Definition
Polylogism (from Greek poly “many” and logos “reason”) is the belief that different groups of people (based on race, gender, class, or sexual orientation) possess fundamentally different ways of thinking, different types of logic, and unique “ways of knowing.” It rejects the idea of a universal, objective logic applicable to all humans, arguing instead that “truth” is relative to the group identity of the thinker.
Why It Matters
Polylogism is the “Intellectual Acid” that dissolves the possibility of universal truth. If you accept that “logic” depends on who is speaking, you destroy the foundation of science, law, and engineering. It leads to a world where we can no longer reason with each other, only fight for power. Protecting the “Universality of Reason” is the only way to maintain a functioning, cooperative civilization.
Core Concepts
- Identity-Based Logic: The premise that a “white male” logic is distinct from a “black female” logic, and that the former is inherently oppressive.
- Mises’s Critique: Ludwig von Mises identified polylogism as a tool used by Marxists and Nazis to dismiss the arguments of their opponents as “class-based” or “race-based” rather than refuting them with logic.
- Feminist Epistemology: A modern instantiation claiming that science and math are “masculine” and that “feminine” ways of knowing prioritize emotion and intuition over “patriarchal” reason.
- The Decolonization of Science: Movements (e.g., “Science Must Fall”) that demand the removal of Western “colonial” science in favor of local, often spiritual, “other ways of knowing.”
- Internal Inconsistency: If polylogism were true, cross-group communication and scientific progress would be impossible, as no shared “yardstick” for truth would exist.