week 1

Question 1

objection 1 to diamonds view (environmental determinism)

Answer 1

environmental determinism is problematic.
- environmental determinism is not merely the trivial claim that the natural environment influence human action, but rather it assumes that the environment is a better explanation over cultural factors

-Empirical criticism- environmental determinism is a poor explanation- there may be, and often are, cultural reasons to choose a pastoralist economy over an agricultural one, for instance.
-normative criticism- environmental determinism strips human beings of agency- there were similarly intentional decisions to pursue European imperialism and seize resources

Question 2

what is environmental determinism

Answer 2

the explanation for eurasian and North American civilizations survival, growth, and success can be found in geography and other various environmental opportunities- not superior intelligence or inherent ability

• the east/west axis is ultimately responsible for the ships, political organization, and disease that gave europeans the standing for civilizational success.

Question 3

what does it mean to say that Diamond’s view is predicated upon a false premise?

Answer 3

Diamond seems to assume that the things Europeans hold valuable and strive to invent/create are the same things that Africans strive for.

• Yali asks why europeans cannot respect African cultures as they are and still trade with them
• Yali’s question is not about the stuff. it is about the colonial relationship, about why europeans feel the need to colonize Africa
• Diamond also seems to assume that European technological superiority requires explanation, could just be a cultural difference

Question 4

What is Eurocentric diffusionism

Answer 4

the view that cultural processes move from Europe to non-Europe, where non-Europe is the recipient

Question 5

What assumptions must be made in order to think that Eurocentric diffusionism is true

Answer 5

• that outside factors or activities (trade, colonialism) were not themselves extreme benefits to Europe
• that “rationality” or religion, or spirituality were the primary source of European technology- regardless of whether the source is inherently genetic or environmental
• requires the evaluation that colonialisms primary effect was modernization and change, not cultural destruction.

Question 6

how does the charge of eurocentrism challenge diamonds view

Answer 6

Eurocentricism has an undertone of genetic determinism and racism, which was exactly what diamond was trying to avoid in proposing environmental determinism

Question 7

general conclusions from Diamonds argument

Answer 7

diamonds project was aimed at undermining genetic determinism and racism, but the environmental determinism is still problematically Eurocentric

• this is descriptively inadequate, because the explanations for European technological superiority are false
• this is evaluatively (or normatively) inadequate, because it places European superiority at the center of engaging with others’ state.