Distinction Making Critters
Focus on People
Keywords:
convocation, tuten, human, distinctions, presumptuous, critters, 2023, spring, beachley award, distinction-making, personalAbstract
Beachley Award for Distinguished Service Address, Spring Convocation Ceremony May 2, 2023.
Dr. James H. Tuten, the Dr. Charles R. and Shirley A. Knox Professor of History at Juniata College, discusses the human propensity to make distinctions about one another. He draws on many examples of distinction-making, including some that are personal, to help those in the audience understand the nature of what he defines as Presumptuous Distinction Making. By understanding how and why people tend to make distinctions between one another, he argues, we can learn about the past as well as the present. Dr. Tuten recommends that to become the best kind of “critters,” we need to have a growth mindset and focus on knowing people rather than making distinctions.
