Ology comes from the Greek logia meaning the study of Epistemology a method of knowing Normative Questions what ought to be there are no right or wrong opinions Positive Questions factual what is Philosophy vs Science January 8 2015 How does x cause y More or less representative systems Gathering facts to maintain data Find fact based testable definitions Congress more diverse representative i e women Engage in the empirical world to understand relationships Utopias are unobservable but imaginable you can speculate and make normative claims SCIENCE creates general truths laws to test philosophical claims Can you generate a hypothesis Uncover truths through testing hypotheses Think analytically about the theories politicians use by theories he means tactics because theories are defined as basically fact Bad weather hurts the democrats theory general claim that republicans should pray for rain o Marginal voters aren t voting if it s raining because they re usually democratic o Older whiter republicans come out rain or shine Weather theory makes sense but there isn t much evidence there So Dr Gomez tested it Results 1 inch of rain in a county above average turnout goes down 8 10 of 1 decreased democratic voters turnout So it s true Lower taxes economic growth goes up Find evidence to support these claims Make sure to know rather than speculate What is geology Geology Study of the earth Okay well what s the earth Planet that orbits the sun 3rd in orbit etc etc But Geologists study other planets too so What is biology Biology Study of life Okay well what s life Cell based having the presence of carbon etc Sending rovers to space looking for microbial evidence of carbon Organic material which suggests that there may have been water What is politics The study of policy systems institutions used to govern people and activities of the government is it an art The art of politics being political You can have politics without government i e office politics Politics power What does it mean to have power Do you really need authority 1964 if they don t know what they re looking for how do they know that they have found it Plato super political scientist Harold Lasswell Who gets what when and how Politics is about getting something David Easton The authoritative allocation of values for society Fancier definition Who s establishing society s values are there tribal politics Robert Dahl A relationship of influence between two or more actors These two actors want opposite things they are any two actors who are Trying to influence each other don t have to be opposing political parties If you re in a one way relationship it s not a relationship War begins where politics ends War happens when the A B relationship ends no longer able to compromise A nation cannot have simultaneously X and not X Why we need politics we have to mitigate the conflict by creating rules January 13 2015 Two actors tend to remain where they started Politics does not require success politics exists where the relationship exists What is politics POLITICS The process by which individuals and groups reach agreement on a common course of action even as they continue to disagree on the goals that action is intended to achieve Politics is everywhere because arguments and choices are everywhere i e the shotgun rule someone always wins but there s always another chance Can t be pro life or pro choice at the same time Individual choices social cost choices breed conflict Managing how arguments are waged Successful politics almost always requires bargaining compromise however some people usually unsuccessful see compromise as weakness Ideological extremes are least likely to pass bills in congress because they refuse to compromise therefore ineffective Compromise allows the relationship to continue not just in politics but in daily life Agree on common course of interaction when people feel the fundamental rules have been broken they get stressed and basically withdraw from the social exchange for stability we need rules of exchange We can all agree on the goal of making needing some kinds of rules luckily we made them amendable very difficult to do so though Trying to control the social cost of exchange There s a penalty for being on the wrong side Our rules of social exchange minimize conflict for the losing side We aren t actually at war with each other The media portrays extremes of democrats and republicans battling it out but the public in it s entirety is pretty mild CONSTITUTION A document outlining the formal rules and institutions of government and the limits placed on its powers GOVERNMENT The institutions and procedures through which people are ruled Examples of Government Monarchy rule by heredity Republics rule by representatives or democracy Theocracy rule by religion i e ISIS Dictatorship rule by being a bad bitch NOT hereditary There s a consistent thread throughout the culture it s symbolic or ceremonial which is why they keep the queen in England Britain has no constitution but they consider themselves constitutional Whichever party in the majority rules absolutely in the UK Constitutions can be written or unwritten Why don t the British write it down They don t need to Emerging democracies Iraq Sunni vs Shi ite if you re a minority you kill them Giving the minority majority rule Shi ite s vote to bitch at the Sunnis So democracy sounds great but it can be just as tyrannous Try to outlaw tyranny What kind of government do we have in the US We have a democratic republic republican democrat belief definition Republican Democrat party members INSTITUTIONS In a democracy an organization that manages potential conflicts between political rivals helps them to find mutually acceptable solutions and makes and enforces the society s collective agreements Among the prominent federal political institutions in the US are Congress the Presidency and the Supreme Court The formal informal rules of the game Statute written law Set of norms culture When you re walking on the right side you re walking on the right side It s a cultural norm to walk on the right side of shit Rational choice theory Don t just study politics from some na ve perspective we try to use the scientific method to use theories and test hypotheses The cold war was diffused by rational choice theory individuals have goals that they attempt to achieve the moral value of the actors goal is not judged Assume that each individual has a goal in mind assume
View Full Document
Unlocking...