#492 Hrishikesh Joshi: Why It's OK to Speak Your Mind
RECORDED ON APRIL 3rd 2021.
Dr. Hrishikesh Joshi is Assistant Professor of Philosophy at Bowling Green State University. He works on moral and political philosophy. He is the author of Why It’s OK to Speak Your Mind.
In this episode, we talk about Why It’s OK to Speak Your Mind. We start by discussing the concept of “epistemic commons”, and talking about how we reason better collectively. We talk about free speech, and constraints on knowledge production. We discuss the social costs of speaking our minds, and the morality of it. We talk about how people’s beliefs have much more to do with social signaling than the ideas themselves. We discuss the distinction between healthy dissenting and contrarianism and trolling. We ask if governments should make efforts to defend our epistemic commons. We discuss some of the strongest objections to the thesis of the book, and also the tension between the necessary social isolation to achieve enlightenment and the fact that we need other people to reason better. We refer to the dangers of political engagement and moralizing discussions contaminating public discourse. Finally, we talk about the virtue of honesty, and the problem with convictions, from a Nietzschean perspective.
Time Links:
Intro
The epistemic commons
Collective reasoning
Free speech
How to produce good knowledge
Social costs of speaking our minds
People’s beliefs are not really about ideas
Free-riders, and other moral questions
When dissenting becomes trolling
Objections to Dr. Joshi’s thesis
The tension between independence and society
How politics and morality might contaminate public discourse
Honesty, and conviction
Follow Dr. Joshi’s work!
Follow Dr. Joshi’s work:
Faculty page: https://bit.ly/2NsnfFB
Website: https://bit.ly/2Pmngw1
PhilPeople page: https://bit.ly/3sNIwct
Why It’s OK to Speak Your Mind: https://amzn.to/3mihNlC
Twitter handle: @HSJSpeaks