I bring this one up every time someone brings up Chesterton's Fence arguments about stuff like this.
Why was left handedness considered taboo and evil? Do we need to figure out a legitimate reason for this before we can remove the fence? Could there possibly be a legitimate reason for something that clearly absurd?
I mean the point of the argument is to try to find out if there is possibly a legitimate reason, not to assume there was and not explore removing the fence. Sometimes no there was no good reason. Sometimes there was but it’s no longer applicable.For example lots of religious dietary restrictions have reasonable health benefits, especially in a society before modern refrigeration and food safety standards. So while there was a legitimate reason, it’s not nearly as applicable anymore. Discouraging sexual freedom and promiscuity makes a lot more sense in a society without birth control and where every additional mouth to feed means someone isn’t making it through the winter. Less so in a modern society. And sometimes there are absolutely legitimate reasons that have just been lost to time (most commonly captured in the idea that most safety rules and regulations are written in blood)
There could be, but I think the presumption should be that it is normal social evolution to stigmatize minorities. Red-headed people, Jewish/Semitic people, people with cleft palates, on and on.
There seems to be a representation threshold below which any observable minority is considered undesirable. To the extent there is a “legitimate reason” it is probably rooted in evolutionary psychology for avoiding too much genetic variation in small tribes. I submit those fences are the opposite of Chesterton’s fence and can happily be ignored in today’s society.
> evolutionary psychology for avoiding too much genetic variation in small tribes
Hmm. I suspect it's just "other tribes". We humans will make tribes out of literally any distinction, even athletic team preferences. It's kind of our thing.
No comment about Chesterton's Fence but I have heard (but never confirmed!) one reason for left-handed stigma is to do with hygiene. The idea is that before modern hygienic standards (e.g. sinks with soap in every bathroom/kitchen), the left hand was reserved for "dirty work" (we are also considering a time before toilet paper...). So for example when you reach out to shake someone's hand, it would be rude to use the left.
For me, the Chesterton’s Fence principle doesn’t insist that there’s a good reason for everything that needs to be discovered. It says, don’t remove the thing until you understand why it was put there. If you’re sure there’s no good reason, go ahead. But find out first.
