Friday, August 13, 2021

Climates of opinion

 

In The Problem of Pain Lewis indicated that he took a very low view of “climates of opinion.” They do tend to shift. When I was in college, psychology departments were dominated by behaviorists. When I was getting my doctorate in philosophy, some 10 or so years later, the behaviorist era was being dismissed as “the bad old days.” In biology sociobiology is still considered debatable. In philosophy movements like Absolute Idealism, or Deconstruction, or Logical Positivism, or Naturalized Epistemology, or Eliminative Materialism, or Critical Race Theory, or even New Atheism, have their ups and downs.

6 comments:

Kevin said...

I know CRT is in the news a lot and don't know much about it, but the problem seems to be how it is being taught in schools. I'm not sure any of these views that are frameworks for viewing facts, rather than facts themselves, should be presented without alternative views also being presented.

Starhopper said...

"the problem seems to be how it is being taught in schools"

But it isn't, unless amongst "schools" you include colleges and universities.

The idea of little kids being indoctrinated by CRT is a right wing fantasy.

Kevin said...

unless amongst "schools" you include colleges and universities.

I do.

Kevin said...

But as I said, I don't know much about the issue other than that it is an issue and that a lot of it seems to be parents upset about it being in schools. If it's in schools, it shouldn't be, at least not without having alternative frameworks also presented.

If it's not in schools, then it's not a problem.

Starhopper said...

Again, it depends on what you consider to be a school. I regard colleges and universities as their own category. "School" refers to K-12 education. And even there, distinctions must be made between grades. Should a 3rd grader be taught about racism? Probably not. Should a 6th grader? Yes. Should a middle or high schooler? Absolutely, definitely yes.

(My 3rd grade granddaughter understands racism quite well. My pre-K grandson knows it exists, but that's about it.)

One Brow said...

Kevin,

As I understand it, a typical topic in CRT might be how the interaction of red-lining mortgage loans and diminished professional opportunities resulted in the in-group receiving significant government-sponsored wealth-creation ability, which persisted generationally, and which was denied to the out-group. You think you can discuss that meaningfully with typical high-school seniors?

CRT started in law schools around the country, and has made it's way into graduate school, but rarely has descended to even the undergraduate level, much less elementary or secondary levels.