Skip to main content Accessibility help
×
Hostname: page-component-78c5997874-lj6df Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-19T14:48:12.619Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

Chapter 26 - Have Archetype – Will Travel

The Jordan Peterson Phenomenon

from Part V - Transcendent Thinkers: Reflections on Controversial Intellectuals

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  28 February 2020

Michael Shermer
Affiliation:
Chapman University, California
Get access

Summary

This essay was triggered by the sudden rise in popularity of Jordan Peterson in 2017. As his platform grew, I received frequent queries on when we were going to “debunk” Peterson, “put him in his place,” “refute his ideas,” and so forth. There were a few voices of support but most people seemed to prejudge Peterson based on a handful of snippets from his writings, and especially video clips taken out of context. Peterson seems to engender passionate emotions (both for and against) his ideas presented in YouTube videos, podcasts, books, and his multi-city lecture tour routinely selling out large theaters. Given all this media attention, I felt it was time to examine with a skeptical eye Jordan Peterson’s ideas and, especially, the phenomenon surrounding him, so this was my introduction to a special issue of Skeptic we published in 2018 on the man.

Type
Chapter
Information
Giving the Devil his Due
Reflections of a Scientific Humanist
, pp. 297 - 310
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2020

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

Save book to Kindle

To save this book to your Kindle, first ensure [email protected] is added to your Approved Personal Document E-mail List under your Personal Document Settings on the Manage Your Content and Devices page of your Amazon account. Then enter the ‘name’ part of your Kindle email address below. Find out more about saving to your Kindle.

Note you can select to save to either the @free.kindle.com or @kindle.com variations. ‘@free.kindle.com’ emails are free but can only be saved to your device when it is connected to wi-fi. ‘@kindle.com’ emails can be delivered even when you are not connected to wi-fi, but note that service fees apply.

Find out more about the Kindle Personal Document Service.

Available formats
×

Save book to Dropbox

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Dropbox.

Available formats
×

Save book to Google Drive

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Google Drive.

Available formats
×