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Originally Posted by ariel
But there is a dark side to their popularity. They purport to show that adults from different cultures have inherent differences in the way their brains view real world and are capable of reaching logical conclusions.
Does it mean that the " analytical" approach of Western cultures largely depends on the ethnicity of the observer/analyzer? And that non-Western races by virtue of their " Oriental" or " African" upbringing are incapable of rigid scientific thinking? Were they born with their brains holistically "pre-wired" for generations or were they brought up that way by their environment ( and how about early childhood experiences?). Is a Burmese or African person by virtue of his/her ethnic origin sufficiently competitive with a Caucasian in their ability to solve analytical problems?
Are they equally suitable for participating in the modern economy/academia/ research/political life? Indeed, our glorious 21st century demands analytical
brains, and those by and large belong to the Westerners, rather than Orientals, don't they?
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Ariel, i believe what Alan (as well as this article) is talking about is cultural differences, not racial ones. If someone of Javanese racial origin was born and raised within the American cultural system they are likely to have a similar world view as most other Americans do (with understandable variations) and may indeed have the same trouble understanding tangguh and the keris as the average American of European decent might have. I dare say that with the Westernization that has taken hold in other parts of the world such as Indonesia that many Javanese don't even fully understand this subject as they attempt to conform to the Western ways of thinking in order to operate within an increasing world economy that is driven by the West. I do not think what we are talking about here has anything to do with the analytical capacity of various racial origins as much as how different cultures process data and apply it to their lives and cultural artifacts. I also do not think that the article suggests that people in South East Asia are not capable of analytical thinking, just that they analyze the data differently. Clearly the many great Asian minds that have been involved in countless breakthroughs in science and medicine over the years shows that people from these collectivistic cultures are quite capable of analytical thinking.
But i do believe that the territory of this question you seem to be pursuing is both off topic and inappropriate for this forum and topic. This is not the place for deep discussions on science and it's relationships to racism. I might also suggest the the term "Oriental", while sometimes used to describe objects from that area is generally considered an inappropriate when used to describe the
people of that area.