Deborah Hume wrote:
> Maybe it is too early in the morning and I'm feeling a bit
> prickly, but this certainly rubbed me the wrong way. Leaving aside for the
moment the
> possibility that there are some valid critiques of traditional western
> scientific methodology, how is it that irrationality, invalid
> inference, and tolerance for logical contradiction get automatically
equated
> with women and racial minorities? Wasn't Deridas a white male?
> I realize that many of the criticisms of western scientific
> methods and thought have been raised by those who have been excluded from
> the power structure of science - and I realize that postmodern critics are
heavy
> handed with their vocabulary and convoluted sentence
> structure- I am not arguing those points. However, the tone here, even
though it was
> tongue-in-cheek, is one that is so dismissive of "women and racial
> minorities" as not able to think their way out of a paper
> bag, that I find it quite aggravating!
You do understand that I was being sarcastic about that very point,
right?
I couldn't agree with you more, and I meant my post to show my own
annoyance at that dismissiveness.
Paul Smith
Alverno College
A women's college, at which I teach science to women who wind up
understanding it FAR better than I did as an undergraduate.
Milwaukee
