The Logic Of Political Belief

What is ideology, and what is the scope of its influence? Are all political doctrines ideological? Is there such a thing as a non-political ideology? Can these questions be answered conclusively, and if so by what means? Different conceptions and theories of ideology offer a variety of contradictory answers, resulting in general muddle and confusion. This powerful and original book argues that philosophy alone can give clear and decisive answers to such questions. Its rigorous logical analysis reveals ideology to be a distinctive form of thought with its own particular vocabulary and structure. It is these logical features that define ideology, and not any allegedly necessary connection with social class or fanaticism or even politics. What ideology does necessarily connect with is human action and its moral justification. Understanding the nature of ideological belief goes to the heart of the relationship between theory and practice, and consequently to the way in which human beings understand themselves. The Logic of Political Belief is essential reading for those concerned with political theory, moral philosophy and the social sciences in general. Its outstanding clarity and force of argument will also commend it to all those with an interest in wider political, social and human issues. Contents: Chapter One: Ideology and Confusion; Ideology and Political Theory; Ideology and Political Science; Ideology and Philosophy; Chapter Two: Understanding, Knowledge, and Ideological Concepts; Forms of Understanding and Kinds of Knowledge; Practice and Theory; The Vocabulary of Political Belief; Chapter Three: Ideology, Science, and Theory; Ideology as Bad Science: Karl Popper; Science as Ideology: Thomas Kuhn; The Nature of Ideological Theory; Chapter Four: Ideology and Ethics; The Nature of Ordinary Morality; Morality and Ethical Belief; Ideology and Religion; Chapter Five: Human Nature and the Structure of Ideology; Ideological and Non-Ideological Conceptions of Man; The Struct

Re-establishes the connection between social life and political behavior.

The authors of this ambitious book address a fundamental political question: why are leaders who produce peace and prosperity turned out of office while those who preside over corruption, war, and misery endure? Considering this political puzzle, they also answer the related economic question of why some countries experience successful economic development and others do not. The authors construct a provocative theory on the selection of leaders and present specific formal models from which their central claims can be deduced. They show how political leaders allocate resources and how institutions for selecting leaders create incentives for leaders to pursue good and bad public policy. They also extend the model to explain the consequences of war on political survival. Throughout the book, they provide illustrations from history, ranging from ancient Sparta to Vichy France, and test the model against statistics gathered from cross-national data. The authors explain the political intuition underlying their theory in nontechnical language, reserving formal proofs for chapter appendixes. They conclude by presenting policy prescriptions based on what has been demonstrated theoretically and empirically.

In this provocative but balanced essay, Kenneth Minogue discusses the development of politics from the ancient world to the twentieth century. He prompts us to consider why political systems evolve, how politics offers both power and order in our society, whether democracy is always a good thing, and what future politics may have in the twenty-first century. ABOUT THE SERIES: The Very Short Introductions series from Oxford University Press contains hundreds of titles in almost every subject area. These pocket-sized books are the perfect way to get ahead in a new subject quickly. Our expert authors combine facts, analysis, perspective, new ideas, and enthusiasm to make interesting and challenging topics highly readable.

Ideology is one of the most controversial terms in the political vocabulary, inciting both revulsion and inspiration. This book explains why ideologies deserve respect as a major form of political thinking, without which we cannot make sense of the political world. The reader is introduced to their vitality and force, utilizing insights from a range of disciplines, and through examining the arguments of the main ideologies.

Human cultures generate meanings, and the history of ideas, broadly conceived, is the study of these meanings. An adequate theory of culture must therefore rest on a suitable philosophical enquiry into the nature of the history of ideas. Mark Bevir's book explores the forms of reasoning appropriate to the history of ideas, enhancing our understanding by grappling with central questions such as: What is a meaning? What constitutes objective knowledge of the past? What are beliefs and traditions? How can we explain why people held the beliefs they did? The book ranges widely over issues and theorists associated with post-analytic philosophy, post-modernism, hermeneutics, literary theory, political thought, and social theory.

Essay from the year 2010 in the subject Economics - Other, grade: 3, University of Münster (Institut für Ökonomische Bilödung), course: Public Choice Theory, language: English, abstract: Many political failure arguments implicitly assume that voters are irrational. The main part of this paper is going to show that this assumption is plausible. This paper will show why voters prefer to be ignorant, what logic motivates this behavior, what effects this ignorance could or may have in election results. The focus of this paper is to try to understand what issue those behaviors may bring to electoral systems and to try to demonstrate what irrational ignorance really is. Josh Billings (in Caruth and Ehrlich 1988, P.205) said “The trouble with people is not that they don’t know, but that they know so much that they ain’t so”; arguing with this citation, we could conclude that rational ignorance does not happen because of a lack of information, but because of a voluntary refusal of being informed. The subject won’t be informed because he doesn’t see any use in this information. Rational ignorance occurs when the cost of educating oneself on an issue exceeds the potential benefit that the knowledge would provide. Rational ignorance can be found most often in the case of general elections, when the voter considers the probability of his vote changing the outcome to be pretty small. Those voters will definitely not cast their vote.

Why your political views are more self-serving than you think When it comes to politics, we often perceive our own beliefs as fair and socially beneficial, while seeing opposing views as merely self-serving. But in fact most political views are governed by self-interest, even if we usually don't realize it. Challenging our fiercely held notions about what motivates us politically, this book explores how self-interest divides the public on a host of hot-button issues, from abortion and the legalization of marijuana to same-sex marriage, immigration, affirmative action, and income redistribution. Expanding the notion of interests beyond simple economics, Jason Weeden and Robert Kurzban look at how people's interests clash when it comes to their sex lives, social status, family, and friends. Drawing on a wealth of data, they demonstrate how different groups form distinctive bundles of political positions that often stray far from what we typically think of as liberal or conservative. They show how we engage in unconscious rationalization to justify our political positions, portraying our own views as wise, benevolent, and principled while casting our opponents' views as thoughtless and greedy. While many books on politics seek to provide partisans with new ways to feel good about their own side, The Hidden Agenda of the Political Mind illuminates the hidden drivers of our politics, even if it's a picture neither side will find flattering.