Thinking Critically and Social Responsibility

I admit, I’m a complete Stephen Jay Gould fangirl.  I was intending to use one of his quotes as part of this, but when I went to find the source I discovered all these wonderful, appropriate quotes.  So I decided to experiment with my writing style and voila, this piece.  If it’s confusing just read without the quotes, it should still make sense.

In my previous post I mentioned social responsibility, something dear to my heart.  A knowledge of science and evolution, together with critical reflection on our culture and social institutions, demonstrate that our society is needlessly discriminatory.  If we understand this, social responsibility and social justice become both a moral and a practical cause.

As an atheist one of the attacks from religion I find hardest to understand is the idea that there is no basis for morality except that handed down from on high.  And yet, co-operation (and unfortunately, xenophobia) are among the easiest of human traits to explain in terms of evolution.  This recent article from New Scientist, ‘Chimpanzees kill to win new territory’ shows clearly the advantages in co-operation.  By working together to attack other chimps, a larger group has gained new territory and food resources.  In other words, intra-group co-operation has very real survival advantage for that group and its members’ genes.  And defining outsiders as ‘other’ also has advantages if you are in the stronger position.  This is not ‘the’ explanation for the evolution of co-operation and xenophobia, but shows that such explanations are simple to develop in an evolutionary framework.

But here I stop—short of any deterministic speculation that attributes specific behaviors to the possession of specific altruist or opportunist genes. Our genetic makeup permits a wide range of behaviors—from Ebenezer Scrooge before to Ebenezer Scrooge after. I do not believe that the miser hoards through opportunist genes or that the philanthropist gives because nature endowed him with more than the normal complement of altruist genes. Upbringing, culture, class, status, and all the intangibles that we call “free will,” determine how we restrict our behaviors from the wide spectrum—extreme altruism to extreme selfishness—that our genes permit.”   Stephen Jay Gould “So Cleverly Kind an Animal”, p. 266

To leave the story there would be an interesting fact at best and biological determinism at worst.  All it does is show that humans have the capacity within themselves to both work together and dislike outsiders.  And that is where critical thinking and skepticism come in, because we also have the ability to reflect on our actions and decide for ourselves if they are moral.

“Human equality is a contingent fact of history” Stephen Jay Gould

We don’t know all that much about the details of human evolution, it is a dynamic field with new finds and re-interpretations all the time.  However we do know that all humans are human.  We are all the same species, we all wandered out of Africa together, even if we did meet or even marry different neighbours.  And this means we should all be potentially equal, neither our genitals, our skin nor our lovers are linked to our brains, our abilities or especially our rights.

“Current utility and historical origin are different subjects.” Stephen Jay Gould

Many of our current methods of unfair hierarchy – the ‘isms’ – had good, or at least understandable, historical roots.  In a territorial society men’s greater size and muscle mass have genuine advantages.  The climate and ecology of Europe and Africa meant significantly different pressures and opportunities for their inhabitants.  But we do not face those same constraints today.  Thinking critically about our culture shows that we now have the technology or wealth to overcome many disadvantages of physique or natural geography, and many (if not all) of the divisions have become empty discrimination.

“We pass through this world but once. Few tragedies can be more extensive than the stunting of life, few injustices deeper than the denial of an opportunity to strive or even to hope, by a limit imposed from without, but falsely identified as lying within.”  Stephen Jay Gould, The Mismeasure of Man

And discrimination is truly a tragedy, on both a personal and societal level.  Personally, I’m sure all of us have felt the disappointment and frustration of being blocked from something we know we can do – how much worse for people who are blocked in so many things?  How much worse to not even know it might be possible?  And how much is our society missing in so many fields by not allowing full participation?

“I am, somehow, less interested in the weight and convolutions of Einstein’s brain than in the near certainty that people of equal talent have lived and died in cotton fields and sweatshops.” Stephen Jay Gould The Panda’s Thumb.

I cannot say it better.  Those few who are visible – Mahatma Gandhi, Vincent Lingiari, Albert Namatjira, Stephen Hawking, Marie Curie – only make us wonder who has remained trapped behind the curtain.  The only way we will know is to actively help in drawing it back.

“Life is short, and potential studies infinite. We have a much better chance of accomplishing something significant when we follow our passionate interests and work in areas of deepest personal meaning.” Stephen Jay Gould

I think it is important to take my conclusions beyond the realm of thought and discussion and move it into action, I like the accountability of making it public.  So I’ll reveal my areas of deepest personal meaning where I am attempting to accomplish something, hopefully significant.

• I have spent the last 12 years living in remote towns and communities and was teaching mainly Aboriginal students, much of my Master of Education studies were shaped around this and put to practical use.  I have the satisfaction of knowing some of my students are now studying at university (which is embarrassingly rare), and there is an entire class out there that chose science as their favourite subject.
• I am currently promoting an early love of and fascination with science among children and parents through my blog, doing my best to encourage future critical thinkers and improve scientific literacy.
• I am active on the internet against anti-vaccinationists, being the resident “anti-anti-vax” participant on one parenting forum and participating in another group.  There is also a concrete project in the works.

If anyone wants to join me in some reflection, I’d love to know which areas you are passionate about.  I think it is very exciting to be brought together by the internet, and as a community have the potential to accomplish worthwhile change in the offline world.