Liberalism and Viewpoint Diversity: Ben Klutsey talks to Ilana Redstone

Discourse Magazine Podcast

In this installment, Ben Klutsey talks with Dr. Ilana Redstone, Professor of Sociology at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign and founder of Diverse Perspectives Consulting. We dig into the epistemic question of how we know what we know and the usefulness of respecting viewpoint diversity by focusing on Dr. Redstone’s new course, Bigots and Snowflakes: Living in a World Where Everyone Else is Wrong, and her forthcoming book, Unassailable Ideas: How Unwritten Rules and Social Media Shape Discourse in American Higher Education.

The audio, as well as the transcript of this conversation between Klutsey and Redstone, has been slightly edited for clarity.

Love the show? Consider giving us a rating on Apple Podcasts and be sure to check out the Discourse Magazine for more.

Resources mentioned:

• John Stuart Mill, On Liberty
• Ilana Redstone, Prepare Students to be Foxes, not Hedgehogs
• Isaiah Berlin, The Hedgehog and the Fox: An Essay on Tolstoy’s View of History
• Philip Tetlock, Expert Political Judgment: How Good Is It? How Can We Know?
• Ilana Redstone, FIRE 2019 paper: The Silent Crisis in the Classroom
• Ilana Redstone, Syllabus for Bigots and Snowflakes: Living in a World Where Everyone Else is Wrong
• Ursula K. Le Guin, The Ones who Walk Away from Omelas
• Ilana Redstone and John Villesenor, Unassailable Ideas: How Unwritten Rules and Social Media Shape Discourse in American Higher Education
• Ilana Redstone, Diverse Perspectives Consulting