grammar correction/proof reading essay

Liu

Lingzhi Liu

EAD II

Paul Hufker

September 16th

Universal traits among the world

Throughout the entire human history, people have never stopped debating about the issue of “what universal traits is” . A universal trait is the term to describe that every individual is sharing the same cultural background worldwide. However, for most people around the world their opinions toward “universal trait”are not balanced. According to the author Ethan Watter ’s “ Being Weird: How Culture Shapes the Mind “ , Kwame Appiah’s articles of “ Making Conversation” and “ The Primacy of Practice” , all of these articles are discussing about the universal traits but with a different view of it . Though people may come from different backgrounds, each person has his right to form their own recognition of the world in three ways: education, changing perspective of stereotypes and the conviction of human rights.

Appiah mentioned in his article “ Making Conversation” that under this diverse world, the key to become “cosmopolitan” is “globalized”. However, under the current society, it is hard for people to abandon their own background and fit in the world stage. The way to better solve this problem is through education. Education is the key to unlock the barriers between all odds around the world. “One is the idea that we have obligations to others, obligations that stretch beyond those to whom we are related by the ties of kith and kind, or even the more formal ties of a shared citizenship. The other is that we take seriously the value not just of human life but of particular human lives, which means taking an interest in the practices and beliefs that lend them significance.” One of education's responsibilities is to teach people how to be responsible citizens in any given society. For example , the existence of law is to preventing people from making mistakes.

Since the world has never been this globalized before ,changing perspective of stereotype is necessary for diversified society . “It’s generally agreed that all of us see the world in ways that are sometimes socially and culturally constructed, that pluralism is good, and that ethnocentrism is bad.”[920 ] It is all agreed that currently international interaction play a major role in all society , thus , it is important to recognize people from different backgrounds and places . It was found that where you grew up, and your culture affected how drastically the illusion was seen. Results reported Americans struggling the most to see identical lines. Understanding different cultures and traditions could help you be open-minded in order to become globalized . It had previously been assumed that Western culture was a good basis for human similarities. “the very way we think…makes us distinct from other humans on the planet” (497). The lack of cross cultural research has lead to wide misunderstandings about human kind. Scientists must reevaluate the way they think about the human brain, because it is not as universal as it was once thought to be.“ To avoid stereotyping, …...qualities might be. Challenge liberal arts graduates on their appreciation of cultural diversity and you’ll often find them retreating to the anodyne notion that under the skin everyone is really alike.” [921] Within the different cultures and traditions, the illusion of individuals might be limited under local humanity. Even though we sometimes did not realize the limitation , we should not be constraint by it .

In retrospect through human history, the conviction of human right has only been raised in recent 100 years-- along with the development of the society, people’s awareness of the value of human rights have increased as well . With all the discussions from Kwame Appiah and Ethan Watter , people’s awareness of their human rights. “Because there are so many human possibilities worth exploring, we neither expect nor desire that every person or every society should converge on a single mode of life” (131) In “ Making Conversation” , “ cosmopolitian” is the keyword through out the whole article. However, the reason why people to have the confident and strength to talk about this is because , the higher the education people receive, the deeper the truth people will dig in, and human right is the answer they will get. “ .As we’ll see, there will be times when these two ideals — universal concern and respect for legitimate difference — clash. There’s a sense in which cosmopolitanism is the name not of the solution but of the challenge.” not suprisingly , that “ cosmopolitian “ could only be a goal for the curent society , it would be almost impossible within the 50 years, some human nature which we were born with could never be pure scarification , without any selfishlessness .

In conclusion , education could help people see the world, changing perspective of the ordinary stereotype could bring people a border illusion of this world , and having a convictin of human rights gives people confidence to ensure their meaning of this world. Appiah and Watter are both discussing the universal traits, about whether people with different background share similar traits or not . The answer is yes , even though people with different background , different culture, different perspective of morality, but we are all citizen of the same world . “Conversation doesn’t have to lead to consensus about anything, especially not values; it is enough that it helps people get used to one another”( 82)