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Opening Arguments

Girlie men and macho gals

Rationality is gender-neutral:

The idea that ``female values" would save the world was popular in the 1980s, when the Cold War seemed to have no end and fears of nuclear annihilation ran high. Back then, many feminist commentators embraced psychologist Carol Gilligan's 1982 book ``In a Different Voice," which affirmed that female ethical thinking was rooted in care, compassion, and connection to others, in contrast to the male language of abstract justice, rights, and self-assertion. Peace activist Dr. Helen Caldicott argued that the nuclear arms race was a product of the male ego with its ``my-missiles-are-bigger-than-yours" posturing.

Yet subsequent research has found that men and women don't differ much in their moral reasoning, and that both sexes apply the principles of justice and care to ethical dilemmas.

Posted in: Current Affairs
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