A couple of days ago on twitter I dropped the tweet “Imagine the writings of a 150 IQ mind, interpreted by a 125 IQ mind, and written for 100 IQ minds, retold by a 100 IQ mind to another.” This tweet was inspired by an internal debate I’ve been having as a result of observing the reactions to some of the recent additions to sphere knowledge and philosophy. When one writes a text one does so in part based on ones own subjective knowledge base, understanding and perspectives, which means that even when writing based on empiricism or by constructing a theoretical framework based on the work of others, one inevitably fuses the mind-independent facets of the work with the subjective aspects of the work.
For instance, when I write an article based on the concepts of supply and demand, part of the article will be based on the accepted academic concepts of supply and demand, however the article will also, in part reflect my understanding of the concepts, interpretation of the concepts and the strictness with which I apply them. Gendernomics draws on accepted concepts and theoretical frameworks from economics, yet in order to apply them I do need to abstract these concepts to a level or two above their application in economics in order to then re-apply them to intersexual dynamics. In doing so the degree of objectivity declines, and subjectivity increases, however I always make it a goal when writing such essays to minimize the level of subjective liberty I grant myself. This is done in order to ensure that a reader who elects to read economic theory after reading Gendernomics will not have been overly influenced by my subjective mind, and thus find that the concepts he then learns are alien to him.
A second motivation is that many people never get around to reading the primary sources, they rely on secondary and tertiary sources, at which point the original idea has been infused with additional data through multiple interpretations, perspectives, biases and levels of understanding. For instance, when I read Nietzsche, I do so in English, however it was originally written in German, thus the interpretation of meaning by the translator will have affected the text. To see this effect, look no further than the many different versions of the Bible that exist on the market, all share the same outline for the most part, but individual sentences and verses differ. Continue reading