233 | Hugo Mercier on Reasoning and Skepticism

<p>Here at the Mindscape Podcast, we are firmly pro-reason. But what does that mean, fundamentally and in practice? How did humanity come into the idea of not just doing things, but doing things for reasons? In this episode we talk with cognitive scientist Hugo Mercier about these issues. He is the co-author (with Dan Sperber) of <a href="https://bookshop.org/p/books/the-enigma-of-reason-hugo-mercier/6705246" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank"><em>The Enigma of Reason</em></a>, about how the notion of reason came to be, and more recently author of <a href="https://bookshop.org/p/books/not-born-yesterday-the-science-of-who-we-trust-and-what-we-believe-hugo-mercier/9014246?ean=9780691208923" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank"><em>Not Born Yesterday</em></a>, about who we trust and what we believe. He argues that our main shortcoming is not being insufficiently skeptical of radical claims, but of being too skeptical of claims that don't fit our views.</p> <p>S<em>upport Mindscape on </em><a href="https://www.patreon.com/seanmcarroll" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank"><em>Patreon</em></a><em>.</em></p> <p>Hugo Mercier received a Ph.D. in cognitive sciences from the École des Hautes Études en Sciences Sociales. He is currently a Permanent CNRS Research Scientist at the Institut Jean Nicod, Paris. Among his awards are the <em>Prime d'excellence</em> from the CNRS.</p> <ul> <li><a href="https://sites.google.com/site/hugomercier/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Web site</a></li> <li><a href="https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=b3o24EEAAAAJ&amp;hl=en" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Google Scholar publications</a></li> <li><a href="https://www.amazon.com/stores/Hugo-Mercier/author/B082GRS48G" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Amazon author page</a></li> <li><a href="https://twitter.com/hugoreasoning?lang=en" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Twitter</a></li> </ul> <p><br /></p>