Apparently they've changed the features of a reply so we can't drop links as conveniently, making this process a lot more annoying.
My complaint with Jordan Peterson isn't that he doesn't cite the origins of his teaching, it's that he's actually quite bad in the fields he claims expertise in.
For instance with neurology, his analysis of lobsters and serotonin is just off. There are 17+ serotonin receptors in the body (depending on the latest science journal and whether or not it has reclassified one or two).
For as much as we have studied serotonin, we don’t know that much about it and the argument that the higher the serotonin level in the lobster the happier it is and dominance increases this is simply a projection on the situation. It isn’t a confirmed theory in the slightest.
We could really posit anything here. For instance, serotonin often follows dopamine in the “reward chain.” Dopamine is associated with everything from drive to fear, anxiety, and stress.
It could very well be that the lobsters “on top” are the most anxious ones that decided to fight off the rest due to their anxiety.
From a Jungian perspective, I feel he projects an awful lot for someone pushing a Jung.
You see this in his analysis of philosophers, Marxism, and historical figures.
Contrapoints does a good job unpacking this:
Daniel Pinchbeck also takes on this point: https://medium.com/the-assemblage-journal/the-jordan-peterson-phenomenon-f31bfbb6b8c8
I have a thorough article on Critical Theory, a word someone else had to introduce to Jordan Peterson because he's not familiar with the actual history of these movements even though it's the closest to his post modern marxism (the article could use editing): https://joshuaburkhart.medium.com/postmodernism-jordan-peterson-critical-theory-4759dbcd3729
This historian also points out how he misses and misconstrues the development of the social theories he's all up in arms about:
https://medium.com/s/story/peterson-historian-aide-m%C3%A9moire-9aa3b6b3de04
He's waging an imaginary war against "postmodernist marxists" that doesn't exist but can be used as fodder for right wing politics during a time where systemic racism, homophobia, environmental and economic reforms are critical.
As far as being a stand up, honest person, the people around him testify differently.
His mentor has written to warn people about him.
And his client was abandoned by him as soon as he became "famous."
https://www.canadaland.com/how-jordan-petersons-fame-affected-his-private-practice/
The benzos isn't a random fuck up by an otherwise good guy. It's the latest neurotic break down from a dude with plenty of neurosis.
That's why I've always been weary because if you study Jung you can see the neurosis in Peterson. The way he twists Jungian concepts whether purposefully or unconsciously, the way he twists science, and history to fit a narrative that shows clear signs he's not seeing the reality. Instead he's projecting his own dissatisfaction, depression and I think Jung would say anima onto civil rights movements and other activists.
The deadening of his emotions with benzos when his wife was diagnosed with cancer and needed him the most is just another symptom of this.
True Jungian analysts have to undergo analysis themselves so that they become mindful of when their unconscious is twisting their work.
Jordan Peterson is clearly not aware of this. To then pose as a figurehead speaking for working with the unconscious and using this as a method to understand the self and society is dangerous as his projections get passed on to the people following him.
