December 1, 2009

  • John Piipo and "The Myth of Inalienable Bias"

    Intro:

    I see the declaration of universal bias often enough with Christians, especially with presuppositionalist Christians who seem to be looking to justify how outrageously biased they are rather than attempting to make impartial arguments. 

    The type of "self awareness" (that everyone is biased and can't help it) John Piipo promotes in his recent post on "The Myth of Objectivity" can take many turns.  It's not completely untrue, but it does matter what you do with that information.  That seems to be where we differ.

    Selections (and my responses) from Piipo's post:

    Piipo said:

    This expectation [of neutrality] may be equivalent to the expectation that a bachelor should be also married.

    Actually, it's more like asking a married man to not treat his wife as though she really is the most beautiful and talented woman in the world when having conversations with bachelors.  Should everyone marry her? 

    I'll add that stating one's epistemic and hermeneutical biases make teaching more interesting and helpful.

    Some people are able to do both, you know.  Like news commentators who make it clear when they are giving their opinion on the news story they dispassionately brought to our attention.  Has FOX news made us forget this so quickly?

    Put negatively, I want to gag whenever I hear some teacher claim to be epistemically unbiased.

    That's a red flag for me, too.  But that doesn't mean there aren't people who work really hard to pull it off.  The label "unbiased" needs to be given, not taken.  Earned, not demanded.

    The unexamined acceptance of the myth of objectivity is the soil in which ad hominemn circumstantial fallacies grow.

    It seems the author is reacting to people who use the accusation of bias as a personal attack.  However, their fallacy doesn't justify giving up on trying to more and more objective.

    The last line of a quote from the Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy that Piipo includes says:

    As our prejudices thereby become apparent to us, so they can also become the focus of questioning in their own turn.

    Indeed.  Too often I see this topic come up from Christians in order to attempt to end an objective conversation, rather than begin it.  I'm hoping this is a sign that perhaps Piipo is a different brand of Christian than what I am used to.  However he doesn't put much focus on it and seems to declare otherwise in the rest of his post. 

    To find out, I commented:

    Hello,

    I think I'm with you here if you go one step further and discuss various virtues and methods for creating less biased discussions and learning environments.  Such as:

    Isn't it just as much a myth that everyone is *equally* biased? 

    Isn't it just as much a myth that we can't work to become less biased? 

    Isn't it irresponsible to fail to *seek* a neutral starting point in our arguments for whatever view we defend?

    We wouldn't want the observations in your post to turn into excuses for remaining really biased in our approach to situations involving all sorts of people with different viewpoints would we?  How could we hope to empathize with them if we declare ourselves lost causes?  I'm assuming that's not what you meant here, but I'm wasn't sure.

    take care,

    Ben

    Joe responded:

    Hi Ben - thank you for responding.

    A few responses:

    1) I don't think it is a "myth" that everyone is equally biased. By "bias" I mean, e.g., the definition Hans-Georg Gadamer gives in Truth and Method. this comes out of the Kantian tradition in philosophy. "Bias" means: pre-judgment. In Gadamer and Kant this is not only not a negative thing, but without it one would not understand anything at all. So in that sense everyone is qually biased; viz., in the sense that all of us are 100% biased. That being said, "bias" can differ from culture to culture.

    2) I don't think one can "work to become less biased." In fact, that idea is, in principle, unachievable. It's a Cartesian fallacy. One might as well try to conceive of "square circles" or "unmarried bachelors."

    3) "Neutral starting points" cannot be gained. Instead, use logic to express one's truth-claims. Then, evaluate them.

    Thanks so much for commenting - blessings!

    I responded:

    Joe,

    So you don't see any difference for example between ideological opponents who are able to see and articulate their opponents positions more charitably and those who clearly tend to see whatever they want to see and make straw man arguments? 

    To say everyone has equal pre-judgment is like saying no one in the history of the world has ever changed their mind or been convinced by a new argument or been uncertain about their position.  All pre-judgement is not created equal and I wonder if you might be trying to justify a subjective lack of personal interest in seeing things from other perspectives.  I see no way to apply what you've said to actual life.  How am I misunderstanding you? 

    Ben

    Outro:

    Some of us work very hard and earn the occasional title, "the least biased I've ever seen."  So it always sounds like quitter talk (not to mention dubious) when people get defensive, point fingers at everyone else's biases, and thereby proclaim their own biases immutable and irreproachable.  It's like they think there's simply no way to do better and that their bias can't possibly be affecting their clarity of thought and the relevancy of their arguments on a given issue.  Obviously that's probably not always true.  And maybe it's not always worthwhile to point out someone's bias as the cause of faulty arguments, but the golden lesson on the path to becoming less biased is, "Listen carefully to your own condemnation of bias in others and follow prescriptively whatever would turn your description, if applied to yourself on your own side of the fence, into natural praise."  It's not rocket science.  It's just a matter of doing it.  And doing it better the next time around and so on.  And if you personally have given up on this, or don't care, that doesn't everyone else is right there with you.  We're not all created equally lazy. 

    Ben

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