Cuteness, Crop-Tops and Epistemological Philosophy
8 November 2007 Cuteness, Crop-Tops and Epistemological Philosophy
Philosopher Draws Standing-Room-Only Crowd in Fisher Center
When we hear the word philosophy, we dont typically think of crop-tops (also called belly shirts) or other things that middle school kids find cute. However, in this years Ann Palmeri Lecture sponsored by the philosophy department and the Fisher Center, MIT Professor of Linguistics and Philosophy Sally Haslanger showed her audience exactly how philosophic some of the most common arguments between parents and kids can be.
When a mother and daughter debate over whether not a crop-top is cute and should be bought for the seventh grader, I dont think that they are really contradicting each other, Haslanger said during her lecture. I also dont think that they are simply talking past one another, using the word cute in subtly different ways.
During her lecture, titled But Mom, Crop-Tops are Cute!, Haslanger put this ordinary conflict to the philosophic test. Using her knowledge of various perspectives as an epistemologist, feminist and parent, Haslanger said, I think that the daughter is right that there is a social meaning of cute that is constituted in her social milieu. However, the girls practice of calling something cute in her milieu implies that it is not other things, such as dorky, harmful or boring. This should be the basis of parents argument. They should point out reasons why crop-tops are harmful, providing an internal criticism of their childs view.
In addition to the surprise of how philosophic this ordinary crop-top problem is, Haslanger astonished her audience with how understandable yet conceptually complex her presentation was. I thought Professor Haslangers lecture was clear in a way that many academic lectures tend not to be. We may not have agreed with her, but we all understood the philosophy being lectured, said Tiffany Bennett 08.
Bennett along with other students, faculty and staff left the Fisher Center conversing and questioning thanks to Haslanger, the Fisher Center and the philosophy department.