76-133: Persuasion and Comparative Studies
This course explores the challenges involved when we do comparative studies across cultural boundaries. Specifically, it raises the question of how we ground the knowledge about other peoples that we claim our studies have generated. Within our own culture, we justify our "knowledge claims" by appealing to a shared system of signification. When such common system no longer exists, how are we going to certify our observations or opinions? In this course, we will together read what various scholars have said about comparative studies. We will look into the issues and difficulties special to these studies. I would invite you to consider, in particular, the crucial role persuasion and argumentation might play in our effort to understand cross-cultural inquiry or to address its many problems. And I will also give you ample opportunities, through papers and presentations, to define and tackle the problem as you see it.