'Men vs Women'

Fat Albert (208.155.116.249) -

There are many attempts to determine the difference between the feminine and masculine psyche. Volkmar in his ``Textbook of Psychology'' has attempted to review these experiments. But the individual instances show how impossible is clear and definite statement concerning the matter. Much is too broad, much too narrow; much is unintelligible, much at least remotely correct only if one knows the outlook of the discoverer in question, and is inclined to agree with him. Consider the following series of contrasts.

_Male_ _Female_

Individuality Receptivity (Burdach, Berthold)

Activity Passivity (Daub, Ulrici, Hagemann)

Leadership Imitativeness (Schleiermacher)

Vigor Sensitivity to stimulation (Beneke)

Conscious activity Unconscious activity (Hartmann)

Conscious deduction Unconscious induction (Wundt)

Will Consciousness (Fischer)

Independence Completeness (Krause, Lindemann)

Particularity Generally generic (Volkmann)

Negation Affirmation (Hegel and his school)

Comment #1 Dr. Doug (200.91.169.133) -

Hi Fat Albert,

We finally agree on something-men and women are different. And each of us is unique.

Doug

Comment #2 Amber Stuart (66.0.229.66) -

While I concur that males and females are different, I think that the over-simplifications about one of the most complex aspects of humanity is an injustice to the arguement. Plus, you quote almost exclusively Western Judeo-Christian authors as sources, and do not mention the important philosophical work done in Hindu, Buddhist, and East Asian cultures. Yin Yang? Wet and Dry? Soft and Hard?

A more fruitful idea would be to look at the divisions of labor common in hunter/gatherer cultures -- which we were for nearly 100,000 years -- and see how their development parallels current thought on inter-gender relations.

Amber

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