Dustin Arand
1 min readSep 7, 2022

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I don't doubt that Peterson is an excellent psychiatrist. But one can be quite talented in one domain and totally out of one's depth in another.

I have a lot of beefs with Peterson, many of which I've written about, and which you can read here:

https://dustinarand.medium.com/heres-why-you-should-stop-listening-to-jordan-peterson-b6c7424e272f

https://dustinarand.medium.com/heres-why-you-should-stop-listening-to-jordan-peterson-9d1a9036eb45

https://medium.com/original-philosophy/jordan-peterson-doesnt-understand-patriarchy-2a48ed469b58

https://dustinarand.medium.com/jordan-peterson-doesnt-understand-beauty-c6855707e48e

Olivia Wilde's point, and I think it's a fair one, is that whatever you might think of Peterson, he has clearly developed quite a following among a number of very online groups associated with the alt-right, including neo-reactionaries and incels.

It's useful to ask why that is. Peterson's misuse of evolutionary psychology in the service of defending social hierarchies and traditional religion is one reason. His obsession with "postmodern cultural Marxism" (which is a contradiction in terms, btw) is another.

As I said, a good psychiatrist, sure, but not much of a philosopher, whose main purpose these days seems to be to give a veneer of respectability to right wing trolls.

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Dustin Arand
Dustin Arand

Written by Dustin Arand

Lawyer turned stay-at-home dad. I write about philosophy, culture, and law. Author of the book “Truth Evolves”. Top writer in History, Culture, and Politics.

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