Cynical Theories
How Activist Scholarship Made Everything About Race, Gender, and Identity - and Why This Harms Everybody
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Narrated by:
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Helen Pluckrose
About this listen
Wall Street Journal, USA Today, and Publishers Weekly best seller!
Have you heard that language is violence and that science is sexist? Have you read that certain people shouldn't practice yoga or cook Chinese food? Or been told that being obese is healthy, that there is no such thing as biological sex, or that only White people can be racist? Are you confused by these ideas, and do you wonder how they have managed so quickly to challenge the very logic of Western society?
In this probing and intrepid volume, Helen Pluckrose and James Lindsay document the evolution of the dogma that informs these ideas, from its coarse origins in French postmodernism to its refinement within activist academic fields. Today this dogma is recognizable as much by its effects, such as cancel culture and social-media dogpiles, as by its tenets, which are all too often embraced as axiomatic in mainstream media: knowledge is a social construct; science and reason are tools of oppression; all human interactions are sites of oppressive power play; and language is dangerous. As Pluckrose and Lindsay warn, the unchecked proliferation of these anti-Enlightenment beliefs present a threat not only to liberal democracy but also to modernity itself.
While acknowledging the need to challenge the complacency of those who think a just society has been fully achieved, Pluckrose and Lindsay break down how this often radical activist scholarship does far more harm than good, not least to those marginalized communities it claims to champion. They also detail its alarmingly inconsistent and illiberal ethics. Only through a proper understanding of the evolution of these ideas, they conclude, can those who value science, reason, and consistently liberal ethics successfully challenge this harmful and authoritarian orthodoxy - in the academy, in culture, and beyond.
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A good brain workout
- By ThomasC on 04-09-19
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Reason, Faith, and the Struggle for Western Civilization
- By: Samuel Gregg
- Narrated by: John McLain
- Length: 6 hrs
- Unabridged
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This sharp commentary on the rise and current decline of Western Civilization touches on historical moments - including the building of early universities in the Middle Ages and the American Revolution - and figures - including Augustine, Acquinas, Edmund Burke, and Adam Smith - that exemplify the faith-reason synthesis at the heart of Western Civilization, as well as the modern villains that threaten to destroy it.
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Excellent description of the current state of the West
- By Terryn on 10-24-19
By: Samuel Gregg
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White Christian Privilege
- The Illusion of Religious Equality in America
- By: Khyati Y. Joshi
- Narrated by: Priya Ayyar
- Length: 8 hrs and 45 mins
- Unabridged
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The United States is recognized as the most religiously diverse country in the world, and yet its laws and customs, which many have come to see as normal features of American life, actually keep the constitutional ideal of “religious freedom for all” from becoming a reality. Christian beliefs, norms, and practices infuse our society; they are embedded in our institutions, creating the structures and expectations that define the idea of “Americanness.”
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Audible needs to allow longer headlines
- By Adam Shields on 07-28-20
By: Khyati Y. Joshi
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Fascism: The Career of a Concept
- By: Paul Gottfried
- Narrated by: Kevin Moriarty
- Length: 8 hrs and 37 mins
- Unabridged
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What does it mean to label someone a fascist? Today, it is equated with denouncing him or her as a Nazi. But as intellectual historian Paul E. Gottfried writes in this provocative yet even-handed study, the term's meaning has evolved over the years. Gottfried examines the semantic twists and turns the term has endured since the 1930s and traces the word's polemical function within the context of present ideological struggles.
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Refreshing scholarly treatment of a widely misused concept
- By Minister of the Posterior on 01-15-24
By: Paul Gottfried
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Last Call for Liberty
- How America's Genius for Freedom Has Become Its Greatest Threat
- By: Os Guinness
- Narrated by: Os Guinness
- Length: 14 hrs and 40 mins
- Unabridged
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The hour is critical. The American republic is suffering its gravest crisis since the Civil War. Conflicts, hostility, and incivility now threaten to tear the country apart. Competing visions have led to a dangerous moment of cultural self-destruction. This is no longer politics as usual, but an era of political warfare where our enemies are not foreign adversaries, but our fellow citizens. Yet the roots of the crisis are deeper than many realize. Os Guinness argues that we face a fundamental crisis of freedom, as America's genius for freedom has become her Achilles' heel.
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Thought Provoking Work On Liberty In America
- By Ezekiel on 05-28-19
By: Os Guinness
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Culture and Imperialism
- By: Edward Said
- Narrated by: Peter Ganim
- Length: 19 hrs and 59 mins
- Unabridged
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A landmark work from the intellectually auspicious author of Orientalism, this book explores the long-overlooked connections between the Western imperial endeavor and the culture that both reflected and reinforced it. This classic study, the direct successor to Said's main work, is read by Peter Ganim ( Orientalism).
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BRAVO, AUDIBLE!! WE NEED MORE SAID!! REAL BOOKS!!
- By AnthonyStevens on 02-27-11
By: Edward Said
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A Secular Age
- By: Charles Taylor
- Narrated by: Dennis Holland
- Length: 42 hrs and 7 mins
- Unabridged
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What does it mean to say that we live in a secular age? Almost everyone would agree that we - in the West, at least - largely do. And clearly the place of religion in our societies has changed profoundly in the last few centuries. In what will be a defining book for our time, Charles Taylor takes up the question of what these changes mean - of what, precisely, happens when a society in which it is virtually impossible not to believe in God becomes one in which faith, even for the staunchest believer, is only one human possibility among others.
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Needs Guest Narrators for French and German
- By Norman on 06-13-15
By: Charles Taylor
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Why You Think the Way You Do
- The Story of Western Worldviews from Rome to Home
- By: Glenn S. Sunshine
- Narrated by: Patrick Lawlor
- Length: 8 hrs and 21 mins
- Unabridged
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Why You Think the Way You Do traces the development of the worldviews that underpin the Western world. Professor and historian Glenn S. Sunshine demonstrates the decisive impact that the growth of Christianity had in transforming the outlook of pagan Roman culture into one that—based on biblical concepts of humanity and its relationship with God—established virtually all the positive aspects of Western civilization.
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"Christian's view of the western world"
- By Bradley on 03-21-10
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A Thousand Small Sanities
- The Moral Adventure of Liberalism
- By: Adam Gopnik
- Narrated by: Adam Gopnik
- Length: 7 hrs and 27 mins
- Unabridged
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A Thousand Small Sanities is a manifesto rooted in the lives of people who invented and extended the liberal tradition. Taking us from Montaigne to Mill, and from Middlemarch to the civil rights movement, Adam Gopnik argues that liberalism is not a form of centrism, nor simply another word for free markets, nor merely a term denoting a set of rights. It is something far more ambitious: the search for radical change by humane measures. Gopnik shows us why liberalism is one of the great moral adventures in human history.
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Erudite and entertaining!
- By D. A. Vail on 05-20-19
By: Adam Gopnik
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Finding Truth
- 5 Principles for Unmasking Atheism, Secularism, and Other God Substitutes
- By: Nancy Pearcey
- Narrated by: Pamela Klein
- Length: 8 hrs and 44 mins
- Unabridged
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Don't think, just believe?That's the mantra in many circles today - whether the church, the classroom, the campus, or the voting booth. Nancy Pearcey, best-selling and critically acclaimed author, offers fresh tools to break free from presumed certainties and test them against reality.
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A Must Read!!!
- By Amazon Customer on 06-10-16
By: Nancy Pearcey
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Giving the Devil His Due
- Reflections of a Scientific Humanist
- By: Michael Shermer
- Narrated by: Michael Shermer
- Length: 13 hrs and 25 mins
- Unabridged
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Who is the "Devil"? And what is he due? The devil is anyone who disagrees with you. And what he is due is the right to speak his mind. He must have this for your own safety's sake, because his freedom is inextricably tied to your own. If he can be censored, why shouldn't you be censored? If we put barriers up to silence "unpleasant" ideas, what's to stop the silencing of any discussion? This book is a full-throated defense of free speech and open inquiry in politics, science, and culture by the New York Times best-selling author and skeptic Michael Shermer.
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Flawed Audio
- By Private on 04-10-20
By: Michael Shermer
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The End of History and the Last Man
- By: Francis Fukuyama
- Narrated by: L. J. Ganser
- Length: 15 hrs and 51 mins
- Unabridged
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Ever since its first publication in 1992, The End of History and the Last Man has provoked controversy and debate. Francis Fukuyama's prescient analysis of religious fundamentalism, politics, scientific progress, ethical codes, and war is as essential for a world fighting fundamentalist terrorists as it was for the end of the Cold War. Now updated with a new afterword, The End of History and the Last Man is a modern classic.
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An important discussion expertly narrated
- By Kevin Teeple on 06-27-19
By: Francis Fukuyama
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Gender identity ideology is about more than Twitter storms and using the right pronouns. In just 10 years, laws, company policies, school and university curricula, sport, medical protocols, and the media have been reshaped to privilege self-declared gender identity over biological sex. People are being shamed and silenced for attempting to understand the consequences of redefining "man" and "woman". While compassion for transgender lives is well-intentioned, it is stifling much-needed inquiry into the significance of our bodies.
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Explaining Postmodernism (Expanded Edition)
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Does not actually explain postmodernism.
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Unlearning Liberty
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For over a generation, shocking cases of censorship at America's colleges and universities have taught students the wrong lessons about living in a free society. Drawing on a decade of experience battling for freedom of speech on campus, First Amendment lawyer Greg Lukianoff reveals how higher education fails to teach students to become critical thinkers: by stifling open debate, our campuses are supercharging ideological divisions, promoting groupthink, and encouraging an unscholarly certainty about complex issues.
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Excellent non partisan exploration of Campus Free Speech.
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The Identity Trap
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- By: Yascha Mounk
- Narrated by: JD Jackson
- Length: 11 hrs and 1 min
- Unabridged
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For much of history, societies have violently oppressed ethnic, religious, and sexual minorities. It is no surprise that many who passionately believe in social justice came to believe that members of marginalized groups need to take pride in their identity to resist injustice.
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May It Mark A Turning Point
- By Larry on 09-28-23
By: Yascha Mounk
What listeners say about Cynical Theories
Average customer ratingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
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- William H. Bynum III
- 01-27-21
In-depth and balanced
I was skeptical in the beginning before I began listening to this book, however I have found great value in every word, in every scenario, and every fact-finding line of her book! I absolutely encourage anyone and everyone to listen, or read this book for yourself; read it so that you can engage authentically in the world that we live. I’m going to definitely read more by this author, she is thought-provoking, sincere, and profoundly intelligent
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- intp
- 06-22-21
Excellent - empathic, insightful, witty
A clearly written, thoughtful, and incisive analysis of the intellectual roots of the current ultra-wokism (as I call it). The authors contrast this illiberal, religious-like movement -- obsessed with race, gender, and sexuality; attended by inquisitions, punishment of heretics, and muting of speech -- with liberalism, whose long history and track record has provided spectacular, undeniable, and ongoing progress; which eschews forcing of beliefs on others; insists on free speech; promotes equality; and fosters open debate in the marketplace of ideas.
Whereas the liberal says "May the best ideas win: let's discuss these things and debate" the illiberal woke-evangelist says "There's something morally wrong with you if you disagree with my ideas."
While liberalism has always underscored the unifying universality of humanity, this wokism advocates for a solidarity of tribe: that social unit responsible for much of the world's inhumanity, bloodshed, and misery.
This is a balanced and nuanced book written with precision. The narration is very good. Wit and dry humor make welcome cameo appearances.
The authors note positive aspects of the theories they criticize. They also point to the regressive, primitive, and religious-like notions -- such as racialism and tribalism -- that pockmark these intellectual ideas.
Toward the end of the book, the authors point to the tragic but expected pendulum/reactionary dynamic between the far-left and far-right. Both feature hateful intolerance and primitive thinking, but the former is cloaked in sophisticated "emperor's clothes," looks down its nose at its uncouth 'cousin,' and fails to see its own fascist and racist image reflected back.
I think this book is written mainly for an audience of people with university degrees. Most of the book gets a bit down in the weeds on theories, quoting from various academic papers and postmodern philosophers. It's mainly about tracing these ideas back to their sources: showing an overall arc of how and why the ideas developed. That history is convoluted and complicated. The authors have done a real sense-making service by tracing the arc. And the book delivers exactly what its title promises. It's definitely accessible to the non-academic.
That said, this book may not be for those who are not deeply interested in ideas.
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- Robert C.
- 02-19-21
Access to the book is blocked
Paid for the book and got only 2 minutes of the introduction, without access to over 9 hours of the main text. Sincerely hope that the censorship is not the reason behind the block and hope to gain access to the book the Audible advertised and charged me for.
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- Adam D. Noble
- 06-17-21
Thorough and Fast Paced
They covered enormous ground quickly and efficiently to sketch a framework spanning a massive web of social philosophies that are having a real and harmful impact. It also had a great chapter that outlined a strong Liberal stance on what to do about it all that was very principled.
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- Storm sister
- 12-06-20
Excellent read and intelligible to the average reader
Having been concerned about the influence of critical race theory in STEM fields, I was looking for a helpful guide to understand it’s core tenants and how to address them from a position more in line with science. This was an excellent guide to the harmful theories underlying social justice (as currently being implemented) and provided some great starting points to address the influence of these harmful theories in society. I hope to implement them soon. My only contention was that the book did not offer more detailed examples of success in combating Theory, but perhaps it is too early in history for that.
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- CJ V. Schalkwyk
- 10-13-21
Takes a while to get used to the voice
The narrator has two voice tones and it is sometimes strange when she switch between them. The work around like it is read in a hurry without emotion, but all words are pronounced clearly.
Some of the text doesn't lend itself to the speed she reads. I will not remember one name, but if the info was more important to me,I would have bought the text.
the main concepts are described very completely.
interesting facts to consider.
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- WeatherBug fan
- 04-23-21
everyone needs to read this!
loved it.... very useful for those of us who seem to understand the "crazy" that had infected our
culture
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- Joe
- 01-31-22
Excellent material; recording has some technical glitches
Excellent, well presented material that has some technical drawbacks. Three separate sections of the recording have roughly ten seconds duplicated in what was likely an editing oversight. Easy to overlook given the technical merit of the underlying material.
L
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- Alexis
- 03-26-21
Enriching
I will preface my review by saying that I am a graduate student in the field of social work and have been exposed to the theories addressed in this book, aside from disabled and fat studies with their specific intricacies.
This book allowed me to view critical race theory, postmodernism, and my field of study from a different, liberal perspective. Although I do not agree with all of the affirmations and arguments made, I think that an in-depth look such as this one adds much needed dissection of the social sciences— especially at a university level.
The particular attention to the idea of free discourse is attractive and very valuable in a period where many in higher education and other high profile careers are fearful to speak out against social justice reform and “cancel culture.”
On a more practical note, I thoroughly enjoyed the vocal performance of Helen Pluckrose. Her voice was very calm and easy to listen to, while her speech was clear and annunciation on point.
Overall very good book & experience.
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- Anonymous User
- 03-02-21
enlightening...eye opening...detailed
Anyone who read, or was shamed into reading "White Fragility" or any other "Social Justice" doctrine, should listen to this work. Understanding the history and orgins of a theory that has been adopted by a major political party, is probably important. Especially, when most people have no idea what these theories entail, other than fleeting virtue.
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