Introduction

Jerry Baker: In an age when so much of our public discourse seems to openly defy reason, this week we're going to talk about the state of our intellectual health as a modern society. Professor Pinker is one of our foremost public intellectuals and has written extensively in defense of both reason and the enlightenment. He notes that Rationality is under siege from many quarters of society these days with the rise of fake news,. alternative truths and a growing campaign to subordinate the idea of reason to the demands of diversity and identity.