“The intersection of philosophy and public life” and the Enlightenment

Good thinking and dialogue are more important than ever.

In this episode, host Dr. Laurance Splitter begins by reflecting on topics previously discussed, including: social and cultural polarization; the challenge of having dialogue when those involved not only disagree, but show no respect or empathy for their opponents; the positive value of uncertainty; immigration, housing, youth crime, and education; and the underlying theme of regarding ourselves as each “one among others”, which avoids the extremes of individualism and collectivism. Laurance also revisits his view of philosophy as contributing to such topics in terms of both content and process, which can be traced back to antiquity.

Laurance advocates for reasonableness which has both cognitive and affective dimensions (“being appropriately moved by reasons”), and which offers a way forward when facing such challenges as balancing our reasoning “riders” and our emotive/intuitive “elephants”, and becoming trapped in the “echo chambers” of social media, which reinforce herd-like or tribal thinking, rather than producing thoughtful dialogue. Laurance reminds listeners of the normative ideal of a community of inquiry, which has a practical role to play, both in formal education and other social environments. He also ponders the tricky issue of responding, respectfully, to those who express views which are morally repugnant or logically incoherent.

Laurance endorses a recent essay called “Flickering Enlightenment”, whose author questions some of the historical repercussions of Enlightenment thinking which include the ongoing disputes between political extremes, while underscoring the importance of thinking which is both critical and intellectually humble. He also cites the views of philosopher Hannah Arendt who wrote about the dangers of totalitarian domination when ordinary citizens ignore the difference between truth and fiction, and refuse to think for themselves.

Finally, Laurance reflects on the connection between thinking and talking (more precisely, good thinking and dialogue), and reiterates that talking (and listening) produce thinking as much as they communicate it.

Connect with Dr. Laurance Splitter: LinkedIn