3 ms·

I don't get it. How did you come to the conclusion that he's a white supremacist? This is the syllogism: All Men are equal in their political rights. Negroes a

I don't get it. How did you come to the conclusion that he's a white supremacist? This is the syllogism: All Men are equal in their political rights. Negroes are Men. Therefore, negroes are equal in political rights to whites. If you're talking about his use of the word "Negro", I disagree. Negro was a term commonly used, at the time, to refer to people of African origin. I don't associate any negativity with the word in this context.

slibhb 5y ago
The point of the syllogism is that it yields a supposedly faulty conclusion ("Therefore, negroes are equal in political rights to whites"). This is confusing to us because, unlike Peirce, we consider the conclusion to be obviously true. I don't consider Peirce's racism relevant and I find it irriating that it always comes up.
- User23 5y ago
  Until Reconstruction and the passage of the 13th, 14th, and 15th amendments to the US constitution, the statement "negroes are equal in political rights to whites" was observably false. That's a big part of why the American Civil War was fought!
- glenstein 5y ago
  >I don't consider Peirce's racism relevant Relevant to what? The subject, so far as I can tell, is Pierce's intellectual legacy. Is discussion of his views on race allowed or not allowed? I honestly don't know. But what I do know is that whenever people try to calvinball into existence a special rule that we're not allowed, in a comment section of all places, those rules tend to grate me the wrong way.
  - deleted 5y ago
    [deleted]
  - slibhb 5y ago
    I didn't say it's not allowed, I said I don't consider it relevant. Are you "calvinballing into existence" a rule that says I am not allowed to consider certain things irrelevant?
    - glenstein 5y ago
      That's an unresponsive and frivolous distinction; the point is the same regardless of which magic word you insist is operative.
watwut 5y ago
I remember reading Fredrik Douglass taking insult on reading word negro. So while common, not universally considered non-insulting.
- newbamboo 5y ago
  Hmmm. Didn’t he often use the word himself? https://www.nytimes.com/1863/05/16/archives/what-shall-be-done-with-the-negro-a-lecture-by-frederick-douglass.html https://www.nytimes.com/1863/05/16/archives/what-shall-be-do...

slibhb 5y ago

The point of the syllogism is that it yields a supposedly faulty conclusion ("Therefore, negroes are equal in political rights to whites"). This is confusing to us because, unlike Peirce, we consider the conclusion to be obviously true. I don't consider Peirce's racism relevant and I find it irriating that it always comes up.

User23 5y ago
Until Reconstruction and the passage of the 13th, 14th, and 15th amendments to the US constitution, the statement "negroes are equal in political rights to whites" was observably false. That's a big part of why the American Civil War was fought!
glenstein 5y ago
>I don't consider Peirce's racism relevant Relevant to what? The subject, so far as I can tell, is Pierce's intellectual legacy. Is discussion of his views on race allowed or not allowed? I honestly don't know. But what I do know is that whenever people try to calvinball into existence a special rule that we're not allowed, in a comment section of all places, those rules tend to grate me the wrong way.
- deleted 5y ago
  [deleted]
- slibhb 5y ago
  I didn't say it's not allowed, I said I don't consider it relevant. Are you "calvinballing into existence" a rule that says I am not allowed to consider certain things irrelevant?
  - glenstein 5y ago
    That's an unresponsive and frivolous distinction; the point is the same regardless of which magic word you insist is operative.

watwut 5y ago

I remember reading Fredrik Douglass taking insult on reading word negro. So while common, not universally considered non-insulting.

newbamboo 5y ago
Hmmm. Didn’t he often use the word himself? https://www.nytimes.com/1863/05/16/archives/what-shall-be-done-with-the-negro-a-lecture-by-frederick-douglass.html https://www.nytimes.com/1863/05/16/archives/what-shall-be-do...