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Why do people feel the need to dictate to others what they should do? The authors of this piece are professors of philosophy. If they feel that teaching non-Wes

by imgabe 11y ago

Why do people feel the need to dictate to others what they should do? The authors of this piece are professors of philosophy. If they feel that teaching non-Western philosophy is crucially important and offers substantial advantages that cannot be obtained by studying only Western philosophy, then why don't they just simply teach non-Western philosophy. All the advantages they presume to exist by doing so will surely accrue to them, and others will follow suit in time.

shadowfox 11y ago
> Why do people feel the need to dictate to others what they should do? I rather see this as advocacy. If you strongly feel the need for change, you have to do that in addition to simply doing what they themselves can do. People do it all the time. Take a look at open source advocacy for example.
- borkxs 11y ago
  Then I can understand why people seem to be finding what you call advocacy a bit grating. Because if it isn't a dictate, what exactly is the desired outcome? Imagine this piece does its job and convinces a lot of people. "Indeed! We need more multicultural philosophy departments!" Now it's a policy debate. Which departments? Which coursework? Do we need to hire and fire to make this change? The question becomes: HOW WILL WE ALLOCATE RESOURCES DIFFERENTLY TO MAKE THIS CHANGE HAPPEN? Do we need to cut government funding from public schools that don't meet some percentage curriculum requirement? The logical endpoint WOULD BE a dictate even if the op-ed is "just advocacy" right now.
  - hsod 11y ago
    I'd be very interested in reading a philosophical examination of the ethics of advocacy/activism. It's not even something I've ever really seen discussed.
- methehack 11y ago
  “The Fates lead those who come willingly, and drag those who do not.” That's the quote the article ends with. Seems like a threat and, frankly, out of place -- and, stronger, than 'advocacy'.
lr4444lr 11y ago
Because the argument they're making (which is valid, but I don't agree with it) is that lumping all of non-Western humanity under such a homogenous label still gives "Western" (i.e. Eurocentric) philosophy an undue weighting. The implicit assumption I disagree with is that this constitutes disproportionate representation due to the population size covered or even culture and breadth of ideas - regardless of how complex or relevant the literature is to whatever unstated agendas there are.
dominotw 11y ago
>Why do people feel the need to dictate to others what they should do? They are not passing a law or advocating passing a law. so there is no 'dictation. >hen why don't they just simply teach non-Western philosophy. They do. Go to their homepages and look at the courses they teach. (eg: http://faculty.vassar.edu/brvannor/110syllabus.pdf http://faculty.vassar.edu/brvannor/110syllabus.pdf)

by imgabe 11y ago

shadowfox 11y ago

> Why do people feel the need to dictate to others what they should do? I rather see this as advocacy. If you strongly feel the need for change, you have to do that in addition to simply doing what they themselves can do. People do it all the time. Take a look at open source advocacy for example.

borkxs 11y ago
Then I can understand why people seem to be finding what you call advocacy a bit grating. Because if it isn't a dictate, what exactly is the desired outcome? Imagine this piece does its job and convinces a lot of people. "Indeed! We need more multicultural philosophy departments!" Now it's a policy debate. Which departments? Which coursework? Do we need to hire and fire to make this change? The question becomes: HOW WILL WE ALLOCATE RESOURCES DIFFERENTLY TO MAKE THIS CHANGE HAPPEN? Do we need to cut government funding from public schools that don't meet some percentage curriculum requirement? The logical endpoint WOULD BE a dictate even if the op-ed is "just advocacy" right now.
- hsod 11y ago
  I'd be very interested in reading a philosophical examination of the ethics of advocacy/activism. It's not even something I've ever really seen discussed.
methehack 11y ago
“The Fates lead those who come willingly, and drag those who do not.” That's the quote the article ends with. Seems like a threat and, frankly, out of place -- and, stronger, than 'advocacy'.

lr4444lr 11y ago

Because the argument they're making (which is valid, but I don't agree with it) is that lumping all of non-Western humanity under such a homogenous label still gives "Western" (i.e. Eurocentric) philosophy an undue weighting. The implicit assumption I disagree with is that this constitutes disproportionate representation due to the population size covered or even culture and breadth of ideas - regardless of how complex or relevant the literature is to whatever unstated agendas there are.

dominotw 11y ago

>Why do people feel the need to dictate to others what they should do? They are not passing a law or advocating passing a law. so there is no 'dictation. >hen why don't they just simply teach non-Western philosophy. They do. Go to their homepages and look at the courses they teach. (eg: http://faculty.vassar.edu/brvannor/110syllabus.pdf http://faculty.vassar.edu/brvannor/110syllabus.pdf)