The truth and the arbitrary
HDCS6 who-is-at jetson.uh.edu
Fri, 19 Jan 1996 11:33:20 -0600 (CST)
It seems to me that the notion that "girls can't do math" is an
arbitrary determination is problematic. It seems to me that
this is not an arbitrary determination, but a systematic determination
based on motives of the social organization. I would also say that
it is not simply a power play but based on the historical circumstances
that have played out over history. Some social organization gains
something by making the claim that girls can't do math. And while
certain individuals in the organization, notably females, lose
by creating this state of affairs (am I using this right?), the
social organization gains. Thus to say that it is arbitrary
misses the point, and worse will do nothing to actually change
the conception. It seems to me we have to follow the issue back
to its origin, and discover who wins and who loses (I could make
up a story about it, but....). But this relates to a larger
issue, one suggested by Leigh Starr, that there really is no
such thing as arbitrary, at least not in history, or in the
immediate circumstance. Once something exists it exists for
a reason, as a product of some type of goal oriented activity.
The notion of arbitrary can only exist in the future, in that
we have no idea what will happen next to lead an organism in
one direction or another. A bus may come early tomorrow,
I may miss it, and that arbitrary event may change my life.
But once the arbitrary sitaution occurs it fits into my own
actions, my own activities, the society's activities in a
way that make them non-arbitrary. The only way to realize
the non-arbitrariness of what emanates from some arbitrary
event is to realize how it fits into a society's and an
individual's activity patterns.
It's interesting in reading about the Maoris. I recently read the
book and watched the movie _Once Were Warriors_ about the modern
Maori in New Zealand. It gives you a very different take on
this very complex culture. In the context of what I read and
saw I would say that, for these Maori, and the importance they
place on ancestral line, the naming of places is anything but
arbitrary. Similar, in a way, to saying whether the major city
in China is called Peking or Beijing is anything but arbitrary.
Michael Glassman
University of Houston