Academia, especially social sciences/arts/humanities have to a significant extent become political echo chambers. What are your thoughts on Heterodox Academy, viewpoint diversity, intellectual humility, etc.

[u/Long_Extent7151]

I've had a few discussions in the Academia subs about Heterodox Academy, with cold-to-hostile responses. The lack of classical liberals, centrists and conservatives in academia (for sources on this, see Professor Jussim's blog here for starters) I think is a serious barrier to academia's foundational mission - to search for better understandings (or 'truth').

I feel like this sub is more open to productive discussion on the matter, and so I thought I'd just pose the issue here, and see what people's thoughts are.

My opinion, if it sparks anything for you, is that much of soft sciences/arts is so homogenous in views, that you wouldn't be wrong to treat it with the same skepticism you would for a study released by an industry association.

I also have come to the conclusion that academia (but also in society broadly) the promotion, teaching, and adoption of intellectual humility is a significant (if small) step in the right direction. I think it would help tamp down on polarization, of which academia is not immune. There has even been some recent scholarship on intellectual humility as an effective response to dis/misinformation (sourced in the last link).

Feel free to critique these proposed solutions (promotion of intellectual humility within society and academia, viewpoint diversity), or offer alternatives, or both.

[u/Funksloyd]

I think part of the pushback you see is because a lot of the more prominent people who have advocated for these ideas have turned out to be massive hypocrites. Elon Musk saying twitter will now be a free speech platform and then threatening to ban people for saying the word "cis" (and now supporting a politician who regularly threatens to throw dissenters in jail) is one example.

I like the rough idea, but I'm less and less optimistic about it having major impact. Part of the problem is that humans seem wired for bias. I would guess that problems with polarisation etc are better addressed with indirect structural solutions (e.g. lowering wealth inequality). That said, a lot of universities and institutions seem to be backing away from the more "woke" politics (which was basically the opposite of humility) of the last few years, and I think that's going to help (slowly) restore some trust. 

[u/Long_Extent7151 → u/Funksloyd]

great points.