Aboutness, Secular vs. Religious Ethics, & Plato’s Aviary | Dr. Daniel Dennett | EP 438

Jordan B Peterson on Odysee

Dr. Jordan B. Peterson sits down with writer, philosopher, and cognitive scientist Dr. Daniel Dennett. They discuss the concepts of aboutness, intention, and the highest good as they relate to the religious and secular worlds, the establishment of trust and ethics outside of transcendent presupposition, and the loss of academic freedom at the misapprehension of postmodernism.
Dr. Daniel Dennett is an American philosopher, writer, and cognitive scientist. He has published dozens of books, such as “Consciousness Explained" (1992), “Darwin's Dangerous Idea: Evolution and the Meanings of Life” (1996), and “Breaking the Spell: Religion as Natural Phenomena” (2007).
This episode was recorded on March 9th, 2024.
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- Links -
2024 tour details can be found here https://jordanbpeterson.com/events
Peterson Academy https://petersonacademy.com/
For Dr. Daniel Dennett:
On X https://twitter.com/danieldennett?lang=en
The Problem with Counterfeit People (Article on AI, the Atlantic) https://www.theatlantic.com/technology/archive/2023/05/problem-counterfeit-people/674075/
Consciousness Explained (Book) https://www.amazon.com/Consciousness-Explained-Daniel-C-Dennett/dp/0316180661
I’ve Been Thinking (Book) https://www.amazon.com/Ive-Been-Thinking-Daniel-Dennett/dp/0393868052
Breaking the Spell: Religion as Natural Phenomena (Book) https://www.amazon.com/Breaking-Spell-Religion-Natural-Phenomenon/dp/0143038338
- Chapters -
(0:00) Tour Update: Konstantin Kisin
(0:59) Coming up
(1:31) Intro
(3:23) Defining religion, aboutness, and intention
(9:10) Is the “highest good” a religious or natural concept?
(14:35) Dr. Dennett’s pragmatic conception of the “highest good”
(17:39) Andrew Gibson, affordances and agents of transformation
(21:27) The relationship of anxiety to entropy computation
(24:43) Cognitive and emotional conflict is mirrored across theology
(28:44) Conceptualizing what’s highest as a relationship, the Cartesian Theater
(36:35) Thought as secularized prayer, Plato’s Aviary
(44:46) What allows for trust in a secular world?
(48:09) Free will is an achievement, not an endowment
(51:09) The conception of God in the biblical corpus, a dialogue among equals
(59:14) Do these working presumptions exist outside the purview of science?
(1:02:22) When you make a tool you also make a weapon
(1:05:46) Where Gould went wrong, foundational principles, and dynamism
(1:08:44) The hierarchy of DNA repair, Osiris and Seth
(1:14:15) The secularization of ethics, how to validate moral claims without religion
(1:21:36) “It was a wonderful taming force,” religion as a nurse crop for science
(1:24:41) The evolution of human fears into governing religions
(1:27:57) The loss of academic freedom at the misapprehension of postmodernism
(1:36:28) Dr. Dennett’s latest work: “The Problem of Counterfeit People”
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