Scott Alexander at Slate Stare Codex writes a thorough review of Jordan Peterson’s book and of Peterson’s whole approach to life.

While I don’t agree with the whole review, it’s worth reading. [Also: Language warning]

It definitely might help those who are struggling to understand the Jordan Peterson phenomenon.

What’s so helpful is that the Alexander acknowledges the strengths of Peterson (and explains why people find him useful) while deflating some of his pretensions to religious or even cultic significance.

Alexander interprets Peterson as using the framework of a religion (objective meaning, the idea of redemption, the ideas of sin and repentance) while evacuating some of the realism from that framework. And, Alexander points out, the advice works. It’s helpful.

I’m not so sure that Peterson believes God is just the good feelings and sin is just a psychological underworld. But I’ll admit that Alexander’s interpretation is a plausible one.