in the bible is to be called to believe things that no one can believe. To do so is a form of swallowing a bunch of lies. If the bible is about truth and you have to start your journey by swallowing a bunch of lies, you won't get anywhere.


In other words, he is trying to be careful about how things are interpreted or understood if they don't match up with reason or what we know empirically. It also sounds like when he comes across the mystical or inexplicable, he's not going immediately discount it, but rather let it float and stand for itself. The lecture series won't be attempting explain anything about the truth of the mystical, nor will it be an attempt to discredit it.



I look forward to hearing his interpretations of things.
Texaggie7nine
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I want to play a drinking game when listening to Jordan. Every time he says "and it's like" you take a drink.
7nine
americathegreat1492
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Toss in "roughly speaking" if you want to start chugging.
Madman
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AG
"And its no wonder" is his best
Texaggie7nine
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Can't forget "that's for sure".
7nine
Sapper Redux
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Is he the latest super-expert for some crowds? I thought he was a Psychologist.
Texaggie7nine
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If one were to take on understanding why religious belief has been so prevalent throughout human history and especially why the jeudeo-Christian religions have been so prevalent for the past thousand years or so, I would imagine that human psychology would be the one field you would want to be the most well versed in.
7nine
Madman
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AG
Watch the first 20 minutes and you just might finish the hour and half.
Sapper Redux
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Psychology is useful if you do evolutionary psychology or social psychology. I'm just noticing him popping up on everything lately.
Madman
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AG
Gad Saad might be for you then. Also does talks with Peterson.
Texaggie7nine
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Dr. Watson said:

Psychology is useful if you do evolutionary psychology or social psychology. I'm just noticing him popping up on everything lately.
Most everything I've seen him speak on is quite relevant to psychology. The psychology of college campuses and faculty and how they have gone to militant liberal levels. The psychology of human religion throughout history and how it has shaped the world we live in. The psychology of human truth and what it means.
7nine
schmendeler
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AG
I can't help but think of the former football player.
oldarmy1
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Texaggie7nine said:

Dr. Watson said:

Psychology is useful if you do evolutionary psychology or social psychology. I'm just noticing him popping up on everything lately.
Most everything I've seen him speak on is quite relevant to psychology. The psychology of college campuses and faculty and how they have gone to militant liberal levels. The psychology of human religion throughout history and how it has shaped the world we live in. The psychology of human truth and what it means.
Justin Barrett, a Cognitive Psychologist said: "Many cognitive scientists assume that because our brains and their functions have been 'designed' by natural selection we can trust them to tell us the truth; such an assumption is epistemologically dubious".
americathegreat1492
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oldarmy1 said:

Texaggie7nine said:

Dr. Watson said:

Psychology is useful if you do evolutionary psychology or social psychology. I'm just noticing him popping up on everything lately.
Most everything I've seen him speak on is quite relevant to psychology. The psychology of college campuses and faculty and how they have gone to militant liberal levels. The psychology of human religion throughout history and how it has shaped the world we live in. The psychology of human truth and what it means.
Justin Barrett, a Cognitive Psychologist said: "Many cognitive scientists assume that because our brains and their functions have been 'designed' by natural selection we can trust them to tell us the truth; such an assumption is epistemologically dubious".
To take a Petersonian perspective, that depends on how you define truth.
Texaggie7nine
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I have really been enjoying this series. He's already up to episode 11.

https://www.youtube.com/user/JordanPetersonVideos/videos

As someone who has fallen out of belief in the Bible being divinely inspired, but knowing all the stories from 25+ years growing up in church, it really helps me appreciate the genius behind the bible that men had.

Before you go asking why it couldn't be God that inspired it, I would say, the book is still very, very flawed. But the moral lessons behind it which shaped our modern western civilization are about the best humans have come up with.
7nine
Coby
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AG
I watch and listen to a lot of interviews he does. The kind of stuff he has studied is absolutely fascinating to me. It would be hard to explain to someone that hasn't taken the time to dig past the reason he became "famous" into his lectures and other works. At the moment, he's my favorite person to listen to, if for no other reason than to just understand how he thinks about certain things, whether or not I completely agree.

I actually said this last night "Out of anyone I've ever heard speak, I believe Jordan Peterson is the person most equipped to give as truthful an answer as possible to the question: what is the meaning of life?"

It would probably be an incredibly dense answer that would take hours, days, months, maybe even years to fully comprehend.

Now, obviously that's constrained to people I've listened to speak, but I definitely thought it funny and something that fans of his might enjoy thinking about.

As for me, I just finished the Cain and Abel lecture. Moving through it all slowly. It's all such an interesting angle.

Oh....and to add to the drinking game: "God only knows..."
Sapper Redux
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Texaggie7nine said:

I have really been enjoying this series. He's already up to episode 11.

https://www.youtube.com/user/JordanPetersonVideos/videos

As someone who has fallen out of belief in the Bible being divinely inspired, but knowing all the stories from 25+ years growing up in church, it really helps me appreciate the genius behind the bible that men had.

Before you go asking why it couldn't be God that inspired it, I would say, the book is still very, very flawed. But the moral lessons behind it which shaped our modern western civilization are about the best humans have come up with.


I would say the interpretation of those lessons are heavily dependent on where and when you live. Peterson is not an archeologist or a theologian or an historian or a classicist. His interpretation of the Bible is a postmodern interpretation, no matter how much he may hate the term.
Carl Underguard
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AG
I agree. Between his sympathy for pragmatism and use of postmodern analysis, he's not far off from Richard Rorty. I am personally fond of Rorty but imagine Peterson would not be. Peterson frequently mentions that he is thinking out loud, essentially developing his thoughts in public. He may not realize it yet, but he is drifting ever closer to one of the things he rails against. Although, I will say that he seems to be much more anti-Marxist than anti-postmodernist. In addition to being America's great postmodernist, Rorty was very anti-Communist, so maybe Peterson wouldn't outright reject his work.

When it comes to the Bible, he's reading an awful lot into those stories that I don't think is there. I do like hearing him talk, though.
Carl Underguard
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AG
I should also mention Peterson's frequent use of Neitzshe in his discussions. Neitzshe was a classicist but was notorious for getting things out of history that aren't there. To qualify, I like Neitzsche but he was just wrong about a lot of things. Peterson's use of him is interesting.
Texaggie7nine
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Dr. Watson said:

Texaggie7nine said:

I have really been enjoying this series. He's already up to episode 11.

https://www.youtube.com/user/JordanPetersonVideos/videos

As someone who has fallen out of belief in the Bible being divinely inspired, but knowing all the stories from 25+ years growing up in church, it really helps me appreciate the genius behind the bible that men had.

Before you go asking why it couldn't be God that inspired it, I would say, the book is still very, very flawed. But the moral lessons behind it which shaped our modern western civilization are about the best humans have come up with.


I would say the interpretation of those lessons are heavily dependent on where and when you live. Peterson is not an archeologist or a theologian or an historian or a classicist. His interpretation of the Bible is a postmodern interpretation, no matter how much he may hate the term.
A lot of what Peterson gets out of interpretation is by studying what theologians from recent to ancient have written about scriptures he is addressing. In a way, he is summarizing a lot of what the western culture got right about how to act properly as a human in the world, and giving rightful credit to the bible as a primary source for the culture that brought about that acting.
7nine
BusterAg
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AG
Peterson's greatest influences are probably Dostoevsky, Nietzshe, and Jung, in that order.

His concept of Hell is general human chaos, and the need for humans to destroy things out of agony.

His concept of good is fighting against the human tendency to degenerate into a hellish state.

I truly think that his philosophy of life is not yet fully articulated, and hope that he is able to come up with a treatise that is more than the sum of his countless youtube hours. While he recognizes that he has great power due to his ability to speak articulately, he idolizes those philosophers that are able to distill their worldview into a concise, fluid, written argument, something he seems to struggle at doing.

What I like most about his approach to the Bible is his interpretation of the stories as struggles that are common to the human condition. The story of Jonah is about diving into the scary unknown to face your own fears, and save your father that is in the belly of the beast. The story of David and Goliath is about recognizing that being a part of something grand is worth risking your own skin. He does a great job of showing that there are many different story archetypes that owe their origin to the Bible.

So, full out, 100% mancrush. Sure that surprises zero people on here that have ever read more than 2 of my posts.
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