Theory of Knowledge - Course Companion for Students Marija Uzunova Dang Arvin Singh Uzunov Dang
human sciences grapple with questionsThehave profound social implications. Thesethatare based on facts and assumptionsdisciplinesthe ways in which all humans are theaboutabout our set of shared characteristics, andsame,essential uniformity underlying all humantheThis is not a stable set, and over timevariation.have been added to and taken off the list.itemsthe assumption of human sameness onWithoutfundamental level, could there be a legitimateafor the human sciences to make universalbasisabout human nature? Based on thisclaimsof human sameness, psychologistsassumptioneconomists make claims that apply to allorabout how memory works or how wehumanschoices.makeit is not uncommon for the set ofInterestingly,similarities to be described as humanhumanwomen animals?” This was the title of a“Arepublished in 1872, by an author we knowletterby the name she signed off with: “AnonlyEnglishwoman”. She was protestingEarnestunequal treatment of women under Britishthewomen were not seen as fully human andlaw;not equal to nor part of “mankind”.thereforea few decades earlier, the legal system hadJustprotections for animals’ from cruelty,increasedthe same protections were not in place forbutThe Earnest Englishwoman’s plea waswomen.raise the status of women by subsumingtoin the legislation protecting animalsthemfromcruelty.letter was satirical, of course, but drawsTheattention to how scientific claims aboutourinfluence ideas about politicalhumannessand equality. The boundarypersonhoodthe concepts “human” and “animal”betweenbeen affected by political as well as scientifichaswhereas the set of human differences isbiology,described as human culture. Why do youoftenthinkers and researchers have insistedRecently,nature versus culture is a false dichotomy.thathave been mostly unsuccessful atScientistsnature and culture, whether bydisentanglingnature from ideology and politics, orextractingguarding culture from claims about genesbyneurotransmitters. Donna Haraway offersandterm “natureculture”, signalling that thesethedomains, and therefore our knowledgetwothem, are inseparable. Box 8.2 exploresaboutinterconnected worlds of biology, culture,theand politics.historyEarnest Englishwoman wrote at theTheof one such debate, with Charlesheight“Expression of the Emotions in ManDarwin’sAnimals” appearing in the same year.and(the capacity to feel) was receivingSentienceas a demarcation criterion for theattentionquestion. The belief at thehuman-animalthat not all humans are equally capabletimesuffering was influenced by the idea of aofchain of being”, a hierarchy ranking“greatmatter and life forms from highest toallwhich had been very influential forlowest,millennia of Western thought. The “chaintwofeeling” inspired by it was much shorter,ofplaced “civilized men” at the high end,and“savages slaves, and animals” at theandend. Before we continue with this story,lowto keep in mind how these ideasremembertheories were constructed, and what weanddo to guard against believing modern-daycanII. PerspectivesII. PerspectivesI I . P E R S P E C T I V E Sthink this is the case?Box 8.2: An unnatural history of the politics and science of painfalsehoods.ideas and debates.213
who had been placed at the ‘lower’ end of the Chain of Feeling paid an extremely“Peopleprice for prejudices about their ‘inability’ to feel … slaves and ‘savages’, for instance,highroutinely depicted as possessing a limited capacity to experience pain, a biological ‘fact’wereconveniently diminished any culpability among their so-called superiors for acts of abusethatvoyeuristic curiosity, travellers and explorers often commented on what they regardedWithexotic responses to pain by indigenous peoples. …assciences placed great emphasis on the development and complexity of the brain andRacialAs the author of Pain and Sympathy (1907) concluded, attempting to explain why thenerves.could ‘bear physical torture without shrinking’: the ‘higher the life, the keener is the‘savage’of pain’.” (Bourke 2014)senseterms: BourkeSearchwon’t hurt a bitThislogic did not progress very far. The label ofThisapplied to non-European peoples forinferiorityinsensitive bodies could also be applied totheirfor exactly the opposite reason: extremewomenthat women occupied the highest placebelievethe hierarchy. To resolve the contradiction, ainbetween pain perception and paindistinctionemerged. It explained that “hysterical”reactionexaggerated response to pain waswomen’sevidence of inferiority.furtheroffers two examples from the clinicalBourkeof the time, showing how prejudicesliteratureinto analyses that were supposedlycreptvalue-free.does not always follow that because a patient bears what appears to be a great amount“Itpain with remarkable fortitude, that that individual is more deserving of credit or showsofself-control than the one who does not; for it is a well-established fact that pain is notgreaterto the same degree by all individuals alike.” (Finney quoted in Bourke 2014)felt8II. Perspectivesinflicted on them. …Follow the link to read the whole article.New Statesmansensitivity. And certainly, no one wanted to214
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who had been placed at the ‘lower’ end of the Chain of Feeling paid an extremely
“People
price for prejudices about their ‘inability’ to feel … slaves and ‘savages’, for instance,
high
routinely depicted as possessing a limited capacity to experience pain, a biological ‘fact’
were
conveniently diminished any culpability among their so-called superiors for acts of abuse
that
voyeuristic curiosity, travellers and explorers often commented on what they regarded
With
exotic responses to pain by indigenous peoples. …
as
sciences placed great emphasis on the development and complexity of the brain and
Racial
As the author of Pain and Sympathy (1907) concluded, attempting to explain why the
nerves.
could ‘bear physical torture without shrinking’: the ‘higher the life, the keener is the
‘savage’
of pain’.” (Bourke 2014)
sense
terms: Bourke
Search
won’t hurt a bit
This
logic did not progress very far. The label of
This
applied to non-European peoples for
inferiority
insensitive bodies could also be applied to
their
for exactly the opposite reason: extreme
women
that women occupied the highest place
believe
the hierarchy. To resolve the contradiction, a
in
between pain perception and pain
distinction
emerged. It explained that “hysterical”
reaction
exaggerated response to pain was
women’s
evidence of inferiority.
further
offers two examples from the clinical
Bourke
of the time, showing how prejudices
literature
into analyses that were supposedly
crept
value-free.
does not always follow that because a patient bears what appears to be a great amount
“It
pain with remarkable fortitude, that that individual is more deserving of credit or shows
of
self-control than the one who does not; for it is a well-established fact that pain is not
greater
to the same degree by all individuals alike.” (Finney quoted in Bourke 2014)
felt
8II. Perspectives
inflicted on them. …
Follow the link to read the whole article.
New Statesman
sensitivity. And certainly, no one wanted to
214
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