Mindshaping is Inescapable, Social Injustice is not: Reflections on Haslanger’s Critical Social Theory

Australasian Philosophical Review 3 (1):48-59 (2019)
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Abstract

Drawing on the mindshaping view of social cognition, Haslanger makes a compelling case that understanding the depth of human enculturation is critical for remedying social injustice: specifically, for understanding the resilience of practices of injustice, as well as developing better strategies for resisting and rectifying them. In these comments, I focus on: (1) reviewing key features of the enculturation hypothesis that support Haslanger’s insights; (2) highlighting three observations she makes regarding our cultural practices that should encourage and guide theorists/ activists in working towards justice-engendering social reform; and (3) emphasizing, in particular, Haslanger’s endorsement of securing protected spaces in which heterodox cultural practices that potentially challenge unjust orthodox practices can themselves develop and thrive. I close by raising three questions for further discussion that together stress a complementary theme for promoting social justice: the importance of enculturating conversational practices that can reach across ideological divides.

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original McGeer, Victoria (2019) "Mindshaping is Inescapable, Social Injustice is not: Reflections on Haslanger’s Critical Social Theory". Tandf: Australasian Philosophical Review 3(1):48-59

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Victoria McGeer
Princeton University

References found in this work

The Adapted Mind: Evolutionary Psychology and the Generation of Culture.Jerome H. Barkow, Leda Cosmides & John Tooby - 1992 - Oxford University Press. Edited by Jerome H. Barkow, Leda Cosmides & John Tooby.
The psychic life of power: theories in subjection.Judith Butler - 1997 - Stanford, Calif.: Stanford University Press.
Cognition as a Social Skill.Sally Haslanger - 2019 - Tandf: Australasian Philosophical Review 3 (1):5-25.

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