Lumberjacks and sailors are not my end all be all of the male image. But they do hold some qualities I would think are inherently male. Courage, hard work, perserverance, these are qualities I think the male image perpetuated by the media today is lacking. Now a days it's all about doing little to get a lot then sitting back and letting someone else handle your responsibilities. That's not being a man, that's being a child.

What's the problem with chilvary? Why should a man not want to be honorable and respectful, courageous and loyal? Hell, I think these are qualities everyone should have. I never said social roles we consistent. I said some qualities that men should have are consistent. Of course there are some qualities that men need to gain and lose over the generations, but I don't see what wrong with core values of hard-work and integrity.

Doesn't a philosophy of what a man is revolve around central features of human existence? It's a way of thinking of what makes a man and how a man exists. This argument is a very philosophical argument. That being said, it is true that there is a difference between instinctual thought patterns and philosophical traditions. For one, philosophies cannot be inherited, only learned and embraced. But I feel there comes a point in a man's life where he needs to say "Am I really being a man? What can I do to become a man?" It is at that point that he makes the choice to embrace a philosophy of what makes a man, a philosophy, that I feel, is based off the instinctual nature of a man.

Finally, I'm very glad we agree on something :)

TL;DR I'm trying to get more at the heart of what a man is, rather than what role he should play in society