Overview
People make all kinds of arguments trying to get other people to come on over to their sides. These arguments may or may not seek the truth of the matter. Back in the time of Socrates, a group of wandering, non-Athenian "teachers" called Sophists used to teach young men how to argue on either side of an issue, and this was usually based on personal self-interest. Plato emphatically described them as tricksters and tried to show that Socrates was different because he spoke the truth.
We still have the same issue today. People make arguments based on self-interest having no interest in the truth of the matter. In the following article from Psychology Today, the issue of racism is discussed in terms of stereotyping and social constructs that feed our biases, even if they are not recognized.
Read this article.
Understanding Prejudice, Stereotypes, and Racism | Psychology TodayLinks to an external site.
- Report back what the main idea is and explain how it is presented.
- Define stereotyping.
- Have you heard any specious arguments lately about racism?
- How do the factors discussed continue to contribute to racism and what does the author say we need to do to get beyond this?