The Argument Ninja Podcast Kevin deLaplante | Philosopher and Critical Thinking Educator

On this episode of the Argument Ninja podcast I share the audio from an interview I did with Brittney-Nichole Connor-Savarda for her for a new podcast, Living and Leading with Emotional Intelligence.
Brittney-Nicole's show coincides with the publication of a book she's written on the topic of emotional intelligence, The EQ Deficiency.
Topics discussed: 
How Brittney-Nichole came to be familiar with my work Definitions of tribalism and tribal psychology The evolutionary roots of tribal psychology; positive and negative aspects of tribalism Definition of polarization, and the effects of increasing polarization Why certain kinds of truth-seeking communication can only happen in the interstitial spaces between ideologically charged tribal zones Why "complexity is unstable" within polarized groups Strategies for improving our emotional intelligence by learning more about, and embracing, our tribal psychology Why "character is contextual", and how we can take advantage of this fact for personal growth Mental models for understanding human nature and social change, and cultivating emotional intelligence Show notes:
https://kevindelaplante.com/038-tribal-literacy-and-emotional-intelligence/
Video interview on Brittney-Nichole's channel:
https://youtu.be/BMPPPw7zeVU
 

On this episode of the Argument Ninja podcast I talk openly about why this is the first new episode I've produced in 7 months, and the lessons I'm learning as a life-long stutterer. 
https://kevindelaplante.com/3-honest-updates
Timestamps 00:00 - 03:12  Introduction
03:12 - 05:23  The move and web consolidation update
05:23 - 07:24  Failing at the one thing I set out to do
07:24 - 13:49  Experiments, consulting side-gigs, and coaching
13:40 -  18:12 Argument Ninja video community meetings—motivations and lessons learned
18:12 - 33:34 My history as a stutterer, and how it's influenced my work 
33:34 - 42:44  On accepting my comfort zone
42:44 - 48:46  Retreating from my role as community builder (and trying to understand why)
48:46 - 57:53  My views on social media and how I choose to use it
57:53 - 01:06:22  A new opportunity that changes the equation
01:06:22 - 01:07:50  Wrapping up

On this episode of the Argument Ninja podcast I talk about the difficulty of judging how much we really understand about the causes of complex social phenomena—even if we do lots of research and self-study.
To help make the case I’m continuing my survey of different theories of the causes of the increase in social polarization that we’re currently experiencing.
On this episode I look specifically at the work of two social scientists who have written extensively on this topic:
Karen Stenner on the “authoritarian” personality type.  Her 2005 book The Authoritarian Dynamic can be read as predicting the expansion of right-wing populism that contributed to the rise of Trump and Brexit. Stenner's work has been influential on Jonathan Haidt's analysis of polarization. Eric Kauffman on the effects of immigration on polarization in white majority countries. His latest book Whiteshift explores how demographic shifts are driving cultural conflict, and how this will likely play out in the longer run. But before I get to these topics, I give some Argument Ninja Dojo updates, do a recap of episode 034, and present a conceptual model for how we should think about the epistemological challenge of understanding complex social phenomena like polarization.
Timestamps 00:00 - 01:22  Introduction
01:22 - 06:31  Argument Ninja Dojo Announcements
06:31 - 11:45  Recap of Episode 034
11:45 - 14:41  Outline of What's to Come
14:41 -  23:40 Argument Matrices and the Problem of Calibrating Our Knowledge
23:40 - 25:48  The Epistemological Challenge of Understanding Complex Social Phenomena
25:48 - 42:44  Karen Stenner: The Authoritarian Dynamic
42:44 - 01:04:35  Eric Kauffman: Whiteshift and "Multivocal" Nationalism
01:04:35 - 01:07:56  Reasons to Think We Know Less Than We Think
01:07:56 - 01:08:44  Reminder: Argument Ninja Dojo Discount Coupon Links
Links Show notes
Click here to learn more about the Argument Ninja Dojo and how to sign up using a discount coupon link for as low as $3/month.
Karen Stenner's homepage
Eric Kauffman's homepage
 

On episode 035 of the Argument Ninja podcast I share updates on new course development over at kevindelaplante.com, and I share both the audio and the video of a one-hour interview I did with the hosts of the Epistemic podcast, which focuses on "street epistemology". 
Click to view the video interview on YouTube

(full URL: https://youtu.be/rHQYHUksJFk)
Timestamps:
0:56 - Topics discussed in the interview
2:15 - New courses in development on kevindelaplante.com
4:37 - How I'm pitching the new courses
5:12 - First course: Become an Argument Ninja
5:43 - Second course: How to Build a Good Argument (Argument and Reason)
6:11 - Third course: How to Know What You're Talking About (Argument and Knowledge)
7:00 - Fourth course: How to Be Understood (Argument and Communication)
7:32 - Fifth course: How to Win Over Your Audience (Argument and Persuasion)
8:52 - Introducing the interview, "street epistemology", and the hosts
11:57 - Critical thinking versus rational persuasion
13:19 - Two approaches to argumentation
16:34 - Why philosophers are suspicious of rhetoric
17:20 - How I was teaching critical thinking back when I was a university professor
17:33 - Origins of the "critical thinking movement" in higher education
21:12 - Jonathan Haidt's "Elephant and the Rider" model
23:54 - My "core belief network" model for helping strategize conversations
29:50 - The virtues of simplicity and clarity
32:05 - The culture of "smartness" in academia
34:49 - Viewing rational persuasion as a martial art
40:49 - Are there some people who should not be given training in these tools?
43:30 - Why critical thinking has a bad name in some circles
47:25 - Is the term "critical thinking" useful if everyone is willing to claim it?
51:21 - When the critical thinking label becomes politicized
51:53 - Why I avoid talking about my personal views on polarized topics
54:26 - Critical thinking, tribalism and polarization
01:01:35 - Keep your core small
01:01:35 - Is street epistemology part of a "mixed martial arts" approach to critical thinking?
01:08:14 - Can scientists do better at communicating with the public?
 
Links:
Show notes for this episode
Video interview on YouTube
My promo video for the new Argument Ninja courses
Street Epistemology
Anthony Magnabosco's channel
Reid Nicewonder's channel
Daniel Earles' channel
The Critical Thinking Movement in higher education (historical overview)
 

In episode 024 of the Argument Ninja Podcast I'm starting a series of episodes that will explore different models of the causes of social and political polarization, and introduce some general principles for thinking critically about complex social phenomena like polarization.
In this episode (Part 1) I examine models of polarization and social change that are implicit in the depolarization strategies of three different depolarizing initiatives: Better Angels, AllSides, and OpenMind.
https://kevindelaplante.com/034-understanding-the-causes-of-polarization-part-1/
Timestamps:
00:00  Why I'm doing a multi-part series on understanding the causes of polarization
06:46  Ideological polarization and evidence for increases
09:36  Affective polarization and evidence for increases
13:12  The depolarization strategy of Better Angels
20:25  The depolarization strategy of AllSides
26:32  Jonathan Haidt and OpenMind
31:48  The four-factor account of the causes of polarization in Chapter 3 of The Coddling of the American Mind
32:22  Loss of a common enemy or challenge
33:53  Social sorting and the emergence of homogeneous political identity groups
38:14  Partisan media and filter bubbles
39:05  Rise of negative partisanship in government
43:24  On the mismatch between individual-level strategies for depolarization, and multi-level, multi-scalar theories of the causes polarization
49:06  Wrapping up
Links:
Better Angels (https://www.better-angels.org/)
AllSides (https://www.allsides.com)
AllSides For Schools (https://allsidesforschools.org/)
LivingRoom Conversations (https://www.livingroomconversations.org/)
OpenMind (https://openmindplatform.org/)
The Righteous Mind (https://righteousmind.com/)
The Coddling of the American Mind (https://www.thecoddling.com/)
 

On this episode of the Argument Ninja Podcast I'm presenting edited versions of last three episodes of my first podcast show that I produced in 2010-11. These were the last episodes I produced of that podcast series, and I discuss why in the introduction.
The last three episodes were on the subject of conspiracies and conspiracy theories.
https://kevindelaplante.com/033-critical-thinking-about-conspiracies/
Topics discussed in this episode include:
the definition of a conspiracy, and a conspiracy theory local vs global conspiracies default skepticism about conspiracies 9-11, the Moon Landings, the New World Order, mind control technologies, and other conspiracy theory examples real government conspiracies: COINTELPRO (FBI), MK-ULTRA (CIA) falsifiable and unfalsifiable conspiracies lessons each side can learn