Trap of Generalization and Merit of Conceptualization ~ There is no one-size-fits-all solutions ~
When I introduce myself, surely, I mention my nationality: Japanese.
Then, most of the people reply: "Oh, so you practice martial arts right? Karate?? Jyudo??? You must be strong!! You even have a Samurai hairstyle!! Do you know how to use sword!!???"
(my hairstyle now,,,,,,,↓)
......sorry, I do not practice any of them, but I dance Hip Hop and Salsa.....sorry for being too Americanized and Latinized.....hahaha,,,
Generalization.
People always have certain image (ex. Martial Arts) of something (ex. Japanese) and try to understand it describing the common feature of it and "tagging" it with a word or the combination of words.
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
- -
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
①
Should those be appreciated as cultural habits or are those violation of justice?
The problem here is that we cannot generalize these situations using those "tags".
If you say Salsa Dancing, what kind of Salsa Dancing are you referring to? There are lots of types of Salsa Dancing. Maybe there are styles in which women also lead men.
If you say Female Genital Mutilation, what region's FGM are you talking about? FGM is practiced in broad region. Maybe in certain region, it is practiced forcefully towards women but in some region, it is practiced with the consent of women. (Sorry, I am not familiar with the detailed situation about FGM. Please correct it if there are factual errors.)
The problem here is that once we generalize the habit or custom tagging them with words, we tend to stop thinking about the real and detailed situation inside it.
This is problematic because if we generalize the situation of the world too much, the argument is going to be alienated from the real situation.
There might be commercialized Bullfighting in which they only try to make money out of it where as there might be Bullfighting in which they try to respect the local culture, sustainability and animal rights. (Once again, Im not familiar with Bullfighting. Please point out if Im understanding incorrectly.)
Isn't it rude to tag these two different acts with same word "Bullfighting"? If I were the one who organizes the environmentally friendly, sustainable and traditional Bullfighting, I would be a bit offended.
Too much generalization makes the argument meaningless or useless when it comes to applying the argument to the real world.
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
- -
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
②
However, it is not to say that generalization is always bad.
Actually, language is a product of generalization.
If we completely stop generalizing, we cannot even talk.
For example, let's think about the next sentence: "the ocean is blue"
Depending on the context of the argument, it is important to specify "the ocean" or to depict how blue that is. But normally, we do not do that.
We, humans, have ability to find out the commonality of different things, classify similar type of things and name it. This is how we created words and languages. It is called "conceptualization".
Because we can generalize things, we could create words and languages. It is not an exaggeration to say that the ability to generalize makes us human beings.
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
- -
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
Generalization (or conceptualization) is important. That is how we grasp the image of the world and try to understand it. That is where the solutions for the problems of the world come out.
However, too much generalization fails in understanding the accurate and precise situation of reality.
Especially, graduate school student like me tends to overgeneralize the situation, dedicating himself too much on theoretical argument.
I have to keep the reality of the world in my mind always.
There is no one-size-fits-all generalization in this world. It is always case-by-case.
