Thread by @shrikanth_krish

The more one listens to Peter Thiel, the more overrated he appears

Hard to follow him in this interview. On one hand he offers a critique of Enlightenment. On the other, he loves the idea of progress

Rather contradictory tendencies

hoover.org/research/peter…

It's perfectly OK to launch a critique of Enlightenment

One can do that with a Burkean conservative lens, where one takes a dim view of human reason and instead favor the inductive wisdom represented by tradition and precedent

But Thiel does not take that line

Instead he believes Enlightenment has weakened our conviction in human reason and in the possibilities of progress

And looks up to Christianity strangely enough to bolster reason and to enable us to get out of the so-called "Great Stagnation"

I get a feeling he carries a somewhat irrational soft-corner for Christianity (given that his parents were evangelical) and tries to reconcile that with his love for progress

A very uneasy and unconvincing reconciliation

An alternative critique of Enlightenment that does not necessarily take a pessimistic view of the idea of progress can be -

Enlightenment and faith in reason can drive group-think and militate against diversity

And thus ironically create blindspots that hinder "progress"

But such a critique has to offer as a solution a defense of ideological diversity

That cannot possibly come from a reversion to Christianity - which fundamentally is not a religion that champions diversity. At least not consciously so.

Unlike say Hinduism

I personally don't favor such a critique of Enlightenment

In part because the solutions are not particularly convincing

I'd rather critique Enlightenment as a conservative, who is sceptical of progress as opposed to critiquing it from the other side