Jordan B. Peterson

Jordan Bernt Peterson born 12 June 1962 is a Canadian clinical psychologist and a professor of psychology at the University of Toronto He began to receive widespread attention in the late 2010s for his views on cultural and political issues Born and raised in Alberta Peterson obtained bachelors degrees in political science and psychology from the University of Alberta and a PhD in clinical psychology from McGill University After teaching and research at Harvard University he returned to Canada in 1998 to join the faculty of psychology at the University of Toronto In 1999 he published his first book Maps of Meaning The Architecture of Belief which became the basis for many of his subsequent lectures The book combined information from psychology mythology religion literature philosophy and neuroscience to analyze systems of belief and meaning In 2016 Peterson released a series of YouTube videos criticising the Act to amend the Canadian Human Rights Act and the Criminal Code Bill C16 passed by the Parliament of Canada to introduce gender identity and expression as a prohibited grounds of discrimination He argued that the bill would make the use of certain gender pronouns into compelled speech and related this argument to a general critique of political correctness and identity politics He subsequently received significant media coverage attracting both support and criticism In the wake of the controversy Petersons lectures and debatespropagated also through podcasts and YouTubegradually gathered millions of views He put his clinical practice and teaching duties on hold by 2018 when he published his second book 12 Rules for Life An Antidote to Chaos Promoted with a world tour it became a bestseller in several countries