Taming the Crazy: How the Principles of Humanism Protect Minds From Dangerous Ideologies

This speaker participated in our 2019 Conference. Learn more about our 2023 conference speakers here.

Carnegie Mellon University

Friday, June 7, 2019
9:00am- 9:30am

Destructive ideologies come in both religious and secular forms, and both kinds exact a terrible toll on humanity. If we hope to flourish, then, we must find ways to inoculate minds against such ideologies. We can do that by strengthening mental immune systems. This means teaching critical thinking, but healthy mental immune response requires much more than “CT” skills. For many ideas block the application of these skills. The concept of faith is a perfect example: it excuses irresponsible believing. Which is to say, it suppresses our mental and cultural “immune response” to unaccountable beliefs. This allows dangerous religious ideologies to flourish unchecked. The religious, though, are not the only purveyors of immunosuppressive ideas. The idea that everyone is entitled to their opinions is also massively immunosuppressive. Meanwhile, the key tenets of humanism all function to protect minds against ideological disorientation. The new science of cognitive immunology will allow us to see humanism in an entirely new light: it’s actually an antidote to ideological thinking. In this talk, I’ll expose several immunosuppressive ideas, and show how the principles of humanism work to counteract them.