Assignment #1

My honest reaction to our first class discussion was one of being somewhat aggravated. While I really enjoy that fact that we are learning physic from a larger point of view than that of traditional mathematical formulas, I was really triggered by the cultural reductionism of the "East vs West" setup of the class discussion. Mainly, this was because there was no defining of what we are suppose to take these two words to mean. And my sense from the class discussion was that we are suppose to impose and feed upon stereotypes of both of these terms without any critical thinking.

Is "West" suppose to mean white European? Based in Greek philosophy? Modern American culture? Where would African, Latin American, Middle Eastern approaches to science fit in this set-up? What about any of the indigenous cultural traditions of people from Europe to Russia? Is "East" suppose to be Chinese? Daoist? Buddhist? Hindu? Sufi? Modern East Asian cultural approaches to science?

While I have no problems engaging in debate based on something specific (say, what would Hippocrates say versus the great Chinese Medicine doctor Zhang Zhong Jing, or even what would Socrates' approach be versus Confucius), I think to use these broad terms of "East" and "West" as the basis of differentiating intellectual thought, without definition, is irresponsible and frankly, culturally offensive to everyone.


Thanks for reading.