Normally one puts a title in capitals,
but no, I’m not talking about Liking, like in Facebook, but the
adverb. And I am partly prompted by a petition that came to my
Inbox, saying ‘Keep Page Three’. Basically sex workers fighting
to keep their jobs. As I said in the Philosophy Takeaway 'Gender'
Issue 38, on “Sexism, Logic and Intuition II”:
“I don’t believe in banning Page
Three: if in our idealistic monogamous society the numbers don’t
match, let the remainder of dividing by two pursue their needs
privately and unobtrusively, perhaps towards the end of the paper.”
Now why should one not necessarily like
‘like’? Basically it is ambiguous between ‘like in some
respects’ and ‘like in all respects’. I shall give some
examples, the first from the above mentioned article:
“Let us know get to the substance of
the issue: certain activities are regarded as ‘treating women as
objects’. Well firstly, an argument condemning activity between
consenting adults on the basis of a simile is a very questionable
ethical argument. Many things have a resemblance to something else:
if I lift somebody up from the floor, in a sense I am treating
somebody as an object, so one must go directly to the basis of the
similarity that causes concern.”
But you are only treating people as
objects in some respects, and as I say further in this paper and in
Part I, it is the manner in which it is done and the disrespect with
which it is done, not the fact of doing it. So if we express it
proportionally, we might have something like
contests:women :: people:objects
this is a useful way of expressing many
instances of ‘like’, but it is not necessary, for example, if
John looks like his mother. However the remainder of the examples
can be fitted into this form, and I shall use these as sub-headings.
Chancellor:economy ::
housewife:household
Another important ‘like’: our
economy is like a household, you always have to balance the books,
and if they don’t balance, you must cut your cloth. Well aggregates
are always like their components... in certain respects. Thus flocks
of sheep are like sheep, in certain respects. Sheep undoubtedly say
“maa’aa’aaa”, but do flocks?
Well, both economies and households
must pursue their goals in an efficient manner. But is an ‘efficient
manner’ the same for the whole and its parts. Now both must make
ends meet in the long run. And a household may well have to cut its
cloth in the long-term. But a national economy can print money!!!
Now if you feel that an economy and a
household are alike in all respects, then clearly Mr Osborne should
go to jail. Indeed so should Gordon Brown a long time ago. But in
certain situations it is more efficient than austerity to clear a
deficit by printing money. So when two things are alike in some
respects, they may be unlike in other respects, for example their
efficient functioning.
Vice-chancellor:university ::
manager:business
Professors have of late an additional
burden to their already over-worked commitments: vice-chancellors
sailing in/parachuted in from the business world. Now of course
nobody should use two paper-clips when one suffices. But the idea is
very vague, and I would wish to have a chat with the professor of
business studies: in all likelihood the new Vice-Chancellor wants us
to worship at the altar of business.
This means paying VCs an exorbitant
salary to ‘attract them from industry’ and suspending left-wing
students and/or lecturers on the pretext of some sort of
‘inefficiency’. And closing down departments whose subject
business doesn’t understand: or merge them, for example fine arts
with paint and dye technology. Obviously painting pictures is like
painting doors, so let us open doors to the real world.
So we treat ‘like’ like we want.
Finally, some rather controversial current affairs:
Jews:Palestinians :: Nazis:Jews
Another example
is the frequent comparison of Israeli treatment of Palestinian with
Nazi activities. This causes considerable indignation: the Israelis
have never sent people to gas chambers. Again they are not alike in
all respects, but in enough respects for it to be unacceptable. –
so the argument goes.
Israelis:Palestinians ::
Apartheid:nie-blankes
And many former victims of Apartheid
say that Palestine makes the Apartheid system look like a Sunday
picnic. Be that as it may, but it is not like a Sunday picnic in all
respects.
Martin Prior
From the Philosophy Takeaway Newsletter 56
