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AR 22:29 - Philosopher and gender 'orthodoxy' denier pilloried
In this issue:
FREEDOM OF SPEECH - scholars divided on applying 'trans' criteria to race
MORMONISM - its smoldering history of racism reignites on Twitter
ORIGINS - "an essential work for those thinking about the interaction between science and Christianity"
Apologia Report 22:29 (1,349)
July 26, 2017
FREEDOM OF SPEECH
"A Philosopher Gets Pilloried" by Jillian Kay Melchior -- "Usually, when junior professors publish scholarly articles, they are lucky to elicit more than a yawn. But last week the philosophical musings of Rebecca Tuvel, an associate professor at Rhodes College in Memphis, Tenn., provoked a spasm of fury.
"Ms. Tuvel's paper, published <www.goo.gl/ekkqFZ> in the feminist philosophy journal Hypatia <hypatiaphilosophy.org>, takes on one of the weakest points of the left's mania for identity politics. Ms. Tuvel asks why society is increasingly willing to embrace people who identify as 'transgender,' even as it rejects those who identify as 'transracial.' Why laud Caitlyn Jenner while vilifying Rachel Dolezal?
"Ms. Tuvel weighs several arguments that seek to 'justify transgenderism and delegitimize transracialism.' She concludes: 'Considerations that support transgenderism seem to apply equally to transracialism,' and therefore society 'should also accept transracial individuals' decisions to change races.' ...
"Instead of taking on Ms. Tuvel's arguments, the professoriate attacked her for asking questions to begin with. More than 500 academics signed a letter <www.goo.gl/VEn39G> denouncing the paper. ...
"'Calls for intellectual engagement are also being shut down because they "dignify" the article,' Ms. Tuvel said in a written statement about the saga. 'If this is considered beyond the pale as a response to a controversial piece of writing, then critical thought is in danger.'
"Some of Ms. Tuvel's foes are employing the fashionable trope that criticism is a form of violence." Wall Street Journal, May 8 '17.
The New York Times also picked up on this story. In "A Defense of 'Transracial' Identity Roils Philosophy World," Jennifer Schuessler points out (May 19 '17, pC1) that "feminist philosophers and others have pushed to diversify what remains, far more than the other humanities, an overwhelmingly white, male field." Ms. Tuvel "asserts that the arguments that support transgender identity also support the possibility of transracial identity.
"'Society,' she concludes, 'should accept such an individual's decision to change race the same way it should accept an individual's decision to change sex.'
"Ms. Tuvel, who is white, is not the first scholar to raise the subject, or to contrast the reaction to Rachel Dolezal, the white former N.A.A.C.P. official whose claims to be black drew widespread ridicule and outrage, with the more accepting treatment of Caitlyn Jenner, who came out as transgender around the same time. But the response to her article was swift and furious.
"An open letter signed by more than 800 academics, including many from outside philosophy, called for the article to be retracted on the grounds that it 'falls short of scholarly standards' and that 'its continued availability causes further harm.' Some members of the magazine's 10-member associate editorial board, which has no role in selecting articles for the journal, posted a 'profound apology' on Hypatia's Facebook page, declaring that 'clearly, the article should never have been published.'
"Adding to the drama, the journal's editor, Sally Scholz, released a statement standing behind the article, calling it 'utterly inappropriate for editors to repudiate an article they have accepted for publication.'
"To Ms. Tuvel's critics, the paper, despite her declarations of support for transgender rights, contained 'egregious levels of liberal white ignorance and discursive transmisogynistic violence,' as one scholar put it....
"In a statement issued on Thursday, the journal's board of directors stood behind the publication of Ms. Tuvel's article and reaffirmed its commitment to 'pluralist inquiry,' which it called 'simultaneously a core feminist value and a core academic value.' ...
"Other scholars who have weighed in have questioned whether the idea that only people with a certain identity have authority to speak about it amounts to a kind of 'epistemological insiderism'....
"Debra Satz, a professor of philosophy at Stanford, and one of the first senior female philosophers to criticize the call for retraction, said that it was important for feminism 'to be associated with the free exchange of ideas.' ...
"Suzanna Danuta Walters, a professor of sociology at Northeastern University and the editor of Signs, an interdisciplinary feminist journal, called the call for retraction 'an attack on scholarly peer review.'" <www.goo.gl/TCdF2b>
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MORMONISM
Until recently, LDS leaders had only been fighting criticism for its racist past. Then the present reared it head. In "The new face of Mormon racism" Jana Riess, a "comparative-religions expert who converted to Mormonism" (Time magazine), reports in Religion News (May 30 '17) that "the social media hashtag #DearWhiteMormons has given Mormons of color an opportunity to share their experiences of being in a mostly-white church." And the results "revealed that Mormon racism is, sadly, alive and well."
Riess discusses the related tweet-storm and ends her story suggesting that the LDS leadership has had it coming for a long time, as "the church has also never fully repudiated racist statements from earlier leaders like Bruce R. McConkie, Mark E. Peterson, and Brigham Young. Until and unless it does, it allows the ugliness of racism to fester and grow." A flood of reader comments is also included. <www.goo.gl/2cAunG>
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ORIGINS
The Believing Scientist: Essays on Science and Religion, by Stephen M. Barr [1] -- Martin LaBar of Southern Wesleyan University begins by acknowledging that "there is some repetition; yet the basic message deserves reemphasis: scientific findings do not prohibit Christian faith, but support it. Barr (theoretical particle physics, Univ. of Delaware) understands particle physics, cosmology, views of important ancient theologians, history, philosophy, and evolutionary biology well enough to write intelligently and insightfully about these areas. For Barr, young-earth creationism is 'crackpot science.' [Initially], Barr's view of the intelligent design movement is positive, but, in a later article, he says that the movement has no scientific contribution and has not persuaded non-believers. Any individual researching the concept of creation or the Big Bang should read Barr's work. In addition, any individual wanting to evaluate Richard Dawkins or Stephen Hawking should also read Barr, who argues that both are critically mistaken - philosophically and scientifically. This is an essential work for those thinking about the interaction between science and Christianity. For all others, this an adequate scholarly apparatus." Choice, Jun '17
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SOURCES: Monographs
1 - The Believing Scientist: Essays on Science and Religion, by Stephen M. Barr (Eerdmans, 2016, paperback, 232 pages) <www.goo.gl/P2FhM5>
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