Making Up People Theory
According to Ian Hacking Making Up people, based on historical analysis, where it refers to the simultaneous process whereby new ideas serve to create newly categorized kind of people. In order to illustrate the ways in which how people are made up, Ian proposed a new theory called dynamic nominalism, a middle ground between traditional nominalism which contends that “all categories, classes, and taxonomies are given by human minds rather than nature” (165) and traditional realism which contends that categories are given neatly by nature and these categories are not just the result of our minds and whereby this also applies to human beings. In other words, especially when it comes to human reality, the latter asserts that the ontological reality
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what made up people might do and may not do. In other words, such (deduced) knowledge directly influences or determines human action(s). In so doing, Ian shows how new ideas or concepts now expressed in documented words alter, for better or worse, human condition and action both individually and the community at large. To take one of the many examples, Ian contends, for example, in agreement with Arnold Davidson, homosexuality as a disease and perversion and the homosexual as perverted i.e. as a diseased person is a late 19th-century invention. It was an idea conjured or invented and given a new category by so-called experts. As the experts come up with the specific cause, namely the gender inversion, such distinction served as a means whereby new identity effectively came into being.(164) The point is that whereas before, as Ian rightly so identifies, that there were same-sex activity, what was new in the late 19th century is that the experts come up with new kind of cause to distinguish a new kind of human beings for a whole new purpose, namely to control the individual and also as part of socio-cultural …show more content…
As we mentioned earlier, dynamic Nominalism works when new ideas are invented and the new category is set up, by so-called experts, at the same time new kind of people are come into being or made to fit those categories. Yet this new idea was not formed in vacuums rather there were factors and conditions that give rise or set the motion for such invention of ideas. In the case of Black Criminality, for instance, the evolutionary Darwinian concept of human beings as well as the ways in which the socio-cultural development in the form of progressive Era of 1890’s were the main reasons behind the invention of a new concept of classification in the society. As a result, the census was created, new categories were crafted, to determine the inner character, the moral quality, of black people based on the outward action and appearance. Thus based on the data gathered not only newly ascribed ontological reality was created but also newly incriminated, based on skin color, black people identity was created. In other words, the census, where the new ideas were applied, was used to manufacture new kind of people to fit the experts’ or those who were in socio-politico power preconceived idea of the
what made up people might do and may not do. In other words, such (deduced) knowledge directly influences or determines human action(s). In so doing, Ian shows how new ideas or concepts now expressed in documented words alter, for better or worse, human condition and action both individually and the community at large. To take one of the many examples, Ian contends, for example, in agreement with Arnold Davidson, homosexuality as a disease and perversion and the homosexual as perverted i.e. as a diseased person is a late 19th-century invention. It was an idea conjured or invented and given a new category by so-called experts. As the experts come up with the specific cause, namely the gender inversion, such distinction served as a means whereby new identity effectively came into being.(164) The point is that whereas before, as Ian rightly so identifies, that there were same-sex activity, what was new in the late 19th century is that the experts come up with new kind of cause to distinguish a new kind of human beings for a whole new purpose, namely to control the individual and also as part of socio-cultural …show more content…
As we mentioned earlier, dynamic Nominalism works when new ideas are invented and the new category is set up, by so-called experts, at the same time new kind of people are come into being or made to fit those categories. Yet this new idea was not formed in vacuums rather there were factors and conditions that give rise or set the motion for such invention of ideas. In the case of Black Criminality, for instance, the evolutionary Darwinian concept of human beings as well as the ways in which the socio-cultural development in the form of progressive Era of 1890’s were the main reasons behind the invention of a new concept of classification in the society. As a result, the census was created, new categories were crafted, to determine the inner character, the moral quality, of black people based on the outward action and appearance. Thus based on the data gathered not only newly ascribed ontological reality was created but also newly incriminated, based on skin color, black people identity was created. In other words, the census, where the new ideas were applied, was used to manufacture new kind of people to fit the experts’ or those who were in socio-politico power preconceived idea of the