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Pieter’s Corner: sense of conspiracy theorists
Climate change is made up, the secret services murdered Pim Fortuyn and JFK, and the moon landing was a fake show. Conspiracy theories are of all times, providing sensation and entertainment, but also unrest and fear. The corona pandemic is new fuel for conspiracy theorists who set fire to 5G masts, accuse the Dutch National Institute for Public Health and the Environment (RIVM) of lies, and undermine vaccination programmes. Are these far-fetched theories to be taken serious? Are they harmful or useful for society? Our social scientists give their point of view:
Why Postmodernism Is Incompatible with a Politics of Liberty
Postmodernism lends itself to totalitarianism
Once beliefs aren t constrained by the object world, an idea can t be wrong, and the intellectual battleground becomes a political one, a struggle to impose certain ideas on all
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The proposition debated was “Postmodern philosophy is compatible with a politics of individual liberty.” Thaddeus defended the proposition and I opposed it. Here, I want to flesh out some of the points I made in the debate, adding more context than I could marshal under the constraints of the format. For better or worse, this requires a somewhat deep dive into postmodern ideas.