MCViewPoint

https://substack.com/inbox/post/136703001

Walter Block

I say that 2+2=3. You aver that 2+2=5. Along comes a mathematician. What does he opine? He maintains that 2+2=4. But he does not say this as we say it. Oh, no. He pontificates about it. He can prove it, through arcane methodology that the two of us simply cannot understand. He states it as an intellectual superior, who will brook no objection; as a colonialist, who is accustomed to bossing around members of the local community; as a slave master, who is never contradicted. Worse, he smirks as he announces his claim.

Even worse, he is typically a straight white man. When I refer to the mathematician as a “he” this is all too true. The Fields Medal is to mathematics as the Nobel Prize is to accomplishments in numerous other areas of science and learning. Since 1936 when it was first awarded. 64 people have been given this honor. How many women are included in this august company? Only two. According to an OECD study: “Boys perform better than girls in maths. They scored higher in 37 out of the 65 countries and economies, while girls outperform boys in 5 countries.” Need we say more? Yes, indeed, we do need to do so. And what can be said is that both men and women are of equal ability; they are equal in every imaginable way (to doubt this is to be a sexist). How, then, to account for this wide disparity? Sexism of course. Men are mainly in charge of selecting Fields Medal honorees, and naturally, they favor members of their own gender. As to boys outperforming girls, this is due to sexism, obviously. To mention any other possible explanation, is fascistic and offensive; it makes me feel unsafe.

Secondly, mathematics ignores lived experiences. Everyone knows that there is an important connection between certain racial groups and lived experiences. According to the Cambridge Dictionary, lived experiences are the things that someone has experienced themselves, especially when these give the person a knowledge or understanding that people who have only heard about such experiences do not have. In the view of one commentator: “Lived experiences (are) key to achieve racial justice and equality.” But mathematics completely eschews “lived experiences.” Thus, it undermines the epistemology of such racial demographics. A similar situation applies to “alternative ways of knowing,” and “multiple narratives.” Math gives the back of its hand to these options, also connected to some racial groups. Thus it is totally unconscionable.

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