Wisdom of repugnance

The wisdom of repugnance or "appeal to disgust",[1] also known informally as the yuck factor,[2] is the belief that an intuitive (or "deep-seated") negative response to some thing, idea, or practice should be interpreted as evidence for the intrinsically harmful or evil character of that thing. Furthermore, it refers to the notion that wisdom may manifest itself in feelings of disgust towards anything which lacks goodness or wisdom, though the feelings or the reasoning of such 'wisdom' may not be immediately explicable through reason.

Origin and usage

The term "wisdom of repugnance" was coined in 1997 by Leon Kass, chairman (2001–2005) of the President's Council on Bioethics, in an article in The New Republic,[3] which was later expanded into a further (2001) article in the same magazine,[4] and also incorporated into his 2002 book Life, Liberty, and the Defense of Dignity.[5] Kass stated that disgust was not an argument per se, but went on to say that "in crucial cases... repugnance is the emotional expression of deep wisdom, beyond reason's power fully to articulate."

The term originated in discussions of bioethics. It is often used by those who accept its underlying premise; i.e., that repugnance does, in fact, indicate wisdom. It is thus often viewed as loaded language, and is primarily used by certain bioconservatives to justify their position.

The concept is also used in the study of controversies such as same-sex marriage,[6][7][8] pornography,[9] marijuana legalization,[10] alternative sexualities[11] and legalization of abortion.[12] In all cases, it expresses the view that one's "gut reaction" might justify objecting to some practice even in the absence of a persuasive rational case against that practice.

Criticism

The wisdom of repugnance has been criticized, both as an example of a fallacious appeal to emotion and for an underlying premise which seems to reject rationalism. Although mainstream science concedes that a sense of disgust most likely evolved as a useful defense mechanism (e.g. in that it tends to prevent or prohibit potentially harmful behaviour such as inbreeding, cannibalism, and coprophagia), social psychologists question whether the instinct can serve any moral or logical value when removed from the context in which it was originally acquired.

Martha Nussbaum explicitly opposes the concept of a disgust-based morality. Nussbaum notes that disgust has been used throughout history as a justification for persecution. For example, at various times racism, antisemitism, sexism, and homophobia have all been driven by popular repulsion.[13]

Stephen Jay Gould has remarked that "our prejudices often overwhelm our limited information. [They] are so venerable, so reflexive, so much a part of our second nature, that we never stop to recognize their status as social decisions with radical alternatives—and we view them instead as given and obvious truths."[14]

British bioethicist John Harris replied to Kass's view by arguing that, "there is no necessary connection between phenomena, attitudes, or actions that make us uneasy, or even those that disgust us, and those phenomena, attitudes, and actions that there are good reasons for judging unethical. Nor does it follow that those things we are confident are unethical must be prohibited by legislation or regulation."[15]

The word squick was created within BDSM subculture in reaction to this sort of reasoning, and denotes a "gut reaction" of disgust without the implication of any sort of actual moral judgment.[16]

gollark: Brain[BEE EXPUNGED}?
gollark: Hello.
gollark: It can't be worse than all the big C codebases out there.
gollark: Yes but not the second one.
gollark: Write conversion to/from null terminated ones and maybe some basic functions to operate on it.

See also

References
  1. Nussbaum, Martha (July 15, 2004). "Discussing Disgust" (Interview). Interviewed by Reason. Retrieved September 5, 2012.
  2. Cohen, Patricia (Jan 31, 2008). "Economists Dissect the 'Yuck' Factor". The New York Times.
  3. Kass, Leon R. (June 2, 1997). "The Wisdom of Repugnance". The New Republic. 216 (22). Washington, DC: CanWest. pp. 17–26.
  4. Kass, Leon R (May 21, 2001). "Preventing a Brave New World: Why We Should Ban Human Cloning Now". The New Republic. 224 (21). pp. 30–39.
  5. Kass, Leon R. (2002). Life, Liberty, and the Defense of Dignity. Encounter Books. ISBN 1-893554-55-4.
  6. Terrizzi, Jr., John A.; Shook, Natalie J.; Ventis, W. Larry (2010). "Disgust: A predictor of social conservatism and prejudicial attitudes toward homosexuals". Personality and Individual Differences. 49 (6): 587–592. doi:10.1016/j.paid.2010.05.024.
  7. Smith, David (2011). Less than human : why we demean, enslave, and exterminate others. New York: St. Martin's Press. ISBN 978-0-312-53272-7. OCLC 651912610.
  8. Frank, Nathaniel (2014-02-21). "How the Mind Rationalizes Homophobia". The Atlantic. Retrieved 2019-09-11.
  9. Fleischman, Diana S.; Hamilton, Lisa Dawn; Fessler, Daniel M. T.; Meston, Cindy M. (2015-06-24). Mazza, Marianna (ed.). "Disgust versus Lust: Exploring the Interactions of Disgust and Fear with Sexual Arousal in Women". PLOS ONE. Public Library of Science (PLoS). 10 (6): e0118151. Bibcode:2015PLoSO..1018151F. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0118151. ISSN 1932-6203. PMC 4479551. PMID 26106894.
  10. Bostwick, J. Michael (2012). "Blurred Boundaries: The Therapeutics and Politics of Medical Marijuana". Mayo Clinic Proceedings. Elsevier BV. 87 (2): 172–186. doi:10.1016/j.mayocp.2011.10.003. ISSN 0025-6196. PMC 3538401. PMID 22305029.
  11. Brown, Nadia; Gershon, Sarah Allen (2017-01-02). "Body politics". Politics, Groups, and Identities. Informa UK Limited. 5 (1): 1–3. doi:10.1080/21565503.2016.1276022. ISSN 2156-5503.
  12. Cahill, Courtney Megan (2013). "Abortion and disgust" (PDF). Harvard Civil Rights-Civil Liberties Law Review. Retrieved 2019-09-11.
  13. Nussbaum, Martha C. (August 6, 2004). "Danger to Human Dignity: The Revival of Disgust and Shame in the Law". The Chronicle of Higher Education. Washington, DC. Retrieved 2007-11-24.
  14. Gould, Stephen Jay (1997). Full House: The Spread of Excellence From Plato to Darwin. Harmony. ISBN 0-517-70849-3.
  15. Harris, John (1998). Clones, Genes, and Immortality: Ethics and the Genetic Revolution. Oxford: Oxford University Press. p. 37. ISBN 0-19-288080-2.
  16. Barrett, Grant (ed.) (June 23, 2005). "Squick". Double-Tongued Dictionary. Brooklyn, NY: Grant Barrett. Retrieved 2007-11-24.CS1 maint: extra text: authors list (link)

General references
  • Hughes, James J. (8 January 2010). "Problems of Transhumanism: The Unsustainable Autonomy of Reason". Institute for Ethics and Emerging Technologies. Retrieved 10 September 2019. ...there is likewise no rational reason why society should reject taboos and superstition in favor of a transhuman future; value judgments in favor of tradition, faith, and taboo, or in favor of progress, reason, and liberty both stem from pre-rational premises...We need to learn the courage to acknowledge that...Reason is a good tool but that our values and moral codes are not grounded in Reason.
  • McGee, Glenn (2000). ""Playing God: Fears About Genetic Engineering"". The Perfect Baby: A Pragmatic Approach to Genetics (2nd ed.). New York, NY: Rowman & Littlefield. ISBN 0-8476-9759-2. Reviewed in The Journal of the American Medical Association (subscription required; access date November 24, 2007)
  • Bloom, Paul (July 22, 2004). "To Urgh Is Human". The Guardian. London and Manchester: Guardian Media Group. pp. "Science" section. Retrieved 2007-11-24.
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