Constituting Knowledge, Knowing Truth: A Conversation with Jonathan Haidt and Jonathan Rauch
September 21, 2021
September 21, 2021 at 7 p.m. ET
The production of knowledge thrives when universities value open inquiry, but recent trends in conformist thinking pose new threats to research, writing, and teaching. How do we combat conformist culture in our classrooms and research, while encouraging inquiry into unorthodox ideas? How can our epistemic institutions continue to seek and know truth?
We were joined by HxA co-founder and Board Chair Jonathan Haidt for an in-depth discussion with Jonathan Rauch, author of “The Constitution of Knowledge: A Defense of Truth."
About the speakers:
Jonathan Rauch, a senior fellow at the Brookings Institution, is the author of eight books and many articles on public policy, culture, and government. He is a contributing writer for The Atlantic and recipient of the 2005 National Magazine Award, the magazine industry’s equivalent of the Pulitzer Prize. His latest book, published in 2021 by the Brookings Press, is "The Constitution of Knowledge: A Defense of Truth," a spirited and deep-diving account of how to push back against disinformation, canceling, and other new threats to our fact-based epistemic order.
Jonathan Haidt is a social psychologist and Professor of Ethical Leadership at New York University’s Stern School of Business. His academic specialization is the psychology of morality and the moral emotions. Haidt is the author of three books: "The Happiness Hypothesis: Finding Modern Truth in Ancient Wisdom" (2006), "The Righteous Mind: Why Good People are Divided by Politics and Religion" (2012), and "The Coddling of the American Mind" (2018). In 2015, Haidt co-founded Heterodox Academy and now serves as its Board Chair.
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