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Essentialism is the idea that there is a pure form of something tied to its classification. Basically it's allowing classification to supersede qualification.
by atleastoptimal 4y ago
Essentialism is the idea that there is a pure form of something tied to its classification. Basically it's allowing classification to supersede qualification.
Originally it was used by right-leaning schools of thought to justify racism and sexism. They viewed women and minorities as "essentially" inferior as an essential factor of their classification as such.
Now it is used by left-leaning centers to create narratives of human. They view differences in human attainment essentially the cause of certain social factors, individuals and institutions that are justifiably characterized as such because they are "essentially" evil.
- orwin 4y ago'liberal-leaning' not left leaning. And they're winning. They already expurged feminism from emancipation, replacing it with empowerment. I thought BLM was the BPP successor, but weirdly, any leader referencing the rainbow coalition get shafted, as it seems that Fred Hampton is waaay better as a martyr than as a thought leader. But he was assassinated because he was a Marxist who reassembled minorities, not because he was black. And declaring institutions are influencing human behavior is not essentialism. 'l'existence précède l' essence' apply to living being, human constructs can be essencialized, and that's why people believe in essentialism, or at least that's how I understood Sartre.