2.3 |
PHYSICAL SUBANTHROPIC |
2.3.1 |
RELATIVE TOTAL |
Like anthropic and ego-based exclusivism, also subanthropic
exclusivism can be subdivided into a physical and
a nonphysical variant, that is, into physical subanthropic
exclusivism (X.18) and nonphysical subanthropic exclusivism
(X.19). Physical is, then, used in the sense of of or
relating to the body and contrasted with the essentially
personal or mental. The nonphysical should also be understood as
comprising everything that is a product of 'the human mind',
that is, the cultural. The distinction between what is purely
physical and what is mental or nonphysical is, perhaps, rather
vague, but if so, we can live with this vagueness, since the
subdivision between the physical and the nonphysical will not leave any
irrelevantism out. Should an irrelevantism
not be caught on one side of the divide, it will be caught on the
other. This, in general, is the great asset of dichotomous
classifications.
Given that the body is somehow the object of physical
subanthropic exism, it may be that the body as a whole is the
object, or a part of it, such as the hands or the sexual organs.
If the whole body is the object, we shall speak of "total
physical subanthropic" (X.37), and if only part of it is the
object, of "partial physical subanthropic exclusivism" (X.72).
Thus, we will classify racism as a form of total physical exism,
and sexism as a form of partial physical exism. For someone
arguing that a human being's whole body is that of a woman or
that of a man, too, just like a human being's whole body does or
does not belong to that of a particular race, this may seem odd.
Yet, it is ultimately the sexual organs a human being has (or
used to have) which in the case of sexism determine whether this
being is a male or a female. And a human being does not have
racial organs like it has sexual organs, or organs with a racial
function like it has organs which serve for secretion. Everybody
has a skin-color, to be sure, but this is a (part-)predicate,
not a part of the body. But altho the distinction between
total and partial can reasonably be made, there are
forms of physical subanthropic exism which can be either partial or
total. They will be called here "partial total physical sub-
subanthropic exclusivism" (X.73) and will be discussed in
section 2.3.3 of this division.
In total physical exism it is the whole body which is the
object of exclusion or exclusivity, or a characteristic of the
whole body, rather than of a particular part of it, or
particular parts of it. The characteristic in question, however,
can be or resemble that of a one-place predicate, or be
relational. In the former case we will label the total physical
exism "absolute", in the latter case "relative". Relative total
physical subanthropic exclusivism (X.75) concerns a physical
relationship of a whole human being with other human beings, or
with nonhuman beings. Three types of this form of exclusivism
will be briefly considered here: 'parental', 'household-based'
and 'residential exclusivism'.
Parental exclusivism(X.300) is
exism re parenthood or
childlessness. The object may be parenthood or childlessness in a
'biological', that is, generative, sense, or in a 'social' sense
comprising adopted children and parents as well. (Adoption
must, then, not be understood in a purely formal sense: such
adoption is 'cultural', that is, 'nonphysical'.) The disjunctive
manifestations of both generative and adoptive parental
exclusivism (X.600 & 601) are parenthood-centered and childlessness-
centered exclusivism (if generative: X.600.14 & 15). A
few manifestations of generative parenthood-centered exclusivism
are:
- the order to produce offspring by someone who does not
have children of
'er --historically, 'his'-- own
(this is an external aggrandizing component);
- the obsession or sentimental
preoccupation with 'biological' parenthood by someone who
cannot have a child of her or his own (sentimental external
aggrandizemental); and
- hatred, uneasiness or ignorance with
respect to (generative) parenthood by someone who has no children
'imself (sentimental external
abnegational).
Manifestations of generative childlessness-centered exclusivism are:
- discomfort or abnegational self-consciousness with respect
to one's (generative) childlessness, for example, when not able
to produce any offspring (sentimental self-abnegational); and
- condemnation of (generative) childlessness, for example,
when the person condemned has chosen not to have any children,
by someone who has children of 'er own (external abnegating).
Household-based exclusivism (X.301) is exism re the type of
household (a) human being(s) constitute or belong to. If the
categorization of a household is based on the number of people
in such a household, the exclusivism is of the quantitative
type. Dimensional manifestations of quantitative household-based
exclusivism (X.603) are, for example, single, dual and plural
household-centered exism. A 'single household' is the household
of a person living on 'er own. A 'dual household' is, for
example, the household of a couple living together without
children or other human beings. A plural household may be called
"a family" so long as its members need not be consanguineous or
married to each other. Preferential treatment of, or exclusive
orientation towards families with one mother, one father and one
or more children, and discrimination or neglect of singles and
couples without children, are de facto forms of aggrandizemental
nondual plural household-centered exclusivism (X.603.21.2).
Discrimination or neglect of families with (two parents and) one
or more children, and preferential treatment of, or exclusive
orientation towards, singles and/or couples without children,
are de facto abnegational components of the same dimensional
exism (X.603.21.3).
Residential exclusivism (X.302) is exism re the fixedness of
the relationship between a person's or group's residence and the
land. The first disjunctive of this attitude or practise concerns
nomads and caravan- or boat-dwellers, that is,
people without a fixed residence who maintain a migratory way of life
by traveling from place to place; the second disjunctive concerns
house-dwellers or members of a settled community. Abnegational
discrimination of, and a lack of respect for, people without a fixed
residence by house-dwellers amounts to self-aggrandizing
house-dwelling-centered exclusivism (X.302.15.8).
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