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The idea that people are blank slates as children and of equal capabilities aside from their environment is so prominent in this country. Many people are very
by gedy 10y ago
The idea that people are blank slates as children and of equal capabilities aside from their environment is so prominent in this country. Many people are very dogmatic about this, so I wonder where this belief comes from? Religious and/or Leftist political theory?
- wallflower 10y agoB.F. Skinner, the father of behavioral psychology “Give me a child and I'll shape him into anything.”
- dvanduzer 10y agoAristotle[0] is credited with starting that conversation. But the belief that humans have "equal capabilities aside from their environment" is held by almost nobody. Most disagreements are about what we should do about both unequal capability and unequal environment. Dogmatism enters when we disagree over why anything should be done. [0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tabula_rasa https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tabula_rasa
- tptacek 10y agoReluctance to accept the genetic mental superiority of specific "races" of people isn't a leftist principle. The left has no proprietary claim on egalitarianism.
- kapitza 10y agoWut? searches mental database for any trace of right-wing egalitarians... You must be thinking of... Nietzsche? Definitely not Nietzsche. Maistre? Mmm... no. Can't be Maistre. Bonald? Filmer? Okay, you win, I give up. In case you're wondering how this plays out in practice: http://www1.udel.edu/educ/gottfredson/reprints/2009academicfreedom.pdf http://www1.udel.edu/educ/gottfredson/reprints/2009academicf...
- tptacek 10y ago"Right-wing" means something different from "rightward on the right-left spectrum". I too would have a hard time coming up with an example of a "right-wing" egalitarian. Reihan Salam might be a decent example of a right-leaning egalitarian.
- kapitza 10y agoA: "Dogs have no proprietary claim on barking." B: "Wolves don't bark. No other canid barks." A: "My neighbor's wolf barks all the time. Drives me crazy." B: "That might lead you to suspect that your neighbor's 'wolf' is actually a wolf-dog. Or maybe just a husky? You should get out more, meet some actual wolves..."
- tptacek 10y agoI'm a little lost. Is your argument here that there's no such thing as an egalitarian conservative?
- kapitza 10y agoDepends on whether you're willing to call a wolf-dog a wolf. East Coast coyotes are apparently full of dog DNA, as well as wolf DNA. So maybe they bark, or even howl a bit. But I maintain that barking remains a dog thing.
- tptacek 10y agoI can't follow this any better than the last one. Can you state your claim in plain language?
- kapitza 10y agoLeftists won the last three big wars, so even most of today's "conservatives" are more than a little hybridized. You won't find any independent clade of wolves who bark for their own separate wolf reasons. Barking is a marker of dogness, egalitarianism is a marker of leftness.