Posted on 07/12/2015 3:05:42 PM PDT by Altura Ct.
A philosophy and religion professor at Syracuse University gave an interview to The New York Times Thursday in which he critiqued the notion of pure reason as simply being a “white male Euro-Christian construction.”
Prof. John Caputo was being interviewed by fellow philosophy professor George Yancy for the 13th installment of an interview series Yancy conducts with philosophers regarding racial topics.
Given its emphasis on first principles and abstract thought, it may be tempting to view academic philosophy as a turf where the race of participants matters little, but Caputo says that’s entirely untrue. In fact, race is of central importance, and it’s proven by the mundane phrases philosophers use.
“‘White’ is of the utmost relevance to philosophy, and postmodern theory helps us to see why,” Caputo says in the interview. “I was once criticized for using the expression ‘true north.’It reflected my Nordo-centrism, my critic said, and my insensitivity to people who live in the Southern Hemisphere. Of course, no such thing had ever crossed my mind, but that points to the problem. We tend to say ‘we’ and to assume who ‘we’ are, which once simply meant ‘we white male Euro-Christians.’
The end result of critiquing whiteness, Caputo suggests, is the realization that the supposed “reason” underlying philosophy is just another form of white privilege … or something of that nature.
“I think that what modern philosophers call ‘pure’ reason — the Cartesian ego cogito and Kant’s transcendental consciousness — is a white male Euro-Christian construction,” he says. “White is not ‘neutral.’ ‘Pure’ reason is lily white, as if white is not a color or is closest to the purity of the sun, and everything else is ‘colored.’ Purification is a name for terror and deportation, and ‘white’ is a thick, dense, potent cultural signifier that is closely linked to rationalism and colonialism. What is not white is not rational. So white is philosophically relevant and needs to be philosophically critiqued — it affects what we mean by ‘reason’ — and ‘we’ white philosophers cannot ignore it.”
What does this all mean for regular people, such as the Times’ readers? Beneath all of the postmodern philosophical rhetoric, it’s not easy to tell, but much like the litany of recent academics hurrying to comment on “white privilege,” Caputo takes time to stick his finger in the eyes of the “Christian right” and, of all things, freedom — as if those two are the major arbiters behind all the woes America faces.
“The great scandal of the United States is that it has produced an anti-gospel, the extremes of appalling wealth and poverty,” he says. “But instead of playing the prophetic role of Amos denouncing the American Jeroboam, instead of working to close that gap, the policies of the right wing are exacerbating it … The popularity of such cruel ideas, their success in the ballot box, is terrifying to me. The trigger-happy practices of the police … on the streets of black America should alert everyone to how profoundly adrift American democracy has become — attacking the poor as freeloaders and criminals, a distorted and grotesque ideological exaggeration of freedom over equality. The scandal is that the Christian right has too often been complicit with a politics of greed and hatred of the other.”
It seems to me that the left will only target academics who disagree with them. The others are part of their “Ministry of Truth.”
In ‘The Morning of the Magicians’ one of the main characteristics of Hitler’s beliefs was the rejection of reasoning over mythology — anytime reasoning interfered with nazi occultism it(reasoning) was rejected. Hence you have the contradiction of nazi organization, german engineering etc. with the Thule Society, Spear of Destiny, Uberman, Theosophy. The left is now the same way — functionally insane. This is not just similarity, the left is occultic Hitlerism without the Hitler name.
This is what happens when a civilization turns into a cargo cult. “Nobody don’t need to know nuttin. The planes will keep bringing the cargo.”
You are correct in that it is not the same. To me, reason demands that I acknowledge the order and wonder of creation. I cannot get around the fact that it declares the glory of the Creator. I realize some reason that it all got here so beautiful and wonderful on its own. To me, that is more of a position of choice than of reason. But clearly you have come to another conclusion. At least we can talk about it in a realm of reality and acknowledge that we cannot both be right. Dudes like the professor here step out into insanity where “truth” is whatever you feel to be true for you, unless of course your truth is conservative and then you are absolutely wrong, not based on reality but rather on his own feeling that you are wrong.
Liberals are a bundle of hypocrisy. But hey, if reason doesn’t count then I guess neither does hypocrisy.
Another irrational utterance. 1 0
Intelligence is just a construct too I guess.
Idiot does not respect the Greek philosophers
What we need to figure out is how to make Trump’s rhetoric work for us...
Trump may not be a conservative on many issues, but by being out there, front and center, on illegal immigration, and saying the things that other politicians dare not say, he is providing cover for Cruz and Walker to also be anti-immigration.
I hate it when Ayn Rand is right.
Really? Are all black females like the one you have referenced?
This CRAP just makes me want to pound my head against my desk. AARRGGHH!!!
If you did, then internal consistency would also be a white male construct.
Of course not. It’s absurd. Of course the article is absurd as well. That is the point.
“That is not his main problem, which is that he would probably say, “I am one of the intellectual elite! I do not NEED to steer any particular course, let alone require this simplistic instruction manual.”
Of the above, could one say “Pride goeth before a grounding.”? ? ?
All the candidates are out there giving speeches daily, the media has chosen to highlight Trump because they know this is a joke run. This is all benefiting Jeb by keeping Ted and others out of the media coverage.
Last week Trump said illegals who have their illegal jobs can stay if they worked hard and were productive.
Ted wants a strong national e-verify while Trump wants them stealing our jobs.
Trump called illegal immigration the “defining issue” of our time before Trump ever thought about running. Trump didn’t give him any cover to say that.
FReepers need to come to their senses instead of supporting a LIBERAL who is shooting off his mouth. He is not even as good an actor as “severely conservative” Romney for crying out loud.
Trump is not a conservative on ANY issue, Not One, that I know of. His dog and pony show is doing nothing but keeping the media from having to report on real conservatives and this benefits Jeb or whoever the GOPE candidates ends up being.
Because Trump is so over-the-top that he is discrediting the positions he pretends to support. He will implode and clear the field for the GOPE. That is the plan.
Trump is nowhere near conservative or electable. I cannot believe how many FReepers are like bleating sheep following the shiny thing.
Snap out of it.
TRUMP condemned Mitt Romney as an immigration hardliner in 2012 and favored comprehensive immigration reform. He told Bill O’Reilly he was in favor of a “path to citizenship” for 30 million illegal immigrants: Trump: You have to give them a path. You have 20 million, 30 million, nobody knows what it is. It used to be 11 million. Now, today I hear it’s 11, but I don’t think it’s 11. I actually heard you probably have 30 million. You have to give them a path, and you have to make it possible for them to succeed. You have to do that
Socialized medicine:
We need, as a nation, to reexamine the single-payer plan, as many individual states are doing.
And redistribution of wealth:
I would impose a one-time, 14.25 percent tax on individuals and trusts with a net worth over $ 10 million
- Abortion: In 1999 he said, “I’m totally pro-choice. I hate it and I hate saying it. And I’m almost ashamed to say that I’m pro-choice but I am pro-choice because I think we have no choice.” Man, it’s like he’s channeling Thomas Aquinas there. Now he says he’s pro-life. But I’ll spare the mocking on this because at least he’s flip-flopping in the right direction, and I don’t like to second guess peoples’ professed religious convictions.
- Obamacare: The man wrote in his own book and said elsewhere that he was in favor of Canadian-style socialized medicine — which would put him to the left of Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama, and on pretty much the same page as Bernie Sanders.
- Hillary: Speaking of her, Trump praised Hillary Clinton and her health-care reform plan — in 2007! She attended his (most recent) wedding. He donated to her campaigns and to the Clinton Foundation. In 2008, he couldn’t get his head around the fact that Obama didn’t pick her for VP. “I’m a big fan of Hillary. She’s a terrific woman. She’s a friend of mine.”
- Economics: People tout the guy’s business record. But he represents almost exactly what his supporters think he opposes. He’s a CRONY CAPITALIST par excellence. He gives to whatever politician can grease the skids for his next deal — and he makes no apologies for it. He’s an eminent-domain voluptuary. He abuses bankruptcy laws like a stack of homemade get-out-of-jail-free cards.”
..............
Someone please explain to me why any self-respecting conservative would support this person. I cannot find a single reason.
Consider: Rubio has dropped to 10th place in the latest Reuters/Ipsos poll. Jeb has lost whatever aura of inevitability he may have had. Cruz is right there with Trump on the immigration issue. What's happening now is not not necessarily indicative of the eventual nominee.
Trump stinks on many issues, not the least of which is personal integrity. But consider our current situation on the even of Jade Helm and with no one else speaking boldly and clearly what should be obvious to all.
"Do not forsake your friend or a friend of your family, and do not go to your relative's house when disaster strikes you-- better a neighbor nearby than a relative far away." Prov. 27:10.
The Donald is that "neighbor" to red blooded Americans right now, even when the true blue conservative "relative" is far off.
Let him perform his service and cull the field.
Great point!
Yes, this is an existential, no-holds-barred, balls-to-the-wall knock down drag out contest for our very freedom.
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