Steven Pinker vs John Mearsheimer debate the enlightenment | Part 1 of FULL DEBATE

The Institute of Art and Ideas・2 minutes read

The Enlightenment values reason, science, democracy, and universal human rights for human flourishing and social progress, supported by data showing improvements in various indicators over the past 250 years. While there are challenges and disagreements, there is a global trend towards liberal values, with progress linked to human flourishing and agreed-upon values like those in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.

Insights

  • Enlightenment ideals, such as reason, democracy, and human rights, have significantly contributed to global progress over the past 250 years, leading to improvements in life expectancy, poverty rates, literacy, and basic education, making countries guided by these ideals healthier, safer, and happier.
  • John Mearsheimer highlights the challenge of achieving consensus on first principles due to human tribalism and differing national perspectives, suggesting that unfettered reason may not always lead to peace but rather to security competition and potential conflict, challenging the notion that progress is solely linked to liberalism.

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Recent questions

  • What are Enlightenment values?

    Enlightenment values include reason, science, democracy, and human rights.

  • What are the alternatives to Enlightenment ideals?

    Alternatives include religion, nationalism, authoritarianism, and rejection of modernity.

  • What is human flourishing?

    Human flourishing encompasses life, health, prosperity, peace, freedom, knowledge, leisure, and happiness.

  • What is the relationship between reason and consensus?

    Unfettered reason does not always lead to consensus on first principles.

  • What is the global trend towards liberal values?

    There is a global trend towards adopting values like equality and human rights.

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Summary

00:00

Success of Enlightenment Ideals in Modern Society

  • The Enlightenment advocated reason, science, democracy, and universal human rights for human morality and social organization.
  • Steven Pinker, a psychology professor at Harvard, and John Mearsheimer, a political science professor at the University of Chicago, discuss the success of Enlightenment ideals.
  • Enlightenment values include using reason to enhance human flourishing, implemented through liberal democracy, regulated markets, and international institutions.
  • Human flourishing encompasses life, health, prosperity, peace, freedom, knowledge, leisure, and happiness.
  • Alternatives to Enlightenment ideals include religion, romantic nationalism, authoritarianism, and rejection of modernity.
  • Over the past 250 years, data shows significant improvements in life expectancy, child mortality, famine occurrences, extreme poverty rates, great power wars, democracy prevalence, and abolition of judicial torture and slavery.
  • Literacy rates and basic education have significantly increased globally, with countries guided by Enlightenment ideals being the healthiest, safest, cleanest, happiest, and most popular destinations.
  • John Mearsheimer argues that unfettered reason does not lead to consensus on first principles, leading to significant disagreement and political importance.
  • He emphasizes human tribalism, stating that individuals are part of nations with differing views on first principles, making agreement challenging.
  • Mearsheimer also believes that in an anarchic international system, reason does not lead to perpetual peace but rather to security competition and potential conflict.

17:07

"Progress: Beyond Liberalism Towards Human Flourishing"

  • Progress is often linked to the idea of Truth, with some associating progress with the rise of liberalism and the belief that becoming smarter leads to liberalism.
  • However, the argument that progress equals liberalism is challenged by the fact that many people worldwide oppose liberalism, and liberal democracies have been decreasing since 2006.
  • The speaker suggests that progress should be identified with human flourishing, encompassing values like freedom, health, longevity, and equality, which are not solely liberal values.
  • Despite some resistance, there is a global trend towards liberal values, with countries increasingly adopting values like equality of women and decriminalizing homosexuality.
  • The Universal Declaration of Human Rights exemplifies universally agreed-upon values that contribute to progress, as they are harder to argue against and have historically gained acceptance.
  • While democracy has faced setbacks in recent years, there is still an overall upward trend in its prevalence, indicating progress, albeit not without challenges.
  • Disagreements exist within academia and intellectual spheres, but there has been intellectual progress as outdated beliefs and superstitions have been largely abandoned through reasoned arguments, even though significant disagreements persist.
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