men, women and cults of unreason

It seems that one of the many ideas accepted as an article of faith by dissident rightists is the women are more irrational than men. The popularity of belief in things like astrology and New Age mysticism is often advanced as evidence of this thesis. But do women really have a monopoly on irrational beliefs?

One of the more spectacular examples of a ludicrously irrational belief system that seemed to be just as popular among men as among women is Freudianism. And of course all the other silly psychoanalytical theories such as Jungianism. Freudianism was if anything even less rational than astrology. It became popular because it appeared to have  a faintly scientific tinge to it but in fact the scientific content to Freud’s theories was absolutely zero. It was a new and exciting belief system and it had no connection with boring traditional beliefs about religion and morality so both men and men swallowed it with enthusiasm.

The truth is that there’s a small number of scientific disciplines that are actually scientific, that are actually testable by the scientific method. Outside of these very narrow fields (such as physics, mathematics, engineering, etc) every belief system is based on faith. The pseudosciences and social sciences (such as anthropology, psychology, sociology, economics, climate science) are not actually scientific at all. Even disciplines such as cosmology are largely speculative. Some of the things that pseudoscientists and social scientists believe may well be true. But in these fields people to a large extent choose their beliefs based on their own prejudices and their own emotions.

People certainly choose their political and economic beliefs because those beliefs appeal to them emotionally. If you find concepts like fairness and justice to be emotionally appealing you’ll probably become a socialist of some variety. If you find concepts like the virtuousness of selfishness and the struggle of all against all to be emotionally appealing you’ll become a free-marketeer. If both greed and total freedom appeal to you emotionally you’ll become a libertarian.

We also choose between rival belief systems like blank slatism or human biodiversity (HBD) on emotional grounds. People who believe in anthropogenic climate change generally do so because it makes them feel virtuous. People who reject anthropogenic climate change do so because it’s emotionally satisfying for them to do so.

Of course men in particular like to think that their beliefs are based on logic and facts but when it comes to most such beliefs the evidence is so sketchy and so ambiguous that they are really matters of faith rather than science.

Is it really any more irrational for women to believe in New Age nonsense or astrology than it is for men to believe passionately in free markets or libertarians, or Marxism?

Men have embraced some pretty kooky political ideologies over the years. And some pretty bizarre religious cults. There are plenty of male Scientologists. And male UFO cultists. Men seem to be more prone to believe in truly bizarre conspiracy theories (the Illuminati, dastardly plots by the Freemasons, etc).

We are not really rational creatures. Men and women tend to be irrational in different ways and to favour different irrational ideas but it’s hard to argue that either sex has a monopoly on either rationality or irrationality.