"Transcending Political Polarization" with Steve McIntosh
Steve McIntosh
In this episode with author and integral philosopher Steve McIntosh we take on the question of how to transcend polarization in contemporary politics (and spirituality). This is a rich, profound and provocative conversation and we go deep into the issues and paradigms that underlie many of the challenges in our society. Hopefully, this conversation help craft a vision about what it would take to move beyond a left vs. right conversation and start thinking about how we all might work together across our diversity. It's also a unique approach to a complex and divisive topic. If you have thoughts, I'd love to open a conversation in the comments below.
There are a lot of materials that connect to this conversation. If you found any of this interesting or provocative, here are some way to explore more deeply.
Steve McIntosh's personal author website is: stevemcintosh.com.
The website for the Institute for Cultural Evolution thinktank, which Steve co-founded is: culturalevolution.org.
These two essays are directly related to what we discuss in the podcast episode:
"Overcoming Polarization by Overcoming both Right and Left: How Polarity Theory Provides a Path to Political Progress" by Steve McIntosh
"Depolarizing the American Mind: How America can Grow Beyond its Currently Polarized Politics" by Steve McIntosh and Carter Phipps
Here is a video of a talk where Steve discusses his new book, The Presence of the Infinite. You can also find shorter video clips here. Clicking here will take you to videos from his talk about his 2012 book, Evolution's Purpose.
I first heard Steve on the To the Best of Our Knowledge podcast episode titled "Depolarize Now!" It is a great episode all around. Steve's interview is at the end of the episode and it's great. Another highlight of the episode for me is when political scientist John Hibbing talks about significant biological differences between studies of liberal and conservative brains. There is now evidence that people can't help what they think. For me that is further support for the idea that we need to accept that we're all in this together and learn how to get along. Here's a test from Hibbing's book Predisposed to test if you're hardwired to be liberal or conservative.