Spectrum Street Epistemology with Nina Power and Carl Benjamin
In Hampstead Heath, London
In Fall 2023, philosopher and author Nina Power and cultural critic and polymath Carl Benjamin joined Peter for a Spectrum Street Epistemology exercise in Hampstead Heath, London.
They explored controversial claims about a variety of socio-political and cultural topics. Nina and Carl have been on Peter's channel before, but this is their first Spectrum Street Epistemology episode.
Peter's previous interview with Nina Power:
Peter's previous interview with Carl Benjamin:
Nina received a Ph.D. in philosophy from Middlesex University and an MA and BA in philosophy from the University of Warwick. She was a senior lecturer in philosophy at Roehampton University and has taught at various British universities. She is a fellow of the Royal Society of Arts and a member of the British Philosophical Association. She co-hosts the podcast The Lack with Helen Rollins and Benjamin Studebaker. Find Nina on X.
Carl Benjamin, AKA "Sargon of Akkad," is best described as a free-speech activist, staunch critic of identity politics, and champion of English Liberalism. When YouTube and Google shadowbanned his channel in 2019 for wrongthink, Carl continued creating content on Akkad Daily. In November 2020, he launched a new media venture: Lotuseaters.com. Find Carl on X.
To become a Christian all it basically requires is profession of belief and a few drops of water. In this I find Judaism which requires difficult and intensive study and also requires one to live ethically and question everything a stronger argument as a traditional culture. Obviously I’m not speaking of the extreme fundamentalist end of the spectrum.
I’m only a few minutes in but their arguments haven’t defined “Liberalism”. They’re fundamentally arguing against modern progressive ideology which isn’t remotely liberal. Liberalism AFAIK was originally defined as Enlightenment values. Civil liberties, economic liberalism. Neither of those fit their initial descriptions. They’re arguing against Leftist bureaucratic systems and wokeneess which are by definition illiberal. I’m not even necessarily disagreeing but they’re ignoring the third pathway - enlightenment which is not necessarily anti religion ot tradition it anti-feudalism and anti-dogmatic. IMHO anyway…
OK they’re kind of bringing that up a little later but it seems anti-individualist. Which is fine if you’re part of that traditional collective. Again I don’t necessarily disagree but I’m not in agreement either. Dogma is the death of reason. Fascinating as usual. I’ll keep listening…