What we’re about
Are our politics trapped in false binaries? Does our culture feel “stuck”? Do you feel “politically homeless”?
The Heterodox Club is dedicated to discussing works from current "heterodox" thinkers that provocatively, and at times controversially, question present orthodoxies in our politics and culture. Just as importantly, we are dedicated to being involved in our community and have developed relationships with several nonprofits and community organizations that we support.
All you need to join is curiosity and a belief in the ideals of frank discussion, empathy, honesty, and nuance.
For more details on the club, see the sections below. We also have a Discord.
A Quick Notes on Rules:
Polite, respectful, and empathetic discussion will be required at all times. Vigorous and passionate debate is desired! Challenge each other! However, the fact that we will be reading controversial works will not be an excuse to engage in insulting or offensive interactions.
What Will We Be Reading?
The thinkers we will read represent political and philosophical viewpoints that won’t always map well onto our political binary, but that share a critique of our current intellectual status quo.
We will read work from “anti-identitarian” Leftists that believe our current form of identity politics serves to prevent class consensus and material change. Radical centrists that believe our institutions have become afraid to speak the truth on certain issues openly and abandoned Enlightenment ideals. A new crop of feminists that believe treating of the sexes as the same sexually and psychologically has hurt women. We will read books that you will vehemently disagree with, as well as ones that you may not understand where any controversy could arise from.
Since the books we read will at times be controversial, respectful and considerate discussion will be enforced at all times. If you believe an upcoming topic should not be discussed and its inclusion as a discussion point is inherently morally problematic, then consider not attending unless you’re willing to engage critically and directly with those who would disagree.
Note: An intent of the club is to encourage specificity in how we we think that goes beyond everyday use of certain terms like "liberal" and "conservative". That being said, it does have certain metaphysical and ethical values that are implied in our approach to things. They will change and grow over time, but they include a commitment to human rights, the idea of progress, and there being truths in the world.
What the Club is Not
The goal of the club is not to boost ideas that are provocative for the sake of being provocative or that fail to adhere to basic standards of evidence, science, argument, logic, or respect for our fellow human. We will encourage a wide range of opinions and beliefs, but certain ground-rules for maintaining a pluralistic, healthy environment of discussion will be maintained. Namely, the club reserves the right to remove anyone that creates undue disruption in meetings or causes harm to another member in their interactions.
What Does Heterodox Mean?
The term “heterodox” refers simply to views that violate the commonly accepted, or “orthodox”, views of a belief system or group of people. The use of the term for this club is inspired by its use by Jonathan Haidt, writer of The Coddling of the American Mind and founder of the "Heterodox Academy", who has worked to encourage more honest debate and viewpoint diversity on college campuses.
Upcoming events (4+)
See all- The Coping Series with Guest Dr. Luc Bovens: Self-Management and CounselCaldwell Hall, Chapel Hill, NC
Come join Triangle Heterodox for a unique opportunity: a private facilitated discussion with UNC Professor Luc Bovens on the topics of "Self-Management and Counsel", taken from the final chapters of his book: Coping: A Philosophical Guide.
Dr. Bovens had generously offered to facilitate three conversations with us on his book, going through the book two topics/chapters at at time. This book is open access and can be found free here. This will be the final conversation in the series.
Although the focus of this club has been exploring the context of our current political and social realities, these are informed by the everyday, humanist personal anxieties about life that every generation has struggled with. This event is part of a series where we discuss questions like these from a broader, humanist lens, working our way through Professor Bovens' book Coping: A Philosophical Guide.
Luc Bovens is a Professor of Philosophy at UNC whose work has focused on everything from morality, epistemology, and rationality, to choice architecture and the biblical connections of socialist slogans.
This book was written to be accessible to a wide audience and helpfully has pre-made discussion questions, suggestions for works of art and media to consider when thinking about these topics, etc. Since Dr. Bovens is generously volunteering his time, please do come having read the relevant sections of the book. Dr. Bovens will be the facilitator for these discussions. Location is subject to change.
Coping Series Discussions
- Hope and Death
- Love and Reconciliation
- Self-Management and Counsel
Supplemental Readings
Against Writing - Writing is Not Therapy
And of Clay Are We Created - Short Story - Closer the Distance - Game DiscussionMordecai Beverage Co, Raleigh, NC
Join Triangle Heterodox for its first videogame-based discussion! We'll be playing Closer the Distance as part of exploring the concept of grief and community.
Closer the Distance follows a town dealing with the death of a young teenager, whose spirit you embody as you try to influence those left behind and help them along their journey of processing their grief.
Note: This is also meant as a tie in for our reading and discussion with Luc Bovens on his book Coping: A Philosophical Guide, including its section on death and love, but you do not need to have attended any of those events or read the book for this.
Review of Game
https://www.polygon.com/review/449133/closer-distance-grief-life-simI Don't Play Videogames. How Hard and Long Will This Be?
Good! If you can play the Sims, you can play this. There is no combat, the gameplay is along the lines of the Sims, and the focus here is narrative and the human story. It should take about 12 hours to finish.I Don't Have a Game Console
The game is available on PC, Xbox, and Playstation. It has modest requirements and should run on most computers!Don't Games Cost A Decent Amount of Cash?
This game is $20. Its routinely on sale on Steam. - Postmodern Conservatism and "Rationalism in Politics" - Michael OakeshottWeaver Street Market, Raleigh, NC
Come join Triangle Heterodox for a discussion on Michael Oakeshott's famous essay "Rationalism in Politics" and a chapter from Michael P. Lynch's True to Life. Links to these are below.
These will be much shorter readings and we will use a different conversation format this time, breaking up into smaller groups to discuss our thoughts and then coming back together.
The purpose of this discussion will be to consider the role of rationality in politics and whether liberal democracy and human rights rely on an objective idea of truth that is more than what our peers agree with.
Our recent reading of Patrick Deneen's Why Liberalism Failed brought up the question of the worldview that Deneen is implicitly operating under. This discussion will be a chance to go into that more, looking at a particular kind of conservative response to the Enlightenment that critiqued abstract rationality in politics in favor of ideas related to practice, experience, and intuition. Lynch's essay will serve as a brief contrast that will allow us to consider if the moves made by Deneen and others in recent readings are in tension with the theory of rights associated with liberal democracies.
Oakeshott and the Intellectual Roots of Postmodern Conservatism
https://quillette.com/2019/05/25/michael-oakeshott-and-the-intellectual-roots-of-postmodern-conservatism/"Rationalism in Politics" - Michael Oakeshott
https://www.docdroid.net/W0C1zbJ/oakeshott-rationalism-as-politics-pdf#page=23Chapter 10: Truth and Liberal Democracy - Michael P. Lynch
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1deZ4dweplisob-258k6mOqID6wQhBIBK/view?usp=drive_link - The World Beyond Your Head: On Becoming An Individual - Matthew CrawfordWeaver Street Market, Raleigh, NC
Have we lost the ability to discriminate between the things worthy of attention and the things that are not important? Come join Triangle Heterodox Club to discuss Matthew Crawford's The World Beyond Your Head: On Becoming an Individual in an Age of Distraction. This is was one of our survey picks!
"We often complain about our fractured mental lives and feel beset by outside forces that destroy our focus and disrupt our peace of mind. Any defense against this, Crawford argues, requires that we reckon with the way attention sculpts the self.
Crawford investigates the intense focus of ice hockey players and short-order chefs, the quasi-autistic behavior of gambling addicts, the familiar hassles of daily life, and the deep, slow craft of building pipe organs. He shows that our current crisis of attention is only superficially the result of digital technology, and becomes more comprehensible when understood as the coming to fruition of certain assumptions at the root of Western culture that are profoundly at odds with human nature."
Matthew Crawford is a researcher at the Institute for Advanced Studies at UVA, whose previous book Shopcraft as Soulcraft argued for the importance of manual work.
For those who read our previous reading, Why Liberalism Failed, consider how the arguments Deneen made about choice as the thing to maximize, technology liberating us from constraints, and tradition relate to Crawford's concerns over the world losing a kind of friction and constraint he believes is necessary to attention and human flourishing.
No One Asks to be Buried with Their IPad
https://archive.ph/E4iKVExample of the Role of Friction for Meaning and Enjoyment in Games
https://www.gamedeveloper.com/design/did-you-know-the-car-in-pacific-drive-has-a-soul-LA Times Review (with some critical context)
https://lareviewofbooks.org/article/are-you-out-of-your-mind/
