Ethnocentrism as a Form of Intuition in Psychology.pdfVIP

Ethnocentrism as a Form of Intuition in Psychology Thomas Teo York University Angela R. Febbraro Defence RD Canada–Toronto Abstract. Ethnocentrism is conceptualized as a basic Kantian form of intuition that plays a knowledge-producing role. Although all cultures have developed their particular forms of intuition, the focus of this analysis is on Western ethnocentrism, which is discussed in four psychological manifes- tations. The most explicit expression of Western ethnocentrism in aca- demia is scientific racism, which has been an important research program in the history of the science of mental life. Another manifestation of ethnocentrism as a form of intuition in Western psychology is researchers’ prejudices, which play a significant role in the context of discovery. Besides these two explicit manifestations of ethnocentrism, a hidden one is analyzed, which expresses itself in terms of exclusion or disregard of non- Western views, or in their assimilation without a reconceptualization of mental life. In this type of ethnocentrism it is assumed that Western psychological conceptualizations are superior. Finally, a fourth manifesta- tion is discussed, which expresses itself in the institutional practices of academia, such as hiring, publishing and teaching. Key Words: culture, epistemology, ethnocentrism, prejudice, scientific racism Epistemologists have long proposed that knowledge is fundamentally lim- ited and does not mirror the natural world. The early empiricist Francis Bacon (1965) suggested at the beginning of the 17th century that purported psychological causes