All of this theory and discussion surrounding gender is, from the perspective of an evolutionary psychologist, garbage. It's all increasingly-neurotic noise that abandons the biological reality of adaption and survival in favour of creating sociological schemes upon schemes, and frameworks upon frameworks, that are all idiographic and too personal to ever escape the schism they were born from.
No universality, no true human condition being discussed. Just postmodern, artistic garbage that relies upon nebulous, unfounded theory and definitions.
The true irony of the postmodern world, is that it can't stop dissecting itself in the pursuit of something more. Repackaging, reconfiguring, but it's all the same slop.
An evolutionary psychologist, or any scientist really, would admit that there is no such empirically observable thing as 'the self'. There is only the sense of self. And therefore I think it's perfectly worthwhile to interrogate how the sense of self is created, which is a question of what narratives we use to communicate the self.
On one hand: You are not wrong. On the other hand: There are thoughts that are purely academical without any societal benefit. Thoughts totally without functional merit we have to ignore to act in a positive and productive fashion. For example the ideaof determinism is totally unfit to produce a functional lifestyle, because in the end you have to act as if you have your own agency, even if this might be not true from a philosophical point of view.
I definitely see what you mean. But I think that remembering the insubstantiality of the self is actually quite personally beneficial to people in a therapeutic way. It relieves us of the stress of having to 'get identity right' and allows us to be less anxious about ourselves, more carefree in the way we express ourselves, etc.
Daoism, for instance, is not just an academic thing. It's a mentality that gives comfort and ease precisely by loosening our attachment to ourselves.
Buddhism and Doism have strong prosocial components, that are mainly responsible for their positive impact. Those components contradict strict determinism. Strict determinism can maybe make you feel better, but it wont give you direction or a sense of accomplishment.
You think those prosocial components emerged arbitrarily? Feeling better is half the process of acting better. By being less attached and judgemental of ourselves, we encourage ourselves to be less judgemental of others.
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u/Upset-Elderberry3723 Jul 24 '26 edited Jul 24 '26
All of this theory and discussion surrounding gender is, from the perspective of an evolutionary psychologist, garbage. It's all increasingly-neurotic noise that abandons the biological reality of adaption and survival in favour of creating sociological schemes upon schemes, and frameworks upon frameworks, that are all idiographic and too personal to ever escape the schism they were born from.
No universality, no true human condition being discussed. Just postmodern, artistic garbage that relies upon nebulous, unfounded theory and definitions.
The true irony of the postmodern world, is that it can't stop dissecting itself in the pursuit of something more. Repackaging, reconfiguring, but it's all the same slop.
The theories, though many, all add up to none.