Oct 4 2011: I think ot entirely pssible to develop accurate assessments of the effectivenessof a particular strategy to reach a particular goal given a particular set of circumstances, but as others have said here I think it unlikely that an objective analysis of the 'goodness' or evil of those goals can exist for the simple reason that humans like many dofferent things.
I am sceptical of Sam Harris' "human flourishing" for the simple reason that those terms themselves are subjective to some extent: all humans?---and if not, who are the ones who count, and why do we think so?...and what kind of 'flourishing'?---there are some religions that at least historically have held that the ideal human condition is a community of celibate believers living in poverty that matters not because of the richness of the mental life filled to repletion by their continual and uniform worship of a notional god. Harris' 'flourishing' reminds me of Nietzsche's 'health' and all of Rand's desiderata: private tastes elevated to the level of objective truths. Sorry, my standards are those of physics, which is more powerful than any of these because it has the power to be wrong.
Oct 4 2011: I believe that voters who are less afraid and unhappy will make better choices. Particularly, people who work jobs they dislike for alpha primates more interested in dominance displays than in using reason to persuade kindly will not be in a mood to extend those benefits---or any others---to people they don't know who seem very different to them.
People, especially men, who feel that they have been denied their rightful place in the social hierarchy become extremely sensitive to anyone they believe "think they're better than me". This is not a bad thing, but it has a tendency to shade into "noöne's expertise is superior to mine". Note that the successful commentators of the Right generally present themselves as being 'just normal slobs' who say the things 'everyone'/'all Real Americans' (which set is disjoint from men with names like 'Alinsky') all 'know' to be true.
Mark Ames has persuasively argued that in the absence of the belief that real change is possible, many Americans are in fact voting reasonably because the best use they can see for their vote is to spite those they think give themselves airs...and I believe this increases the odds that these people will remain afraid and frustrated.
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A comment on Conversation: Can there be an objective, scientific analysis of political science?
I am sceptical of Sam Harris' "human flourishing" for the simple reason that those terms themselves are subjective to some extent: all humans?---and if not, who are the ones who count, and why do we think so?...and what kind of 'flourishing'?---there are some religions that at least historically have held that the ideal human condition is a community of celibate believers living in poverty that matters not because of the richness of the mental life filled to repletion by their continual and uniform worship of a notional god. Harris' 'flourishing' reminds me of Nietzsche's 'health' and all of Rand's desiderata: private tastes elevated to the level of objective truths. Sorry, my standards are those of physics, which is more powerful than any of these because it has the power to be wrong.
A comment on Conversation: How and in what ways can we make US politics more orientated to reason and compassion?
People, especially men, who feel that they have been denied their rightful place in the social hierarchy become extremely sensitive to anyone they believe "think they're better than me". This is not a bad thing, but it has a tendency to shade into "noöne's expertise is superior to mine". Note that the successful commentators of the Right generally present themselves as being 'just normal slobs' who say the things 'everyone'/'all Real Americans' (which set is disjoint from men with names like 'Alinsky') all 'know' to be true.
Mark Ames has persuasively argued that in the absence of the belief that real change is possible, many Americans are in fact voting reasonably because the best use they can see for their vote is to spite those they think give themselves airs...and I believe this increases the odds that these people will remain afraid and frustrated.