The Lumper Problem
Before we begin I would like to say what a Lumper is. A Lumper is someone who make generalizations about a group of people based on characteristics they share; such as police officer, black person, poor, or gender. It is easy to be a lumper because it makes the world make a lot of sense in the end. If I say all police officers abuse their power then when a police officer abuses their power I can point and say, "See, I told you. This is why the world is the way it is." You can easily replace any with the other and still have a perfectly understandable world with an objective truth. The lumper has a problem though, the structure of society that they ascribe to cannot tolerate an inconsistency such as X not equaling Y. Now small inconsistencies such as a one in a million case could be passed off as the exception that proves the rule. This is of course a ridiculous thing for them to say because there are no exceptions in an objective truth; it either is or it isn't. As damning as this is, it will not stop a lumper from making a generalization and sticking to it.
The lumper of course can see no power in agency within the structure. The structure influences the actions of the actors and thus they will always follow the structure. X will always be X because the structure will not let them be A or B or anything else. This structure however is not something that just appeared or was always there, it was enacted by someone for the benefit of someone. Even though we have grown up in a structure does not mean that we have no free will of our own within it. We make decisions everyday which slightly alter the structure of the world and begin to change the norms in which we live. The idea that X will always equal Y, or even equals it right now is preposterous as it is weak.
It is the value that the agent has is based on the context that the actions are presented in. A lumper doesn't care for context because this would mean that the objective truth that they subscribe to would also be based solely on the context in which it has been presented in and that would make it VERY subjective. When the lumper says X = Y they are attempting to offer a wide generalization based on numerous events within the same context which is silly because no event happens in the same way every single time. The events themselves therefore must be interpreted by the viewer in whatever context they view it in, which is wholly subjective.
The Lumper Problem is therefore an issue of generalized facts being used to explain a general theory of action by a group and that being touted as the objective truth. This is just laziness or fear that they might have to address the world in a different way than the cozy one they see it in now. That is wholly subjective opinion on my part. ( See, I did it again :D )
The lumper of course can see no power in agency within the structure. The structure influences the actions of the actors and thus they will always follow the structure. X will always be X because the structure will not let them be A or B or anything else. This structure however is not something that just appeared or was always there, it was enacted by someone for the benefit of someone. Even though we have grown up in a structure does not mean that we have no free will of our own within it. We make decisions everyday which slightly alter the structure of the world and begin to change the norms in which we live. The idea that X will always equal Y, or even equals it right now is preposterous as it is weak.
It is the value that the agent has is based on the context that the actions are presented in. A lumper doesn't care for context because this would mean that the objective truth that they subscribe to would also be based solely on the context in which it has been presented in and that would make it VERY subjective. When the lumper says X = Y they are attempting to offer a wide generalization based on numerous events within the same context which is silly because no event happens in the same way every single time. The events themselves therefore must be interpreted by the viewer in whatever context they view it in, which is wholly subjective.
The Lumper Problem is therefore an issue of generalized facts being used to explain a general theory of action by a group and that being touted as the objective truth. This is just laziness or fear that they might have to address the world in a different way than the cozy one they see it in now. That is wholly subjective opinion on my part. ( See, I did it again :D )