If there is one message writ large within the annals of anthropology, it is to beware the solid truths of one’s own culture. If we contrast our views with those of others, we find that what we take to be "reliable knowledge" is more properly considered a form of folklore.
That is from Kenneth J. Gergen’s often quite interesting The Saturated Self: Dilemmas of Identity in Contemporary Life.
Can you give examples please? In particular, what do college-educated secular Americans (the typical MR reader) consider “reliable knowledge” but which is in fact a form of folklore?
My nominations:
1) Anti-oxidants are good for you, in a dose-response way (more = better).
2) “Cardio” is good for you–jogging, treadmills.
3) You should marry someone from the same background/status as you–i.e. someone you meet in college.
4) Genetics aside, parents play a large role in determining their children’s future.
Noah Webster said pretty much the same thing in 1794, as Mencius Moldbug points out in his serial argument that democracy isn’t all that great.
This applies to politics and religion, but there are definitely forms of incontrovertible knowledge: newtonian physics, math, germ theory for example. The earth going around the sun can never be considered “folklore”
My favorite insight from it is that by the time you’re an adult you’ve seen on tv hundreds or thousands of people fall in love, have affairs, etc, and how that must inevitably warp you. I read the book shortly after it came out, when I was 20, and I’ve been haunted by that my whole life.
I checked it out from the library about six months ago and it seemed like kind of a wank now.
“often quite interesting”: you cruel man.
For those asking for examples, Search Inside the book on Amazon and he talks about our assumption that people have individual desires and wants. I’m not sure I buy it.
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