On Mon, Mar 30, 2009 at 2:01 PM, Alan Rudy <alan.rudy at gmail.com> wrote:
> On Mon, Mar 30, 2009 at 12:50 AM, Philip Pilkington <
> pilkingtonphil at gmail.com> wrote:
>
> > > Sadly, perhaps, I was raised by a Geertzian anthropologist. This is
> > > Geertz'
> > > expression of, I believe, the contemporary anthropological position on
> > > immutables:
> > >
> >
> > I don't know if I should be simplistic about this, or more complex...
> Okay,
> > I'll try both:
> >
> > (1) Simplistic: 2 + 2 = 4. There's nothing anthropological about that.
> > Every
> > culture eventually... immutably developed that.
>
>
> And the substantive meaning of that for each culture is the same such that
> it reverberates in primarily the same way? That's equivalent, it seems to
> me, to saying that all societies - since they have binary oppositions -
> treat, engage and utilize those oppositions in the same manner and to the
> same effect. At what point does this end? One male + one female
> (sometimes)
> = baby. Every culture, immutably, has that... therefore sex, gender and
> sexuality are the same everywhere at all times?
>
No, and here's the big point I'm going to carry through for the rest of the argument.
We are separated by: gender, race, sexuality etc.
There's no getting around this. We have to treat each other not as equals/equivalences/twins/whatever.
We have to recognise the difference and embrace it!
>
> >
> > (2) Simplistic: Basic emotions. Neither is there anything anthropological
> > about that. Every culture shows aspects of "envy", "attachment",
> "hatred",
> > "sorrow", "totem", "taboo" etc.
>
>
Emotions are emotions. Its our responsibility to keep them under control and
respect others.
How boring!
>
>
> >
> >
> > (3) Complex: Whatever happened to our civilisation we show very specific
> > traits that travel right through. I named some of them in the last
> > proposition but I'll give one that we certainly created, and without any
> > recourse to Reason: Love. That's a weird one. Its sort of like: "Totem" +
> > "Attachment" if we want to be terribly immutable.
> >
>
Love? I'll only dare to comment so far:
Gay or straight. Love is something else. Love is something "beyond" that nonsense of day-to-day life. Love is something which transcends sexuality. Love is an insane attachment... I can't say any more!