Prejudice
From The Art and Popular Culture Encyclopedia
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- "I never read a book I must review, it prejudices you so." --Oscar Wilde
In its original usage, the word prejudice referred to a prejudgment, or an evaluation or decision made before the facts of a case could be properly determined and weighed. This usage was subsequently broadened to include any unreasonable attitude that is unusually resistant to rational influence.
It has to be stressed that prejudice is simply the formation of a judgement without direct or actual experience, not merely holding a politically unpopular view. Prejudiced views are often necessary at times for human survival as we don't always have time to form a personal view on a potential foe before adopting a defensive stance which could save our lives. To these ends a prejudicial or instinctive view on a person or situation is useful and aids survival.
This must be differentiated from viewpoints accumulated though direct life experience. These are definitively not prejudiced, conditioned or necessarily instinctive. They are not pre-judgements but post-judgements. Arguments which assert that all politically inconvenient views are based in lack of sufficient life inexperience begs the question - how much life experience is required before a person is entitled to a viewpoint?. If the assertion is made that no amount of experience ever entitles a person to a viewpoint then this precipitates a logical absurdity. Since anyone who opposes strongly held views must, by their own definition, also be prejudiced this invalidates their own proposition on the grounds of like prejudice. If every point of view is biased then there can simply be no objectivity. Is this really the case?.
Those who detract from the validity of personally held experienced viewpoints commonly cite racism or homophobia as cases without examining the actual proposition in more depth. Another interesting intellectual conundrum is to consider whether deeply held spiritual or religious views are also prejudiced since they are commonly not based on direct experience.
Confusion is often found in common speech between terms for personal views held in the light of experience and the legal term for a judgement having been passed. In law, the phrase "With Prejudice" implies a judgement having been made after the presentation of evidence. The term does not imply any form of bias.
Related
bias -
exprience -
judgment -
racism -
relativism -
sexism -
world view
