Round - IX - Ishita

Read previous round here. Table of Contents here.

1. Kindly refrain from misquoting me. I said 'all men are mortals' implies that 'if a creature is not mortal, then that creature is not a man'. This is vastly different from saying 'all mortals are men'. And as I said before, this is called Transposition. And it is hardly 'my' logic.

2. Legal personality MAY be conferred upon an organization because it is a collection of natural persons who share common rights and obligations and MAY therefore be treated as a single unit. 'May' in legal parlance includes 'May not'. An organization SHALL not be given legal personality if it is not incorporated or can't be incorporated. 'Shall' in legal parlance does not include 'shall not'. This is a topic of jurisprudence, not organizational behaviour.

3. A Natural person is someone who is entitled to all the fundamental human rights including legal personality (See Art. 6 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, Part III of the Constitution of India).

Thus, by applying the logic of transposition, we arrive at the textbook definition of Dehumanization i.e. if a person is not a legal person, she is not a natural person, and is consequently dehumanized.

In fact, each example of dehumanization cited by me fits this definition because it is in direct contravention of some aspect of personhood and human rights.

See also the Mission Statement of the Beijing Platform for Action which states:

"Equality between women and men is a matter of human rights and a condition for social justice and is also a necessary and fundamental prerequisite for equality, development and peace."

4. All crime may be said to originate from dehumanization – whether animalistic or mechanistic. Even though Feminism deals with the very specific origins and impact of the dehumanization of people on the basis of gender, it also takes Intersectionality into account.

5. Paragraph 16 of the Beijing Declaration of Indigenous Women adopted at The Beijing Conference is not a criticism of Feminism. In fact, that document emphasizes the rise and pre-eminence of 'indigenous' feminism as opposed to the 'white women's burden' and 'one size fits all' attitude of Western feminist activists . It only reinforces my point that multiple forms and approaches to feminism exist across the globe.

6. One may either believe that women should be politically, economically, and socially equal to men or that they should not. Or they may be indifferent to the issue. There is nothing fascist or democratic about such belief.

7. Consider the following definitions:

Epistemology (ɪˌpɪstɪˈmɒlədʒi,ɛ-/)

Noun PHILOSOPHY

the theory of knowledge, especially with regard to its methods, validity, and scope, and the distinction between justified belief and opinion.

Philosophy (fɪˈlɒsəfi/)

noun

1. the study of the fundamental nature of knowledge, reality, and existence, especially when considered as an academic discipline.

"the philosophies of Plato and Aristotle"

the study of the theoretical basis of a particular branch of knowledge or experience.

"the philosophy of science"

synonyms: thinking, reasoning, thought, wisdom, knowledge

2. a theory or attitude that acts as a guiding principle for behaviour.

"don't expect anything and you won't be disappointed, that's my philosophy"

synonyms: beliefs, credo, faith, convictions, ideology, ideas, thinking, notions, theories, doctrine, tenets, values, principles, ethics, attitude, line, view, viewpoint, outlook, world view, school of thought;

The two words are not synonymous. Please refrain from using them synonymously. Positivism, logical positivism, and constructivism fall under the latter category, as does feminism.

8. Feminist epistemology is described as being concerned with the way in which gender influences our concept of knowledge and "practices of inquiry and justification". It is also a fairly recent development.

For more info on the subject, you may read the following:

http://www.iep.utm.edu/fem-epis/

http://www-personal.umich.edu/~eandersn/hownotreview.html

http://www.feministes-radicales.org/wp-content/uploads/2012/03/Longino-Lennon-Feminist-Epistemology-as-a-Local-Epistemology-Copie.pdf

9. Feminist theory seeks to understand the cause and impact of gender inequality through the analysis of human phenomena. It has got nothing to do with reducing every human phenomenon to the issue of gender equality.

10. The motivation behind all feminist activism is the basic belief in and aspiration to the social, economic and political equality of the sexes. This belief most certainly did not originate in the West. (See Bhagavad Gita IX 32). However activism fuelled by these beliefs did gather momentum during the Enlightenment movements in 17th and 18^th century Europe.

11. All the visionaries named in our discussion were motivated by these same beliefs. Ergo, they were feminists.

They acted against malpractices ingrained in Indian culture such as sati, child marriage, and prohibition of widow remarriage. They called for education and empowerment of women, and the inclusion of women in public and political fora. Some of their reforms were sanctioned by the British government and drew the ire of the public - becoming one of the provocations for the Revolt of 1857.

Western feminist activists were fighting for these same things around the same time, albeit in different ways. All of these visionaries were aware of Western feminist movements and tailored their philosophy to meet local needs.

12. Saying that Feminism is not a necessary condition for improving the woman condition is like saying that Emancipation is not necessary for improving the conditions of the enslaved and that Decolonialization is not necessary for the welfare of the natives. It is technically true and ultimately useless.

13. Feminism has existed in India since the era of these visionaries, and has been responsible for the improvement in the condition of women here. The need of the hour is to strengthen this movement and to carry it out in conjunction with the fight against oppression of the lower castes and other forms of oppression. See Intersectionality.

Read next round here.