Ideas in Politics (Audiobook) | Date: 12 April 2011, 02:41
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The aim of his course is not to take sides on any public issue, but rather to explain what is at stake, and to improve your own grasp of why those on all sides of many widely discussed public questions—be they liberals, socialists or libertarians, radical feminists or religious conservatives—think as they do.
Dr. Shearmur’s work is thus not persuasion, but clarification. And he accomplishes it through an analysis that is more profound, cogent, philosophically informed, and comprehensive than anything you’re ever likely to glean from ordinary news coverage or day-to-day political commentary.
[b]Questions to Consider[/b]
Dr. Shearmur begins with questions that you have probably asked at one time or another, questions such as:
[list][*]What is meant by ideology? Is it something I have, or only something that those who disagree with me happen to harbor?
[*]Is political debate a series of disputes over how best to realize ideals that we all hold in common, or are those who support differing programs and policies truly striving for quite different and distinct ideals?
[*]Is politics really driven purely by subrational motives such as material interests, or can ideas make a difference?
[*]And if ideas do matter, what precisely are the schools of thought that inform our political discourse today? Where do they come from? How have they changed over time? And how do they interact with one another to form our public sphere?
[/list]Dr. Shearmur shows that most of our current public controversies—from tax and welfare policy to issues touching on feminism, free speech, or the public status of homosexuality— can be understood as arguments within a larger liberal tradition.
As he sees it, four related but seriously differing schools of thought contend over questions such as "What motivates us?" "What is true human flourishing?" and "What should our ideals be, and what kinds of institutions and programs best realize them?"
[b]How Ideas Affect Issues[/b]
Dr. Shearmur invites you to consider how ideas flowing from principles held by these schools of thought apply to real issues such as taxes, welfare, the environment, feminism, free speech, Americans’ declining civic and political participation, and more.
As regards participation, a striking discussion has been opened up by the Harvard political scientist Robert Putnam. In an essay and later a book titled Bowling Alone, he has argued that Americans are increasingly less likely to belong to voluntary groups and associations of all kinds, and that this will have serious consequences for everything from personal health to our whole political system.
Putnam’s evidence, his proposed solutions, what they say about where we are now and where we are going, and the responses of his critics from across the spectrum—all will come in for your consideration.
[hide=Course Lecture Titles]
[list][*]Lecture 1: Setting the Table
[*]Lecture 2: Liberalism Introduced
[*]Lecture 3: Liberalism
[*]Lecture 4: Liberalism in Dispute
[*]Lecture 5: Libertarianism
[*]Lecture 6: Conservatism, Part I
[*]Lecture 7: Conservatism, Part II
[*]Lecture 8: How Society Works
[*]Lecture 9: Social Capital, Part I
[*]Lecture 10: Social Capital, Part II
[*]Lecture 11: Socialism
[*]Lecture 12: Non-Marxist Socialism
[*]Lecture 13: Socialism—Problems & Objections
[*]Lecture 14: Ecological Ideas, Part I
[*]Lecture 15: Ecological Ideas, Part II
[*]Lecture 16: Feminism
[*]Lecture 17: Problems of Liberal Feminism
[*]Lecture 18: Feminism Concluded
[*]Lecture 19: Nationalism
[*]Lecture 20: Multiculturalism
[*]Lecture 21: Gay & Lesbian Politics
[*]Lecture 22: Religion & Politics in the West
[*]Lecture 23: Toleration, Censorship & Pornography
[*]Lecture 24: The End of History
[/list][/hide]
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