In this October 2019 lecture at the conference 'Speaking Truth to Social Justice' in London, James Lindsay presented a compelling critique of critical social justice and its ideological foundation in critical theory. He argued that this worldview fundamentally rejects objective truth, reason, and evidence-based methods, which are essential for genuine progress. According to Lindsay, critical theorists prioritize “strategic” theories over true or false ones, seeking to advance political agendas rather than to understand reality.

Drawing on examples from feminist and social justice literature, Lindsay illustrated how critical theory undermines fields like engineering, climate science, and education by prioritizing social power over truth. He contended that while these disciplines traditionally rely on rigorous methods to solve problems, critical theory disregards such rigor, treating knowledge as a mere tool for enforcing power dynamics. For Lindsay, this ideological shift threatens progress, as it ignores that “reality is the thing you run into when your beliefs are false.”

Ultimately, Lindsay called for a return to evidence-based inquiry and the liberal systems that have historically driven human advancement. By defending reason, scientific method, and open discourse, he argued, society can continue to make meaningful progress rather than regress into a cynicism that treats truth as a mere strategy for political ends.

Viewers will find this talk interesting not just for its contents but also for the glimpse back in time by five years, which allows them to see how the views expressed have matured and developed over the intervening time.

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The Thing You Run Into When Your Beliefs Are False | James Lindsay

James is the president and founder of New Discourses.com, an author, and one the most essential voices for making sense of the absurdity that has become our state of political discourse. Some of you may know him for his pioneering work in the Sokal Squared Hoax. We talk about critical social justice, the intellectual evolution of marxist, postmodern, and postcolonial ideas into intersectionality strain, White fragility, a new social justice encyclopedia, reflexivity, and how to confront creeping identity politics in everyday life.

7: A Virology of Discourse with James Lindsay

I spoke with James Lindsay about his new project New Discourses, his latest and upcoming books. Postmodernism on both the Left and Right. Follow me: @obaidomer
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Read some of James’ articles:
https://areomagazine.com/2017/08/22/a-manifesto-against-the-enemies-of-modernity/  https://areomagazine.com/2018/12/18/postmodern-religion-and-the-faith-of-social-justice/  
Get James’ new latest book and preorder his new one: https://www.amazon.ca/dp/1634312023/ref=cm_sw_em_r_mt_dp_U_ThmKEbGKG7PQ4

https://www.amazon.ca/dp/B07X6KCLW5/ref=cm_sw_em_r_mt_dp_U_rjmKEb2WN5Z79

EP 54: James Lindsay Pt 2

Pursuing the light of objective truth in subjective darkness.

The Thing You Run Into When Your Beliefs Are False | James Lindsay

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