#474 Andrew Norman - Mental Immunity; Reason, Critical Thinking, Beliefs, and Morality
RECORDED ON MAY 19th 2021.
Dr. Andrew Norman teaches philosophy at Carnegie Mellon University. He works on the conceptual and historical foundations of humanism. He has published widely on the nature of reason and the teaching of wisdom, and written books on critical thinking and the structure of dialogue. Dr. Andrew Norman is the former Director of CMU’s Ethics, History and Public Policy program, and is interested in constructive engagement with the religious and in developing naturalistic alternatives to destructive religious mythologies. He speaks regularly on such topics as reason and faith, science and religion, the foundations of ethics, and the evolutionary, cultural, and attitudinal roots of prosocial behavior. He is the author of Mental Immunity: Infectious Ideas, Mind-Parasites, and the Search for a Better Way to Think.
In this episode, we focus on Mental Immunity. We first get into what cognitive immunology is, and some aspects of how our cognition works, like epistemic vigilance, and the fact that our reasoning functions better in social contexts. We discuss how we determine that something is a “bad idea”. We also discuss what reason is, and how we can determine what a “reasonable belief” is. We talk about critical thinking, and ideological thinking. We then go into how we can justify holding beliefs that are not supported by the evidence, and the psychological benefits of “wrong” beliefs. We talk specifically about religion, the Enlightenment, and moral values. Finally, we discuss strategies to improve cognition, both individually and collectively, including the concept of “mind vaccine” and heard immunity.
Time Links:
Intro
The idea of cognitive immunology
What is a “bad idea”?
Reason, and reasonable beliefs
Critical thinking
Ideology
Religion, secularism, the Enlightenment
Moral values
How to improve cognition, individually and collectively
Follow Dr. Norman’s work!
Follow Dr. Norman’s work:
Website: https://bit.ly/3fyIz6o
Facebook page: https://bit.ly/3ypcDdd
Mental Immunity: https://amzn.to/3fqtdRr