Problematizing as Witch Hunting
Discussion
Lee Jussim:
"There is a certain, let’s call it sensibility, in modern left intellectual circles that includes the ability to “problematize” almost anything in order to, supposedly, reveal the depths of various forms of oppression (White supremacy, Euro-colonial hegemony, patriarchy, etc). It is certainly true that some practices can be identified that unambiguously reflected these (e.g., slavery, invading countries, prohibiting women from voting). But these are so obvious that they do not need to be “problematized.” One need not do any work to “reveal” slavery or conquest as oppressive.
The skill of “problematizing,” therefore, is really only necessary for things that, to the untrained naked eye, do not look like racism or oppression. But once one gets in the swing of things, you can problematize literally anything."
(https://unsafescience.substack.com/p/is-everything-problematic?)
Examples
Lee Jussim:
- “Is Math Racist?” Article title.
https://www.chicagotribune.com/lifestyles/sns-tns-bc-edu-math-racist-20191010-story.html
quote from the article: “"Nowhere in this document says that math is inherently racist," she said. "It's how math is used as a tool for oppression."
- Calls to rename The Masters Golf Tournament and “master bedroom” because “master” is racist.
https://www.theblaze.com/news/the-masters-name-change-racist
- Oxford students vote to replace clapping with silent “jazz hands” because clapping is ableist
- Calls to remove Gandhi’s statue from Leicester, UK, because he was racist.
https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-england-leicestershire-53025407
- Ex-British Member of Parliament calls Kelloggs cereal Rice Crispies racist because the elves that appear on the box are White:
https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-england-cambridgeshire-53060894
- Student petition to remove Lincoln statue because of racism.
- Trying (too) hard not to be racist is racist.
Examples of Postmodern and Critical Theory Rejection of Science, Reason, Logic, Objective Reality, Enlightenment
Lee Jussim:
"I note here that merit, scientific validity, and truth are closely related. Some of us believe that some claims to truth merit more credibility than others. But if truth claims are entirely about power, then there is no way to adjudicate between alternative claims. All that one can do is seek power to impose one’s own narrative rather than some other narrative, which you do on the grounds that you believe your narrative is morally superior.
A. Source: Delgado, R. & Stefancic, J. (2001). Critical race theory: An introduction. NY: NYU Press.
Select quotes:
For the critical race theorist, objective truth, like merit, does not exist, at least in social science and politics. In these realms, truth is a social construct created to suit the purposes of the dominant group.
[referring to Critical Race Theory’s future prospects]:
The narrative turn and storytelling scholarship seem well on their way toward acceptance, as does the critique of merit.
Critical race theory’s contribution to the defense of affirmative action has consisted mainly of a determined attack on the idea of merit and standardized testing.
Merit [definition in Delgado & Stefancic, 2001]: Individual worthiness; critical race scholars question the view that people may be ranked by merit and that distribution of benefits is rational and just.
B. Source: https://www.britannica.com/topic/postmodernism-philosophy. I admit, an encyclopedia is not a primary source. But if these are the messages encyclopedists are gleaning from the postmodern literature, it would be pretty hard to blame the rest of us for doing something wrong when we glean the same things.
Select quotes:
postmodernism, also spelled post-modernism, in Western philosophy, a late 20th-century movement characterized by broad skepticism, subjectivism, or relativism; a general suspicion of reason; and an acute sensitivity to the role of ideology in asserting and maintaining political and economic power.
many of the doctrines characteristically associated with postmodernism can fairly be described as the straightforward denial of general philosophical viewpoints that were taken for granted during the 18th-century Enlightenment [including]:
There is an objective natural reality, a reality whose existence and properties are logically independent of human beings
The descriptive and explanatory statements of scientists and historians can, in principle, be objectively true or false. The postmodern denial of this viewpoint—which follows from the rejection of an objective natural reality—is sometimes expressed by saying that there is no such thing as Truth.
Through the use of reason and logic, and with the more specialized tools provided by science and technology, human beings are likely to change themselves and their societies for the better. It is reasonable to expect that future societies will be more humane, more just, more enlightened, and more prosperous than they are now. Postmodernists deny this Enlightenment faith in science and technology as instruments of human progress.
Reason and logic are universally valid—i.e., their laws are the same for, or apply equally to, any thinker and any domain of knowledge. For postmodernists, reason and logic too are merely conceptual constructs and are therefore valid only within the established intellectual traditions in which they are used.
This means that the discourse of modern science, when considered apart from the evidential standards internal to it, has no greater purchase on the truth than do alternative perspectives, including (for example) astrology and witchcraft.
C. Source: Jones, K., and Okun, T. (2001). White Supremacy Culture. Retrieved from: https://www.whitesupremacyculture.info/uploads/4/3/5/7/43579015/okun_-_white_sup_culture_2020.pdf
I note that this seems to be some sort of handout, probably to be used in some sort of training or consciousness-raising session. Nonetheless, it not only seeks to distill core critical race theory ideas, it has been cited well over 100 times according to Google Scholar (quite an accomplishment for a handout). It is cited in articles and books with titles like: Decolonizing Wealth, Towards intersectional and feminist participatory ML, Developing and reflecting on a Black disabilities pedagogy.
Key points:
White Supremacy Culture involves: perfectionism, urgency, belief that there is one right way to do things, individualism.
D. Source: Lyotard, J. F. (1984). The postmodern condition: A report on knowledge. University of Minnesota Press.
This is one of the classics in the postmodern intellectual tradition.
Quotes:
Science has always been in conflict with narratives. Judged by the yardstick of science, the majority of them prove to be fables. But to the extent that science does not restrict itself to stating useful regularities and seeks the truth, it is obliged to legitimate the rules of its own game. It then produces a discourse of legitimation with respect to its own status, a discourse called philosophy. I will use the term modern to designate any science that legitimates itself with reference to a metadiscourse of this kind making an explicit appeal to some grand narrative, such as the dialectics of Spirit, the hermeneutics of meaning, the emancipation of the rational or working subject, or the creation of wealth.
Simplifying to the extreme, I define postmodern as incredulity toward metanarratives.