#023 - Helen Pluckrose - How To Keep Liberal Principles Alive In An Illiberal World

Helen Pluckrose is a political and cultural writer and commentator, addressing current affairs from a liberal humanist perspective. Her particular focus is Critical Social Justice (woke) scholarship and activism. Helen took part in the Grievance Studies Affair (along with Peter Bogossian and James Lindsay) which submitted shoddy, ridiculous and ideologically biased papers to academic journals known for publishing Critical Social Justice scholarship. 

In 2020, she co-authored Cynical Theories with James Lindsay, which traced the evolution of postmodern thought into Critical Social Justice scholarship. In that same year, she co-founded Counterweight, an organization for helping individuals push back at authoritarian Critical Social Justice policies and training programs at their place of work, university or child's school. Helen continues to work with individuals and organizations to resist ideological capture. Helen really just wants you to value evidence-based epistemology and consistently liberal principles.

Helen and I talk about why critical theories are too narrow a way to see the world, why they have lead to the authoritarianism we see today, what prospect we see of a freer world, why some say liberalism is dead and why those who value liberalism must practice it if it is to survive, if conservatism and liberalism can live side by side, and why leaders of public and private institutions should be guided by gentle reform over revolution.

What this conversation brought out for me is why even in these fractious, polarised times, where it is easy to find yourself self-censoring or being censored and that there are many who wish to censor their opponents, that we should be careful not to fall into tribalism.

Enjoy the show class mates.

Show notes
- Cynical Theories - Helen Pluckrose and James Lindsay
- The World of Yesterday - Stefan Zweig
- The New Leviathans: Thoughts After Liberalism - John Gray