Alan Levinovitz: How Faith in Nature's Goodness Leads to Flawed Science || HPP Ep. 9

The Human Progress Podcast

Dr. Alan Levinovitz illuminates the far-reaching harms of believing that natural means “good,” from misinformation about health choices to justifications for sexism, racism, and flawed economic policies.

Transcript: https://www.humanprogress.org/alan-levinovitz-the-human-progress-podcast-ep-8-transcript/

Book: https://www.amazon.com/Natural-Natures-Goodness-Harmful-Science/dp/0807010871

Dr. Levinovitz focuses primarily on the relationship between religion, literature, and science, with particular attention to classical Chinese thought and comparative ethics. His most recent book, Natural: How Faith in Nature's Goodness Leads to Harmful Fads, Unjust Laws, and Flawed Science, examines the meaning of "natural" and argues that modern Western culture has divinized nature. He is currently working on another book project, The Gentleman and the Jester, which develops a binary typology of ethical education. Other interests include the tension between paratext (introductions, footnotes, etc.) and primary text, the significance of play, and the role of genre in ethical discourse.

Marian L. Tupy is the editor of HumanProgress.org, a senior fellow at the Center for Global Liberty and Prosperity, and coauthor of The Simon Project. He specializes in globalization and global well‐being and politics and economics of Europe and Southern Africa.

Learn more: https://www.cato.org/people/marian-l-tupy