Summary of the January 12th meeting of the Hong Kong Philosophy Cafe
Topic: "Are men and women really that different?"
Clifford began his introduction by mentioning Allan and Barbara Pease's book,
*Why Men Don't Listen and Women Can't Read Maps*, which argues that the masculine
and feminine brains are pre-wired with certain basic differences. He pointed out
two philosophically significant respects in which human beings differ from other
animals: we express a greater range of emotions; and we have a greater ability
to quantify, through mathematical thinking, etc. These correspond to differences
that are typically attributed more to women and men, respectively. Thus, men
tend to think in a digital, "slice and dice", way, whereas women tend to depend
more on analog or "circular" reasoning. The obvious differences, such as
different body parts and different chemical/hormonal reactions, do seem to be
pre-wired: we do not seem to have a choice with regard to these aspects of our
personal identity. He concluded his introduction by suggesting that, despite
such differences, men and women share a common goal, which is to live a
fulfilling life; the pursuit of happiness applies equally to males and females.
Tony started off the discussion by opining that "really" is the key word in
considering this topic. It suggests that biological differences are not the
ultimate issue; social conditioning may be more significant. Moi Ying related
this to the "nature vs. nurture" debate, and asked if anyone has done any
thorough research on the topic. Tom cast doubt on whether such research would be
helpful, given the fact that nobody knows exactly how all the information we
have available should be tied together. Interpreting the facts is not always as
straightforward as it might at first appear to be. As an example, he cited the
apparent link between women having lower levels of testosterone than men and
their being less competitive race car drivers. Such differences do not seem to
be culturally induced, since the same differences crop up in different cultures
all over the world (e.g., the tendency of women to wear makeup). Likewise, the
fact that the greatest achievers in most professions (even traditionally
feminine ones, such as cooking) tend to be men. This cannot be a result of
greater brain power, which tends to be roughly equal; rather, it appears to
correlate to hormonal differences. Tony responded by pointing out that we cannot
be sure which is the cause and which is the effect: hormones, or sex
differences.
Ivy suggested that we should base our discussion on our own experiences rather
than on scientific evidence. Stereotypes are too common, and we can easily cite
counterexamples; so it is better to refer to "masculine" and "feminine", rather
than "men" and "women". This leaves room for the fact that each one of us is
partly masculine and partly feminine. Along these lines, Moi Ying suggested that
we take a poll to find out whether those in attendance think that men and women
are fundamentally the same or different in their behavior and thought. Steve
asked for clarification: should we assume the question refers to "male" and
"female" differences or to "masculine" and "feminine" differences? Tom pointed
out that the latter pair of terms is as difficult to define as the former.
Bianca asserted that there must be differences. Clifford reminded us that he is
interested to explore whether such differences are socially-conditioned or part
of our basic nature. Steve further suggested that the issues of behavior and
thought ought to be considered separately, since some people might think men and
women are fundamentally different in only one of these areas.
After considerable discussion of the pros and cons of different ways of taking
such a poll, we settled on four options: nobody supported the option that there
are no major differences; seven people affirmed differences in both behavior and
thought; four people claimed the differences relate only to behavior, not to
thought; and nobody admitted to believing there are differences in thought but
not in behavior. Four people abstained from voting. Various brief comments were
then made about the implications of these results, following which we took a 20
minute break.
The second part of the discussion began with Steve explaining why he had been so
concerned to distinguish between thought and behavior when deciding on what form
the poll would take. He defended his vote for differences in behavior but not in
thought by referring to a principle established by the philosopher Donald
Davidson. Davidson's principle states that communication between people would be
impossible if we did not agree on nearly everything; people disagree on only a
very small minority of issues. Our disagreements seem to be fundamental, but
this is because we hardly ever talk about the many facts and issues we agree on.
Steve said that on this basis he believes behavior differences between men and
women are fundamental because they are rooted in obvious physical (hormonal).
Men and women do sometimes appear to think differently, but this is only an
extension of behavioral differences; the vast majority of the time, male-
thinking and female-thinking follow exactly the same rules and patterns.
The discussion then turned to a focus on the role of culture. Tom noted that
there are very few female mathematicians, but added that even this could be a
result of cultural influences. Clifford called attention to the Pygmalion
Principle, which states that beliefs determine how we experience the world.
Nearly all differences between people, he suggested, are a result of cultural
conditioning. Moi Ying observed that men usually have a drive to succeed,
whereas women tend to be more easily satisfied with simply having a good family
life.
Clifford then posed a thought experiment: imagine a woman and a man are stranded
on two nearby islands. What would they do? Tom claimed that the man would surely
find some way of traveling to the woman's island, whereas the woman would
probably be happy to stay where she was. Several others expressed opinions as to
how the man's responses would tend to differ from the woman's.
As an attempt to account for such differences, Steve sketched a possible
biological explanation, with a Darwinian twist. Female bodies are able to
complete no more than one successful pregnancy per year; males, by contrast, are
capable of fathering several thousand children in a year. From a purely
evolutionary standpoint, therefore, it is more consistent with female survival
to prefer monogamous relationships and more consistent with male survival to
prefer polygamous relationships. Clifford considered this to be a dubious way of
justifying a playboy lifestyle. Steve clarified that he doesn't regard this as
an excuse to act on one's natural urges, but only as an explanation for why male
and female urges tend to differ so radically. The question of how a person
actually behaves is a moral issue that may have little or no relation to such
biological considerations. Tom agreed that male-female relationships are based
on reasoned *choices*, as informed by one's culture. He noted that there is a
subculture in China where the women are actually responsible for mate selection.
Moi Ying partially agreed with Steve's hypothetical theory, but claimed that it
does not explain all types of differences. She suggested that the content of
males' and females' thoughts are basically the same; but the *way* they think is
fundamentally different. Several others agreed with her. Tom, for example,
expressed a similar point by saying that the *processes* are the same, whereas
the assumptions and the significance given to the thoughts are different. He
repeated that insufficient information is the main problem in addressing such
issues.
The meeting ended with Clifford expressing further reservations about Steve's
biological explanation of differences and commenting that the discussion had not
been very conclusive.
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