Nine Questions with Eric Oliver
Twenty years ago, Dr. Eric Oliver started teaching a course on how to know your self at the University of Chicago. In the class, Eric would ask his students nine questions that were essential for crafting “a well-examined life.” For this podcast, he poses these same nine questions to some of our wisest and most interesting fellow humans. We hope these conversations will shed some light on your own lived experience and tell you something you didn’t know about this mysterious process we call a self.
Enchanted Americans
University of Chicago political scientist Eric Oliver argues that the United States is an enchanted land. It’s not that we live among witches, fairies, and ogres. Rather we're under the spell of our own magical thinking. Whether we fear genetically modified foods or believe in angels, people across the political spectrum are willing to attribute causality to unseen forces. Oliver explores the various phenomena that lurk behind our anti-scientific thinking, as well as the ways those perceptions inform - and distort - our understanding of politics. Chicago Tribune columnist Dawn Turner Trice will join him in conversation.
Pulling the Thread INSTUITIONISTS vs. RATIONALISTS
Unraveling some of America’s most popular conspiracy theories to reveal the emotional, cognitive and social forces that lead rational people to believe irrational things. PULLING THE THREAD pushes us to think about HOW we think.