The Collapse of Open Inquiry: Sacred Victims and Forbidden Questions

Podcast: The Michael Shermer Show (LS 58 · TOP 0.5% what is this?)Episode: The Collapse of Open Inquiry: Sacred Victims and Forbidden QuestionsPub date: 2025-12-28Get Podcast Transcript →powered by Listen411 - fast audio-to-text and summarizationOpen inquiry depends on the ability to ask uncomfortable questions and follow evidence wherever it leads. Eric Kaufmann argues that this norm is now under strain. Drawing on history, survey data, and political theory, Kaufmann outlines how certain identity categories came to be treated as morally sacred—and how that shift has reshaped debates about equality, free speech, and academic inquiry. The conversation examines the long roots of today's culture conflicts, the move from equal opportunity to equal outcomes, and why disagreement is increasingly interpreted as moral transgression rather than intellectual difference. At stake is what happens to liberal societies when some questions can no longer be asked, nd whether open inquiry can still be defended without abandoning concern for fairness and dignity Eric Kaufmann is a professor of politics and Director of the Centre for Heterodox Social Science at the University of Buckingham. He has written for The New York Times, Wall Street Journal, Times of London, Newsweek, National Review, New Statesman, Financial Times, and other outlets. His new book is The Third Awokening.The podcast and artwork embedded on this page are from Michael Shermer, which is the property of its owner and not affiliated with or endorsed by Listen Notes, Inc.