Today was the first seminar of Jordan Peterson’s Self-Deception course, and it was quite something.
The man is a gifted speaker, and devoted most of the class to describing a process for writing well and the importance of doing so. The course assignment is unusual: three successive drafts on the same topic, first of three, then six, then nine pages. After each round, students are to be provided with comments.
Strictly speaking, I am not allowed to take the class (as a non-psychology student). My plan is to keep doing the readings and showing up, with the aim of writing the assignment as well. Grades and course credits don’t really matter for me at this point, so it won’t make much difference if I can ultimately convince him to let me into the course or not.
This sounds like a very interesting course, especially considering the ability of humans towards self-deception.
Do you think the that there is a parallel in the animal world in ‘instinct’?
I think that you will have fun in this class. Human behavior is often quite unpredictable and puzzling. It is always useful to have a better understanding of ourselves.
Go for it.
My three successive essays draft for Jordan Peterson’s self-deception course, along with his comments