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Are you Heterodox?

Heterodox Academy was founded in 2015 by Jonathan Haidt, Chris Martin, and Nicholas Rosenkranz, in reaction to their observations about the negative impact a lack of ideological diversity has had on the quality of research within their disciplines.

Do you believe that this lack of ideological diversity exists in academia and in the wider world in general? Is orthodoxy ever a good thing?

Do you consider yourself heterodox?

Heterodoxy is a willingness to go against your tribe, whether your tribe is liberal or conservative. If you consider yourself to be heterodox, can you give any personal examples? Thanks.
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Murmurs · 31-35, F
Orthodoxy is a good thing when you want amazing church liturgy that lasts 3 hours.

It's generally terrible for absolutely everything else.

Ideological orthodoxy largely exists in what's sometimes called the "chattering classes" (ie academia, the media, the arts), including law as well to some extent but fortunately rules of practice stop that from affecting their work [i]too[/i] much.

Definitely two feminist societies, for example, which when I joined at university were (when not primarily about sourcing good quality gin and tonics!) places of genuine discussion and considered activism, have largely devolved into bastions of an entirely entrenched ideology on most issues (I think we can guess which ones. Intersectionality is a curse).

Around the country (the UK) though - while I think even in my lifetime attitudes to things have mostly gone one way, and this is largely a good thing (as fun as it might be to imagine myself in a coven of sapphic suffragettes I don't think that's a plausible reality!), people are happily much more diverse in their opinions.

We're all mostly just treated as though we're monolithic blocks of concerns (Ie "I'm a woman one-side-or-another-of-30, so I must think X and Y"). And I would say seeing people as sets of interest group/campaign targets rather than as people is generally, right now, an orthodoxy of the left...
irishmolly72 · 56-60, F
@Murmurs Thank you for your thoughtful response. That's a lot to chew on.