The foundation of individual rights is the assumption that people have wants and needs and are authorities on what those wants and needs are. If people's stated desires were just some kind of erasable inscription or reprogrammable brainwashing, any atrocity could be justified.
Equity feminism is a moral doctrine about equal treatment that makes no commitments regarding open empirical issues in psychology or biology.
Interpretation
What this quote means
Equity feminism advocates for equal treatment of all individuals without delving into biological or psychological differences.
This quote by Steven Pinker highlights the essence of equity feminism as a principle that prioritizes equal treatment for all genders based on moral grounds, while intentionally avoiding potentially contentious discussions about biological or psychological differences. It stresses the importance of focusing on fairness and equality in society, without getting bogged down by debates that could distract from the primary goal of achieving justice and equal rights for everyone.
Themes
In practice
Example use cases
During a panel discussion on gender equality, one might quote Pinker to emphasize the importance of focusing on equitable treatment.
More from Steven Pinker
All quotes βThe linguistic clumsiness of tourists and students might be the price we pay for the linguistic genius we displayed as babies, just as the decrepitude of age in the price we pay for the vigor of youth.
If we are not to abandon values such as peace and equality, or our commitments to science and truth, then we must pry these values away from claims about our psychological makeup that are vulnerable to being proven false.
We adults protect ourselves with laws, police, workplace regulations and social norms and there is no conceivable reason why children should be left more vulnerable, other that laziness or callousness in considering what life is like from their point of view.
The idea that children are passive repositories to be shaped by their parents has been massively overstated. A child's peer group is a far greater determinant of its development and achievements than parental aspiration.
Reason is non-negotiable. Try to argue against it, or to exclude it from some realm of knowledge, and you've already lost the argument, because you're using reason to make your case. ... We don't "believe" in reason.
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An en is a karmic bond lasting a lifetime. Nowadays many people seem to believe their lives are entirely a matter of choice; but in my day we viewed ourselves as pieces of clay that forever show the fingerprints of everyone who has touched them.
You see, gentlemen, reason is an excellent thing, thereβs no disputing that, but reason is nothing but reason and satisfies only the rational side of manβs nature, while will is a manifestation of the whole life, that is, of the whole human life including reason and all the impulses. And although our life, in this manifestation of it, is often worthless, yet it is life and not simply extracting square roots.
Man is the most intelligent of the animals - and the most silly.
Defining myself, as opposed to being defined by others, is one of the most difficult challenges I face.
Perhaps the real point of life is simply to wear us down until we have no choice but to start abandoning our defenses. We learn that the way things are is simply the way they are meant to be right now, and then, suddenly, at long last, we catch a glimpse of the abundance in the moment--abundance even in the face of things falling apart.
We live in a globalising world. That means that all of us, consciously or not, depend on each other. Whatever we do or refrain from doing affects the lives of people who live in places we'll never visit.