Debate Over Multiculturalism in the Arts, Continued

In the June 9 Letters section, Steve Green asserts that “reason . . . transcends all cultures as an epistemological absolute” and that it can be used by individuals to discern “good and bad in art of any genre, regardless of culture.”

Unfortunately for Green, reason is itself a culturally specific phenomenon; this is true in two senses, both of which pose problems for his argument.

First, not all cultures value reason and logic as the final arbiters of truth. And perhaps more important, among those cultures that do have such values, the term reason itself means different things. It is meaningless until it is placed in a specific cultural context.

Objective evaluation is a contradiction in terms. A true critical consciousness is one that seeks to understand and articulate one’s personal, subjective, partial perspective. It does not compete with or seek to silence other opinions. It simply adds its own opinion to those already in circulation.

ANDY PERRY

Los Angeles

20th Century Fox