Discussion

Welcome to the Human Nature Dictionary discussion page. Conversation about the implications of the Human Nature Dictionary project are welcome. To edit this page, add yourself as an editor to the wiki. Or you can email me your thoughts and, with your permission, I'll share them here.

Thanks for participating!

Freedom Baird, editor

_______________

Mar 31 2016 Post by Freedom Baird

I had a really good discussion with Sharon Dunn and her graduate students about the Human Nature Dictionary. Some ideas and concerns that came up included:

- Defining otherwise undefined things can be reductionist. Is it better to leave them un-labeled? Is it better to experience them rather than to "know" about them?  Experience without language can be transcendent.

- Language itself may be the thing that separates us from nature. So, are we solving a problem by creating a problem?

- Creating language may be an imperial project. For example there was always a botanist on board every colonial voyage, cataloging and defining their "findings". So, how do we insure that the Human Nature Dictionary is inclusive and empowering? One suggestion: include perspectives that dismantle the imperial nature of language. Another suggestion (from my friend Nina) - offer the option for participants to creatively subvert the definitions.

- Where are word-coinings for the Dictionary being held? Who is being invited to attend?

- As the editor of the Human Nature Dictionary am I mainly providing a platform for language creation? Or am I also creating language?

- How should we handle language that is potentially offensive. E.g. I used the word "bum" in one of the definitions. It has potentially derogatory connotations around homelessness, vagrancy.  Should we swap in a different word?