Reclaiming Common Sense in a Pandemic of Lunacy
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Bad ideas have consequences. We don’t have to look far to see evidence of it. Every day the news headlines are filled with conflicting versions of the same story. Biological facts are treated as “opinions,” logic is labeled as “hate,” and to speak up for common sense is seen as a revolutionary act. We’re seeing this in every area of life, including science. So what’s going on? How can we get back to clear thinking and respectful discourse? Helping us answer those questions today is J. Budziszewski, a professor of government, philosophy, and civic leadership at the University of Texas at Austin and author of the new book Pandemic of Lunacy: How to Think Clearly When Everyone Around You Seems Crazy.
In his book, Professor Budziszewski patiently explains 30 delusions that beset us in the modern age. Ranging over the topics of morality and happiness, politics and science, family and sexuality, the real and the unreal, and God and religion, Budziszewski makes the case for sanity in accessible, commonsense language. In Part 1 of the conversation, we start zooming into some of the bad ideas that are specifically relevant to science and the arguments for intelligent design.
First, Budziszewski reminds us of the crucial difference between objectivity and neutrality. To pretend to be neutral, he says, is impossible. Instead of neutrality, experts and the rest of us should be striving for objectivity, which openly biases truth and fairness and a commitment to procedures that help find what is true instead of silencing others.
Budziszewski also criticizes some modern definitions of science that restrict the scientific pursuit to materialistic causes. True science, he reminds us, must follow the evidence where it leads. Budziszewski also challenges materialistic views of human beings as meaningless results of a process that did not have them in mind. He discusses several arguments for the unique status of humans, including the scale of divergence from other animals, our unique rationality, and our moral responsibility.
This is Part 1 of a two-part conversation. Look for Part 2 next!
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