I feel like portraying logical discourse as a mere Western male invention greatly oversimplifies the issue.
Logic itself is not so much a cultural bias as it is a skill. It can be taught. Those who have trouble with logical argument can study and practice and unquestionably improve their game. And mathematics, pure logic, has had major contributions from many cultures. Any person, of whatever race, gender, culture, etc., can study these things and, objectively, know more about them than they did before. Logic is not a cultural concept; real logic is it’s own entity. (This isn’t to say that there aren’t bounds to the realm of logic, or that everything can be explained logically.) I find it hard to suggest that logical analysis is the province of one specific culture or demographic, or that there is no objectivity through logic. Anybody can learn it, and their results can be objectively verified (that’s what math class or law school deals with). "Post hoc ergo propter hoc" is unsound logical reasoning, no matter who employs it, Western or not, male or not.
I think it’s more accurate to say that the West has glorified and exhalted logic above other modes of cognition. Thus, many Western males have it in their heads that they are the "reasonable ones" who can analyze and deconstruct their way to providence. But this doesn’t mean that they actually speak or think logically. More often than not, they simply adopt dispassionate tone and swagger and call that objectivity. Cultural expectations for them to be logical to not actually impart knowledge of logic. A site such as Spinsanity.org is about cutting through rhetoric and pseudo-logic to find the actual validity of supposed factual claims. This can be done, to an extent, by applying principles of Logic, the science that anyone can learn. Yes, it may thus appeal to Western men more readily than others, but that does not mean they promote a Western male agenda. Many environmental movements (conservation, for instance) appeal to heavily conservative Christians (via beliefs of "waste not, want not"), but that does not mean they promote any conservative Christian ideology.
A Random Comment from September 16, 2004
I feel like portraying logical discourse as a mere Western male invention greatly oversimplifies the issue.
Logic itself is not so much a cultural bias as it is a skill. It can be taught. Those who have trouble with logical argument can study and practice and unquestionably improve their game. And mathematics, pure logic, has had major contributions from many cultures. Any person, of whatever race, gender, culture, etc., can study these things and, objectively, know more about them than they did before. Logic is not a cultural concept; real logic is it’s own entity. (This isn’t to say that there aren’t bounds to the realm of logic, or that everything can be explained logically.) I find it hard to suggest that logical analysis is the province of one specific culture or demographic, or that there is no objectivity through logic. Anybody can learn it, and their results can be objectively verified (that’s what math class or law school deals with). "Post hoc ergo propter hoc" is unsound logical reasoning, no matter who employs it, Western or not, male or not.
I think it’s more accurate to say that the West has glorified and exhalted logic above other modes of cognition. Thus, many Western males have it in their heads that they are the "reasonable ones" who can analyze and deconstruct their way to providence. But this doesn’t mean that they actually speak or think logically. More often than not, they simply adopt dispassionate tone and swagger and call that objectivity. Cultural expectations for them to be logical to not actually impart knowledge of logic. A site such as Spinsanity.org is about cutting through rhetoric and pseudo-logic to find the actual validity of supposed factual claims. This can be done, to an extent, by applying principles of Logic, the science that anyone can learn. Yes, it may thus appeal to Western men more readily than others, but that does not mean they promote a Western male agenda. Many environmental movements (conservation, for instance) appeal to heavily conservative Christians (via beliefs of "waste not, want not"), but that does not mean they promote any conservative Christian ideology.