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It was a spur of the moment decision to not have a takeout lunch, but instead find someone to sit with that I did not know in the least. I did find someone, and we had a rather interesting discussion about a paper she was reading on race relations. I forgot about some of the things we had discussed until I read Philosophy in the Flesh. During the discussion on “the inescapability of categories,” I suppose, I was predisposed to think about how this idea related to interpersonal categorical relationships.

ie race relations. I wondered how a phrase like, “We do not, and cannot, have full conscious control over how we categorize.” fits into the diversity training that I received in my childhood. It was a very noble venture, eliminate racism by eliminating the differences that we see in each other. However, Lakoff and Johnson might have said that we cannot unwrite our software of categorization. We are all like amoeba separating everything it encounters into food and nonfood.

So perhaps my teachers were mistaken in thinking that our class or anyone else could entirely stop being aware of differences within humanity. Yet, I do not believe that this justifies allowing cultural prototypes ( or stereotypes) to pervade out interaction with our environment. Humanity has traveled a long way since the amoeba. Unlike the amoeba, who moves towards food and away from all else instinctually, we have the ability to choose to investigated those things that fit into the categories we create. Humanity, can explore its environment less selfishly.

Then maybe the way to combat racism, stereotyping, and so forth is not to cut off the discussion and hope it goes away, but to learn about and appreciate the differences in ideas, cultures, and ultimately the INDIVDUAL MINDS of those we encounter. Move towards nonfood, it may prove just as useful in the long run.