Jordan Peterson

1. 1999Maps of Meaning

   Peterson publishes his first book. It describes life as a struggle between chaos (the unknown) and order (the mapped world of culture). Heroes in myths build culture by facing chaos. He draws on Jung and on neuroscience.

   Wikipédia 2026 · Maps of Meaning
2. 2015Maps of Meaning lectures on TVO

   Reading Genesis and Cain and Abel, he says that if things go badly it had better be your own fault, because if the world is simply hostile there is no hope. He tells students to face the source of their anxieties, and says religious stories can now be understood psychologically.

   In their words

   « it bloody well better be that you’re doing something wrong »Reading Cain and Abel, he says that if things go badly, it had better be your own fault, because if the world is simply hostile there is no hope. watch

   « And so then what do you do? Well you create culture. »Reading Genesis, he says that once they see they are naked and vulnerable, humans respond by creating culture. watch

   « you should go to the source of your anxieties, right, to the thing that plagues you the most »From a child's dragon dream, he draws the lesson that you should face the source of your anxieties and explore it until you find what protects you. watch

   Video 2015 · 009 Maps of Meaning: 9 Becoming…23
3. 2016Consciousness, truth as action, and Freud on religion

   In his Toronto course he says we have no clue about consciousness and that materialist reductionism assumes we understand matter. For him the basic question is how to act, not what reality is made of. On Freud's idea that religion shields us from death, he says he found it compelling for quite a long time, but that it cannot explain why people invented hell.

   In their words

   « we don't know anything about consciousness. We really don't, we don't have a clue. I think it's probably because we're formulating the question wrong »He says we know nothing about consciousness and may be asking the question wrongly. watch

   « The problem with that philosophy is that it's predicated on the assumption that they understand what the matter is that's making up that neuronal substrate »He criticizes materialist reductionism: we do not understand matter well enough to reduce consciousness to it. watch

   « The fundamental question, what is reality made of, is not the fundamental question. The fundamental question is, how do you act in the world? »As a Darwinian, he says the basic question is how to act, not what reality is made of. watch

   Video 2016 · 2016 Lecture 05: Maps of…23
4. 2017'I'm not arguing for the existence of God'

   In a Maps of Meaning lecture he says he is not arguing that God exists, but that the ethic driving Western culture rests on the idea of God. He names Nietzsche and Dostoevsky as the two who saw what happens when it is removed.

   In their words

   « I'm not arguing for the existence of God I'm arguing that the ethic that drives our culture is predic at on the idea of God »He says he is not arguing that God exists, but that Western ethics rests on the idea of a transcendent morality. watch

   « if there's no God so if there's no higher value let's say if there's no Transcendent value then you can do whatever you want »Following Dostoevsky, he says that without a transcendent value anything becomes permitted. watch

   « this is why I have such frustration say with people like Sam Harris the sort of radical atheist »He is frustrated with Sam Harris, who thinks rationality alone grounds equal human value. watch

   Video 2017 · 2017 Maps of Meaning 10: Genesis…
5. 201812 Rules for Life and the debates with Harris

   His self-help book 12 Rules for Life becomes a bestseller. In June he talks about God and truth with Sam Harris in Vancouver; asked if Jesus was literally resurrected, he answers that it would take about 40 hours to say.

   Wikipédia 2026 · Jordan Peterson2
6. 2019Debate with Žižek on happiness

   He debates Slavoj Žižek in Toronto on happiness under capitalism versus Marxism.

   Wikipédia 2026 · Jordan Peterson
7. 2019'Who would have the audacity to claim belief?'

   Asked by Dennis Prager if he believes in God, he answers that nobody could claim it if they examined how they live. He adds that a society needs a narrative resting on something transcendent.

   In their words

   « who would have the audacity to claim That they believed in God if They examined the way they lived »Asked if he believes in God, he says nobody could claim it without living it out fully, so he avoids the claim. watch

   « we need a metaphysic a narrative metaphysic to hold us together and it has to be Predicated on something that's transcendent and absolute »He says a society needs a narrative metaphysic resting on something transcendent and absolute. watch

   « I don't believe that we are rational beings fundamentally I think we're deeply irrational »He rejects the idea that humans are fundamentally rational. watch

   Video 2019 · On Claiming Belief In God:…2
8. 2021'No, but I'm afraid he probably exists'

   In a podcast on the concept of God, he recalls answering the question of belief with 'no, but I'm afraid he probably exists', and says he tries to act as if God existed.

   In their words

   « you treat people like you believe that because you hold them responsible for the consequences of their utterances »He argues we act as if we believe the spoken truth is constitutive of reality, since we hold people responsible for their words. watch

   « it certainly seems to me that christianity has at least been a very long conversation about what the nature of the good is »He sees Christianity as a long conversation about the nature of the good, underlying our culture. watch

   « the meaning that sustains you and protects you from corruption during suffering is to be found in responsibility »He says meaning that sustains us in suffering is found in responsibility. watch

   Video 2021 · Meaning, Awe, and the…
9. 2022Conversation with Richard Dawkins

   Asked by Dawkins whether he believes in God, he says he acts as though God exists. He defends a pragmatic idea of truth, which Dawkins does not share.

   In their words

   « Whether I believe in God and I say, well, I act as though God exists. »Asked by Dawkins if he believes in God, he says he acts as though God exists. watch

   « pragmatism is like an engineering truth claim. And I don't think you can be an evolutionary biologist without being a pragmatist »He defends the pragmatism of James and Peirce: a truth is true enough if it works as a tool. watch

   « I do not believe that the Newtonian conception of truth and the evolutionary conception of truth are commensurate »Against Dawkins's realism, he says the Newtonian and the evolutionary conceptions of truth do not fit together. watch

   Video 2022 · Psychedelics, Consciousness, and…2
10. 2022God as the spirit toward higher unity

    With Curt Jaimungal he describes God as the spirit that guides our transformations toward a higher unity, and the divine spark as a beautiful and necessary idea. With Jonathan Pageau and Mohammed Hijab he reads Christ psychologically as the logos, says arguing doctrine turns the transcendent into a propositional debate, and that his position has changed a lot since he was 13.

    In their words

    « he believes he can find it in scientific inquiry and and i don't think that's true »He disagrees with Sam Harris's hope of founding morality on science, while saying they share a fear of human atrocity. watch

    « i always think well there's a whole bunch of assumptions in that question that you want me to swallow »Asked if he believes in God, he says the question hides assumptions, for instance about what 'real' means. watch

    « i don't think you can look at the facts except through an ethical framework i don't think it's possible »He says facts are always seen through a value framework, because we are goal-directed creatures. watch

    Video 2022 · God, Consciousness, and the…234
11. 2023'I'll stake my life on it'

    With Piers Morgan he says he is 'terrified' that God might exist, that he prays 'always', and that he would stake his life on God's existence. Commentators debate what he means.

    Video 2023 · Jordan Peterson discusses God,…
12. 2024We Who Wrestle with God

    He publishes a reading of the first five books of the Bible, plus Job and Jonah. The same year, on the Lex Fridman podcast, he describes God as a call to adventure and as the voice of conscience.

    Wikipédia 2026 · Jordan Peterson2
13. 2024'I don't know what you mean by believe'

    With Alex O'Connor he refuses to answer the question of belief in God as asked. On the resurrection accounts he says he believes them but has no idea what they mean.

    In their words

    « I don't know what you are driving at with that question because I don't know what you mean by believe »Asked whether he believes in God, he says he does not know what the word believe means in that question. watch

    « what you believe is what you're willing to die for fundamentally is what you're committed to or live for »He defines belief in the religious sense as what one is committed to and willing to live or die for. watch

    « I think that denying the historical reality of Christ is I think that's just a Fool's errand »He says denying that Jesus existed historically is a fool's errand. watch

    Video 2024 · Navigating Belief, Skepticism,…2
14. 2024'An existential Christian'

    Talking with philosopher Jack Symes, he says that philosophically he is an existential Christian, for whom faith is an all-in commitment and propositional belief is only a surface. He refuses the plain question 'does God exist?' because the word 'exists' brings its own mystery.

    In their words

    « you could say philosophically that I'm an existential Christian »Asked whether he is a middle-way Christian, he calls himself an existential Christian, for whom faith is an all-in commitment. watch

    « The propositional belief is a surface and it's necessary, but only in so far as it's in accordance with something deeper »He says propositional belief is only a surface, needed only insofar as it matches a deeper commitment shown in action. watch

    « it's enough for me to know that no matter how high I continue to climb, there won't be an upper limit »On God's perfection, he says it is moot for him: with his Jacob's ladder image it is enough that there is no upper limit to the climb. watch

    Video 2024 · Heaven, Hell, & the Human…2
15. 2025Fine-tuning 'specious', science rests on faith

    With Brian Keating he says he finds the fine-tuning argument specious and that he is not making a scientific case for God. With Peter Thiel he says science starts from axioms that are not scientific, and that the Christian aim of voluntary self-sacrifice reversed the older pagan aims of power and pleasure.

    In their words

    « the fine-tuning argument I find specious and maybe I'm wrong about this »He says he finds the fine-tuning argument weak, since life adapted to whatever conditions existed, however unlikely. watch

    « I'm not making a scientific case for God »He says he does not try to prove a designer by science; the link between science and religion lies elsewhere. watch

    « it's also the ethical Pursuit that makes science possible Because unless you're very strongly aligned in your belief with your belief in the truth you can't be a scientist »He says science depends on an ethical commitment to truth. watch

    Video 2025 · An Astronomer and a Philosopher…23

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