The Scout Mindset: Book Club Resources

Photo by Mael BALLAND on Unsplash

This post is for people participating in HxLibraries’ inaugural book club. Readers of Julia Galef’s The Scout Mindset will convene on the afternoon of June 30 to discuss the book. The following week, we’ll hear a keynote address from Galef herself.

Sound like fun? It’s not too late to join! Complete this form to register and receive your FREE copy of The Scout Mindset.

---

During the discussion on Thursday, June 30, facilitator Michael Dudley (UWinnipeg) will sort participants into breakout rooms and ask groups to ponder these questions. We publish them here so you can think about them beforehand.

Conceptual

• How effective do you find the soldier/scout metaphors? Do they sufficiently describe core epistemic vices and virtues?

• Are there epistemic or doxastic “mindsets” other than the scout and soldier ones Galef describes? What metaphors might apply to them? 

Personal

• Have you ever changed your mind about a significant belief? Do you think this shift was owed to your own epistemic/doxastic conduct, or that of others (i.e., were you persuaded by a “scout”?)

• Are there beliefs that are difficult to discuss with friends/family but which might be easier to do so by adopting scout practices?

• Do you find yourself being a “scout” in an environment dominated by “soldiers”?

Application

• Can you think of entrenched issues/controversies/debates dominated by “soldiers”?

• Would it be more productive to work with “soldiers” to get them to adopt scout mindset, rather than focusing on persuading them of substantive facts or arguments pertaining to those issues? 

• What are some ways you might implement a scout mindset in your own academic or professional work?

---

Following the discussion, participants will receive a guided self-reflection activity, designed by Sarah Hartman-Caverly (Penn State Berks), featuring some of the thought experiments from The Scout Mindset. That activity can be downloaded from this link.

We encourage you to set aside 30 minutes between Thursday, 6/30 and Tuesday, 7/5 to work through the self-reflection.

Beginning Tuesday, 7/5, participants will have access to a virtual posting wall via Padlet where they can anonymously share observations from their self-reflection, as well as comments and questions for Julia Galef in anticipation of her keynote on Thursday, 7/7.

---

About Julia Galef

Julia Galef is an author, podcaster, and an acclaimed expert on rational decision-making. She is the president and co-founder of the Center for Applied Rationality.

In her book, The Scout Mindset: Why Some People See Things Clearly and Others Don’t, Galef argues that a critical part of good judgment is motivation. Are you motivated to defend your pre-existing beliefs against threatening evidence, or to figure out what’s actually true?

For over a decade, Julia has been the host of Rationally Speaking, a biweekly podcast featuring interviews with scientists and other thinkers to explore important issues with nuance and rigor. Some examples include transhumanism (with Diana Fleischman), the moral limits of markets (with Michael Sandel), and why people should have the right to self-medicate (Jessica Flanigan).

Galef co-founded the Center for Applied Rationality, a nonprofit that helps people to internalize and use strategies based on the principles of rationality on a more regular basis to improve their reasoning and decision-making skills. She has consulted for organizations such as OpenAI and the Open Philanthropy Project, and spoken at companies including Twitter, Cruise, MongoDB, Cisco, and BlackRock.

Here is Galef in conversation with Russ Roberts, host of EconTalk, on the subject of her book.