Charles Taylor is the author of the chapter Comparison, History and Truth (1995). The article is a chapter from his book titled Philosophical Arguments. He began the chapter by discussing what he called “Zones of Puzzlements.” There are four of them. After describing these four types, the author discussed his point of view in the subject matter. Below, there will be an extensive analysis of what Taylor’s goal was when writing the chapter. As the author chose to do so, the analysis of his work below will begin from his third and fourth Zones of Puzzlement and go back to his first and second Zones of Puzzlement. The author observes similar themes between interdisciplinaries. These are the Zones of Puzzlements. They consisted of: 1. The boundary …show more content…
One of the best ways our point of view can be changed is by meeting new cultures. Generalizations must not occur. Implicit concepts must become explicit in order to question it. Specifically, the questioning to eliminate those that did not have an answer before by getting an answer to them. This is exactly why other-understanding changes self-understanding. A culture that is trying to understand another culture must first understand itself as one of the many possibilities. In principle, ethnocentrism can be overcome through this method, in practice, it is hard to achieve. Learning a new culture may not be accepted enthusiastically. This is using a different technique from the natural science model. Other-understanding is always comparative. Our human understanding affects this. If done, unconsciously, it is more effectual. For this to work, there must a contrast between our understanding of other cultures and their understanding of their own …show more content…
Home-understanding is not challenged by natives but rather by others. Magic and religion are said to be modes to control the entire world. Each has its distinctive ways. Magic has not yet gotten a proper standing - which is a prerequisite for a proper understanding. One can understand another culture through its surrounding reality. In order to explain something, judgment and truths are necessary ingredients. Someone who is in a disagreement with our point of view is an illusion. We assume certain realities in a particular case and that perceived reality shapes our understanding. We do define myths but we fail to define giants. There was presupposition that there were no giants. Magic is said to be misunderstood. Those who misunderstood it are not useless, they may benefit us in other concepts we may not be correct on. Nostra was failing. Making judgement of the truths has not ceased to exist, it still occurs. There is now, essential human purposes, unlike previously. As humans, we need to have a meaning to our lives. If life becomes meaningful, then everything will be possible to be
7. John Wisdom, Paradox and Discovery (Berkeley: The University of California Press, 1969), p. ix.
(1) Ethnocentrism is looking at one’s own culture and placing it above other cultures, constantly comparing it to the other cultures “below”. In America today, many people look at conflicted areas in the globe such as the Middle East and wonder why their system cannot keep a stable democracy. This idea of constantly comparing other cultures to one’s own and expecting them to be alike or follow the example is a problem in reading historical documents and understanding history as a whole. Nomadic invaders such as the Mongols were described as horrible savage people in the written accounts of the sedentary peoples. This must not be taken quite as literally because accounts tend to be biased more often than not. In examining ethnocentrism, one must always remember that few, if not none, cultures behave extremely irrationally as they may seem. For example, referring back to the views of Middle East today, one must remember that the system of Islamic law and customs has held for centuries, and would not have survived that long if they truly are as irrational as they might seem. Referring back to the example of the Mongols, the attacked people were obviously biased and the Mongols would not have had ruled for so long if they were cruel, savage, irrational monsters. Ethnocentrism is extremely difficult to avoid and is apparent in many documents, such as Columbus’s description of the American Natives (in comparison to the “civilized” Europeans), and should be dealt with carefully. In order to understand all sides of an account, one must look at what is written with deference and understanding.
On December 2,2015 I went to to the Lynnhaven building to receive some feedback on my agreement paper for English 111. It was a very rainy day after running through the rain when I reached the writing center room. There was a yellow note saying that the writing center was in the student center until December 4,2015. After reading the note I ran back in the rain to my car.It was to cold to walk it was raining. As I approached the student center I was told by a security guard that the tutoring lab was located on the third floor. I had walked up three flights of stairs. When I had finally reached the third floor,I walk into the tutoring lab. There were about eight tables, but only four staff members and one student. Amen had approached me asking what did I need help with today. I replied saying that I would like some feedback on my paper for English. He then pointed to the writing table and said “she can assist you with your paper”.
What we see is not the truth, but rather our interpretation and distortion of the things we struggle to perceive, as our imagination fuses with our conception of reality. We conceptualize these omnipotent forces through our uses of symbols – to create an understandable world through abstractions – in order to explain what these forces are. [INTRODUCE CAPRA]
Cultural relativism is powerful and unique, ascertaining and appreciating people cultural. Cultural relativism is unique but can be hard to understand, upsetting the views, morals, and outlines of culture from the standpoint of that civilization. When analyzing the hominid culture, it provides the luxury of understanding their philosophy from their viewpoint. Taking in another culture without being basis can be daunting. Anthropologist deliberated cultures by exploiting two methods, the emic perspective, and etic perspective. Crapo, R. H. 2013, Section 1.1 defines, the Etic perspective that is, an outsider's or observer's alleged "objective" account—creates a model of a culture by using cross-culturally valid categories, which anthropologists
...inferior cultures are always able to adapt and learn things from larger groups, in contact zone environments the larger groups are finally able to draw things from the smaller cultures as well, and thus transculturation becomes a two-way street. Only when people are made aware of the marginal diversity that surrounds them in everyday life are they able to gain a wider understanding and deeper knowledge of the world around them. They are then able to apply that knowledge to shape and benefit the way they interact with others and operate as a part of a society that is more open, leaving behind the mistake of imagined communities and applying inaccurate definitions to groups of people.
Having an ethnocentric attitude changes how we view other cultures and limits our capability to be culturally relative to others not a part of our own. Ethnocentrism by definition is the “evaluation of other cultures according to preconceptions originating in the standards and customs of
I was sitting in class keeping focused on the words of the instructor, being sure to absorb all the personality and instructions that were provided. Upon first hearing the sentence she had uttered I was confused, I had never thought that people would go out of their way to indulge in bigotry and dare I say it, racism. The instructor abstractly addressed an opponent during an argument, this opponent was a crafted strawman, a weak adversary with an awful argument which could not conceivably hold-up to her rhetoric. The utterance that the instructor had produced ran through my mind, I began to find myself rolling her words back and forth. I replaced one choice word with the equivalent and found myself gazing at a blatantly bigoted sentence.
Ethnocentrism is when one culture judge’s another culture by the standard of their own (Health, 2001). Stereotypes, biases, and prejudices against other people are all in a sense a form of ethnocentrism (Astle, Barton, Johnson, & Mill, 2014). It is okay to be proud of your own culture, but you need to remember to do so in such a way, that you are not putting down any other culture (Arnold, 2016).
Wilhoit (2009) explains building an argument is a complex task that does not require adhering to a specific rules and methods prescribed to you throughout your high school career. Although they certainly have a place in arguments in that they provide the infrastructure, the key premised to building an academic argument is understanding and establishing the rhetorical situation. It will give you an understanding of who the writer and the audience is, what is the subject or topic, the reason or occasion and finally the purpose of why the argument it being written (p.1-4). In this essay we will take a step by step look at how to construct a reflective argument in response to Michael Hardt’s “Are we capable of Democracy” argument in Examined Life.
Robinson, R. R. (1994). Some methodological approaches to the unexplained points. Philosophy 2B/3B (pp. 27-34). Melbourne: La Trobe University.
The main relevant ideas of the treatise were the four rules of thinking. The first rule, in his own words was “never to accept anything for true which I did not clearly know to be such.” This sentence remains one of the most influential quotes in the foundation of modern science. The second rule was to divide each of difficulties under examination into as many parts as po...
When one encounters a culture that has little in common with own, one may experience culture shock. This is a sense of confusion, anxiety, stress and loss one may experience. One of the barriers in effective intercultural communication is ethnocentrism. It stems from a conviction that one’s own cultural traditions and assumptions are superior to those of others. It leads to a tendency to look the world primarily from the perspective of one's own culture. It is one of the fastest ways to create a barrier that inhibits, rather than enhances communication (Jandt, 2012).
... its proper expressions, structure and grammar. Moreover, each language is linked to a specific dialect which is associated with educational, economic, social and historical conditions. Moreover, cultural variations also exist in the rules for general discourse in oral communication. Similar to verbal communication, there are also variations in non-verbal communication between cultures. Gestures, facial expressions, sense of time and personal distance take different forms in different cultures. Furthermore, there is an infinite number of cultural diversities which are at the root of intercultural miscommunication. Variations in values , social relationships, religion, economy and politics consist of only a few of these diversities. These differences can be the source of ethnocentrism, if one becomes over patriotic in regards to one’s own culture. Ethnocentrism, is the concept which states that we tend to judge other cultures through our own. Ethnocentric behavior, can cause racism and chauvinism, as in the case of the Second World War. However, intercultural problems can be avoided if we all develop mindfulness, a sense of flexibility and seek information about the other culture.
Ethnocentrism and cultural relativism are two contrasting terms that are displayed by different people all over the world. Simply put, ethnocentrism is defined as “judging other groups from the perspective of one’s own cultural point of view.” Cultural relativism, on the other hand, is defined as “the view that all beliefs are equally valid and that truth itself is relative, depending on the situation, environment, and individual.” Each of these ideas has found its way into the minds of people worldwide. The difficult part is attempting to understand why an individual portrays one or the other. It is a question that anthropologists have been asking themselves for years.