What we’re about
This meetup started as a group for people in the Philadelphia area who were concerned with the current political turmoil in America, but who also felt that the prevailing liberal-vs-conservative political paradigm is unnecessarily limiting our ability to think rationally about politics & search for policy solutions. Since we shifted to mostly online meetups in 2020, we've opened the group up to people everywhere. If you like to talk politics but you've got some moderate or unconventional views that leave you feeling out of place at most of the activist groups, party meetings & political rallies in your area, this meetup is for you!
However, if your political views put you on the far left or far right of the political spectrum - i.e. you're a socialist, anarchist, fascist, or religious fundamentalist - please go elsewhere. Also, if you consider yourself a moderate Republican or moderate Democrat but your views are just generic talking points you've gleaned from listening to the pundits on Fox News or MSNBC, this group is not for you. It may seem uncharitable to exclude people, but from past experience our discussions just don't work very well with these folks, since they tend to be close-minded and see all of our problems as the result of only one of our political parties - i.e. they're not even remotely "agnostic".
"Political Agnosticism" is a term I came up with back in 2015 to represent a non-dogmatic approach to politics that acknowledges uncertainty and the validity of multiple perspectives, and looks for practical solutions without worrying about adherence to an overarching political ideology. The purpose of this agnostic, skeptical & free-thinking approach is to avoid treating politics as a "culture war" based on group identities or a clash of "political religions" based more on devotion to a party than knowledge of the issues. Instead, when we cover a political issue, we look at what experts in various disciplines know (and don't know) about it, tease out the ethical implications, note the tradeoffs between different policy approaches, and then look at potential solutions that encompass everything we've learned.
The only political values that are prerequisites for members are a belief in civility & tolerance towards those we disagree with, a belief in traditional civil liberties like the freedom of speech, freedom of thought, freedom of association, and the right to privacy, as well as respect for institutional norms like separation of church & state, academic freedom, press freedom, government transparency, due process, judicial impartiality, and free & fair elections. These principles of an "open society" form the preconditions for the existence of a non-partisan political forum like ours.
We are affiliated as an independent salon of the Burke-Paine Society (BPS), a national organization that takes its name from Edmund Burke & Thomas Paine, two Enlightenment-era political thinkers that exemplify the conservative & progressive strands of the "classical liberal" tradition. The BPS is based on 4 core values - Inclusiveness, Empathy, Intellectual Curiosity, Humility - and is committed to 3 objectives: (1) rebuild cross-partisan trust, (2) redefine the national identity, (3) ignite a political renaissance. To learn more, visit their website: https://www.burkepainesociety.org/
Our general approach to politics is based on a concept we've borrowed from another organization, the Circle of Reason, called "pluralistic rationalism" – i.e. a personal commitment to reasoning, regardless of one's worldview. We start by assuming that reasonable people can differ in their cores values, whether it's framed as a preference for freedom vs security, tradition vs progress, individualism vs communitarianism, meritocracy vs egalitarianism, patriotism vs cosmopolitanism, etc. However, this approach is also premised on the belief that we should all commit to following the rules of logic & evidence-based reasoning. "Pluralistic Rationalism" is based on 3 tenets that are complementary to the core values of BPS - they are: (1) Factualism (as opposed to Denialism) for sourcing knowledge, (2) Skepticism (as opposed to Dogmatism) for vetting knowledge, and (3) Moderation (as opposed to Emotion) for expressing knowledge. To learn more about "pluralistic rationalism", see the Circle of Reason's website: http://www.circleofreason.org/
We are committed to creating a space for non-partisan political discussion based on intellectual honesty, mutual respect & civility. That means adopting the conversational principles of charity & good faith, avoiding name-calling, and trying to understand the best arguments that can be made for each side.
The goals for this meetup group are as follows:
(1) We try to understand why people - including ourselves - are predisposed by inherent psychological traits, cultural milieu & life experiences to have different moral intuitions & political orientations. We generally use a mix of the Big Five personality traits & Jonathan Haidt's Moral Foundations Theory.
(2) We look at moral philosophy to try to better understand how moral axioms logically connect to one another and form ethical systems like deontological ethics, utilitarianism, and contractarianism. We examine how these ethical systems form the basis for political philosophy, legal philosophy, and normative theories in the social sciences.
(3) We try to increase our level of rationality by learning how to spot logical fallacies, cognitive biases, flawed statistics, and irrational forms of thought like conspiracy theories & moral panics. The work of the "scientific skeptic movement" (e.g. Carl Sagan, James Randi, Michael Shermer, Steven Novella) and the "rationalist community" (e.g. Robin Hanson, Eliezer Yudkowsky, Scott Alexander, Julia Galef, Spencer Greenberg, Tim Urban) are big influences in this area.
(4) We try to educate members on both the fundamentals and the latest research from the social sciences, and we discuss how this relates to current events & trending political topics. Aside from looking at academic research, a lot of our reading material comes from data/explainer journalism sites, econ & policy blogs, as well as the major public intellectuals & pundits from across the political spectrum.
(5) We try to imagine alternative types of political & economic systems that could provide better outcomes for the future based on both theory & empirical data. This often involves looking at various "maps of the policy landscape" like the Cato & Fraser Institutes' Human Freedom Index, SPI's Social Progress Index, the Economist's Democracy Index, the UN World Happiness Report, and others.
(6) As part of our effort to break away from the narrow range of ideas represented by the two major political parties, we often look at constellations of ideas that could be described as syncretic, contrarian or heterodox. This often involves looking at ideas emerging from various blogosphere niches like market urbanism, ecomodernism, effective altruism, futurism & strategic forecasting, and the rationalist & skeptic communities. We also look increasingly to intellectuals who've been excluded from academic orthodoxies or "canceled" in mainstream media outlets, such as the scholars associated with Jonathan Haidt's Heterodox Academy, Peter Singer's Journal of Controversial Ideas, Keith E. Whittington's Academic Freedom Alliance, Yascha Mounck's Persuasion, the legacy-media journalists who've recently moved to independent platforms like Substack & Spotify (e.g. Bari Weiss, Andrew Sullivan, Glenn Greenwald, Matt Yglesias, Michael Tracey, Zaid Jilani, Freddie deBoer, Matt Taibbi & Katie Halper, Jesse Singal & Katie Herzog, Krystal Ball & Saagar Enjeti), and the centrist faction of what used to be called the "Intellectual Dark Web" (e.g. Sam Harris, Steven Pinker, Michael Shermer, Ayaan Hirsi Ali, Christina Hoff Sommers, Cathy Young, Alice Dreger, Debra Soh, Glenn Loury, John McWhorter, Coleman Hughes, Claire Lehmann, Helen Pluckrose, and the various writers at outlets like Quillette, Unherd, Merion West & Areo Magazine). The common feature among all of these new media projects & pundits is that they are openly critical of intellectual blindspots & bad ideas coming from both the left & right.
(7) In order to do our part combatting political polarization, we borrow ideas from a range of organizations that are currently working on enabling mutual understanding & civil dialogue, such as Andrew Brummett's Burke-Paine Society, Frank Burton's Circle of Reason, David Blankenhorn's Braver Angels project (formerly Better Angels), Alexandra Hudson's Civic Renaissance, Liz Joyner's Village Square, Joan Blades' Living Room Conversations, John Gable's AllSides team, David Nevins & Debilyn Molineaux's Bridge Alliance, Lisa Swallow & Kareem Abdelsadek's Crossing Party Lines, Tim Dixon & Gemma Mortensen's More In Common project, David Brooks's Social Fabric Project (a.k.a. Weave), Gary Kasparov's Renew Democracy Initiative, Charles Wheelan's Centrist Project (now called "Unite America"), Irshad Manji's Moral Courage Project, the newly founded University of Austin, the Foundation Against Intolerance and Racism (FAIR), and others.
Upcoming events (4+)
See all- NCC Event - "How to Interpret the Constitution"Link visible for attendees
Event Title: "How to Interpret the Constitution: A Citizen’s Guide"
Date & Time: Mon. Sept. 28, 2023, 12:00 - 1:00 p.m. EDT
- PLEASE NOTE: This is a FREE event, but will be hosted online. Be sure to register in advance at: https://constitutioncenter.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_7o_cB0LaTXKhVWnGKEPifQ#/registration
Cost: FREE
About the Event:
New York Times bestselling author Cass Sunstein unveils his new book, How to Interpret the Constitution—a citizen’s guide to the rival approaches of originalism and living constitutionalism. Sunstein will be joined by leading constitutional expert Philip Bobbitt of Columbia Law School to discuss the current controversies surrounding constitutional interpretation and provide their takes on the competing methodologies. Jeffrey Rosen, president and CEO of the National Constitution Center, moderates.
About the Speakers:
- **Cass Sunstein **is a legal scholar and currently serves as the Robert Walmsley University Professor and director of the Program on Behavioral Economics and Public Policy at Harvard Law School. In 2020, the World Health Organization appointed him as Chair of its technical advisory group on Behavioural Insights and Sciences for Health. From 2009 to 2012, he was Administrator of the White House Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs, and after that, he served on the President’s Review Board on Intelligence and Communications Technologies and on the Pentagon’s Defense Innovation Board. He is the author of hundreds of articles and dozens of books, including Nudge: Improving Decisions about Health, Wealth, and Happiness (with Richard H. Thaler, 2008), Simpler: The Future of Government (2013), The Ethics of Influence (2015), #Republic (2017), Impeachment: A Citizen’s Guide (2017), The Cost-Benefit Revolution (2018), On Freedom (2019), Conformity (2019), How Change Happens (2019), and Too Much Information (2020).
- **Philip Bobbitt **is the Herbert Wechsler Professor of Federal Jurisprudence at Columbia Law School. Bobbitt has written 10 books, including the award-winning The Shield of Achilles: War, Peace and the Course of History (2002), and the international best-selling Terror and Consent: The Wars for the Twenty-First Century (2008), which examine the evolution of the State and the corresponding changes in the nature of warfare. His first book, Tragic Choices (1978), written with Guido Calabresi, is a foundational text for the study of societal values and the trade-offs they command. His most recent work is a new edition of the authoritative Impeachment: A Handbook (2018), written in 1974 by former Columbia Law Professor Charles Black.
- Jeffrey Rosen is the president and CEO of the National Constitution Center, as well as a professor of law at George Washington University and a contributing editor of The Atlantic.
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- Cato Institute Event: "How States Think"Link visible for attendees
Event Title:
"How States Think: The Rationality of Foreign Policy"Registering for the Online Event:
To register for and watch this FREE event, go to: https://www.cato.org/events/how-states-thinkNOTE: You can submit questions in the comment box on the Cato Institute's event page and join the conversation on social media using #CatoFP. For event updates, follow @CatoEvents on X. If you have questions about the event or your registration, please email events@cato.org.
Event Description:
Are states rational? Much of international relations theory assumes that they are. But many scholars believe that political leaders rarely act rationally. John J. Mearsheimer will argue that rational decisions in international politics rest on credible theories about how the world works and emerge from deliberative decisionmaking processes. Using these criteria, he will describe how most states are rational most of the time, even if they are not always successful, and will discuss implications for formulating foreign policy. Join Mearsheimer and Ashley Tellis, a scholar with extensive policy experience, for a discussion of whether states behave rationally.About the Panel:
* John J. Mearsheimer - Professor of Political Science at the University of Chicago; author of The Israel Lobby and U.S. Foreign Policy (2007), Why Leaders Lie (2010), The Great Delusion: Liberal Dreams and International Realities (2018), and How States Think: The Rationality of Foreign Policy (2023)
* Ashley Tellis - Senior Fellow at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace; National Security Council staff for President George W. Bush; former senior policy analyst at the RAND Corporation; author of Striking Asymmetries: Nuclear Transitions in Southern Asia (2022); PhD in political science from the University of Chicago
* Justin Logan - Director of Defense and Foreign Policy Studies at the Cato Institute; former Director of Programs and Research Associate at the Center for the Study of Statesmanship; author of “China, America, and the Pivot to Asia" (2013); MA in international relations from the University of ChicagoAbout the Cato Institute:
Founded in 1976, the Cato Institute is a libertarian think tank headquartered in Washington, D.C. The institute advocates for free market economic policies, protection of civil liberties, criminal justice reform, and a non-interventionist foreign policy. It publishes the annual "Human Freedom Index" that ranks countries based on their levels of personal & economic freedoms, and it hosts cross-partisan discussions monthly at "Cato Unbound". To learn more, go to https://www.cato.org/about.............................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................
- HxA Event: "Intellectual Virtues & The Information Landscape"Link visible for attendees
Event Title:
"Intellectual Virtues and the Contemporary Information Landscape" with Jason Baehr, PhD
Registering for the Online Event:
Unlike most HxA events which are for members only, this is a FREE event open to the general public; however, you'll need to register for it. Go to the following link & fill out the registration form, and when you hit "register" you'll receive an email with a link to the Zoom meeting room a week prior to the event date:
https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSec_YI4_Z4pyLAwGto2_nF9LJwII_bSdFSC5sCA1T-CXTr2eQ/viewform
Note: Contact Sarah Hartman-Caverly smh767@psu.edu with any inquiries.
Event Topic:
Dr. Jason Baehr will speak on 1) contemporary challenges to negotiating the information landscape responsibly and reliably, 2) some common but problematic reactions to these challenges (e.g. withdrawal/skepticism or tribalism/dogmatism), and (3) intellectual virtues as a way of conceptualizing a “regulative ideal” that can help us integrate various competing but important epistemic values as we engage the information landscape. Following Dr. Baehr's keynote, participants will be invited to engage in small group discussion and Q&A.
About the Speaker:
* Jason Baehr is Professor of Philosophy at Loyola Marymount University in Los Angeles. He works at the intersection of virtue theory and epistemology, especially “virtue epistemology,” which is an approach to the philosophical study of knowledge that focuses on intellectual virtues like curiosity, open-mindedness, intellectual humility, intellectual courage, and intellectual tenacity. Baehr’s monograph on virtue epistemology, The Inquiring Mind : On Intellectual Virtues and Virtue Epistemology , was published by Oxford University Press in 2011, and his book Deep in thought : A practical guide to teaching for intellectual virtues was published in 2021. Baehr currently administrates Educating for Intellectual Virtues (http://intellectualvirtues.org), a website devoted to the practice of "intellectual character education," which is aimed at helping students grow in intellectual virtues in the context of academic teaching and learning.
About the Event Host:
The Heterodox Academy (HxA) is a nonpartisan collaborative of thousands of professors, administrators, and students committed to enhancing the quality of research and education by promoting open inquiry, viewpoint diversity, and constructive disagreement in institutions of higher learning. It was founded in 2015 by Jonathan Haidt, a psychology professor at the University of Virginia, Nicholas Quinn Rosenkranz, a Georgetown University law professor, and Chris Martin, an Emory University sociologist.
To learn more about their mission, go to https://heterodoxacademy.org/our-mission/
