site banner
PaperclipPerfector  23hr ago (text post)   568 thread views

Small-Scale Question Sunday for October 4, 2026

Do you have a dumb question that you're kind of embarrassed to ask in the main thread? Is there something you're just not sure about?

This is your opportunity to ask questions. No question too simple or too silly.

Culture war topics are accepted, and proposals for a better intro post are appreciated.

Top Bottom Old Controversial Comments
Jump in the discussion.

No email address required.

How about: gentleman. Originally referring to one's rightful birth into a gentry family, then broadly meaning "someone who acts like a gentleman should".

Specifically, Confucius went to great lengths to redefine junzi from its meaning of "nobleman" to the desired Confucian meaning "a man who acts in accordance with Confucian virtues", that is: "someone who acts like a nobleman should".

The term "gentleman", then, is completely analogous to trans-inclusionary meaning of "woman" as "someone who acts like a woman should", by some notion of "should". The last part hides all of the contradictions that trans-exclusionary feminists point to. Who is to say how a woman should act? And can anyone say how a woman should act without either devolving to stereotypes, or broadening to such generalities of virtues to describe people in general?

Confucius, on the other hand, would be very happy if everyone acted like a Confucian gentleman.

The definition of gentleman has actually changed though. Using it for the weird Norwegian royals(there are multiple) who don't meet the behavioral definition would be deeply nonstandard, while all of the wiki examples except Laverne Cox are central examples of the category 'woman' even if some of them have unusual lifestyle decisions.

So "gentleman" either means

  1. An adult male who was born into a gentry family.
  2. An adult male who comports himself as one would expect someone born into a gentry family would, regardless of whether he was born into a gentry family or not.

More or less?

'Gentleman' and 'well bred' indicate a well mannered and well behaved male, with no implication of upper class background. A gentleman from the trailer park or the project wouldn't be the expected outcome, but it wouldn't shock anyone either. Conversely the badly behaved children of celebrities/european nobles are not gentlemen.

They do now. Traditionally it meant you were a member of the gentry i.e. upper class. I believe it meant specifically that you were armigerous (but less sure on that).

The word was a description of rank first and became expanded to behaviour only later.

Yes. I suspect that's a common strategy for virtue ethicists: start with a term that means "high-born", and redefine it to mean "one who lives virtuously". The term "chivalry" underwent this, with Eleanor of Aquitaine's court. "Noble" carries a virtuous connotation.

What is this place?

This website is a place for people who want to move past shady thinking and test their ideas in a court of people who don't all share the same biases. Our goal is to optimize for light, not heat; this is a group effort, and all commentators are asked to do their part.

The weekly Culture War threads host the most controversial topics and are the most visible aspect of The Motte. However, many other topics are appropriate here. We encourage people to post anything related to science, politics, or philosophy; if in doubt, post!

Check out The Vault for an archive of old quality posts. You are encouraged to crosspost these elsewhere.


Why are you called The Motte?

A motte is a stone keep on a raised earthwork common in early medieval fortifications. More pertinently, it's an element in a rhetorical move called a "Motte-and-Bailey", originally identified by philosopher Nicholas Shackel. It describes the tendency in discourse for people to move from a controversial but high value claim to a defensible but less exciting one upon any resistance to the former. He likens this to the medieval fortification, where a desirable land (the bailey) is abandoned when in danger for the more easily defended motte. In Shackel's words, "The Motte represents the defensible but undesired propositions to which one retreats when hard pressed."

On The Motte, always attempt to remain inside your defensible territory, even if you are not being pressed.


New post guidelines

If you're posting something that isn't related to the culture war, we encourage you to post a thread for it. A submission statement is highly appreciated, but isn't necessary for text posts or links to largely-text posts such as blogs or news articles; if we're unsure of the value of your post, we might remove it until you add a submission statement. A submission statement is required for non-text sources (videos, podcasts, images).

Culture war posts go in the culture war thread; all links must either include a submission statement or significant commentary. Bare links without those will be removed.

If in doubt, please post it!


Rules


Recommended Posts And Communities

Recommended Realtime Chats