From: marc_geddes (marc_geddes@yahoo.co.nz)
Date: Mon Sep 16 2002 - 01:10:32 MDT
[quote from: Lee on 2002-09-15 at 21:10:47]
Any adult with the slightest interest in social developments
or politics soon becomes acquainted with a most curious
phenomenon: the almost platonic reality of the left-right
political spectrum. As soon as you know someone's views on
a relatively small number of issues, you can correctly infer
their views on almost all issues. Now what exactly determines
how someone comes to reside at a particular position on this
spectrum, and what are the deepest differences in values that
characterize the different views?
Hello Lee. In terms of pychology I have found evidence that those who lean
left generally have paranoid-schizoid tendancies. Those who lean right
generally have narcisstic tendancies. An empirical hypothesis is that the
greater the degree of paranoid-schizoid tendancies, the further left a
person
is inclined to lean politically. And the greater the degree of narcisstic
tendancies, the further right a person is inclined is lean.
In terms of philosophy, I have found that a person's political views are
almost completely correlated to their position on a realist/non-realist
scale
in the field of ethics.
Those who lean left generally are skeptical that objective ethical
principles
exist. (These people do not believe that it is possible to move from an
'is'
to an 'ought' : they believe that ethics is a subjective invention)
The desire for equality and government control of society follows naturally:
if there is no objective basis for ethics, then the way society is, is
simply
a function of government policies: there are simply rival gangs of people
with
differing ethical views, and since all the views are of equal validity, only
the government can mediate.
Those who lean right generally believe that at least some ethical principles
are determined by objective properties of reality. (They believe that at
least some ethical principles are not 'made up' but are somehow 'out there')
The desire for maximization of individual liberties follows naturally. The
assumption is that if people were left to their own devices, the objective
ethics of the universe would be free to run it's course, and it would bring
natural justice.
Since I have narcisstic tendancies, and since I believe that it's possible
to
put ethics on an objective footing, I lean right ;D
---- This message was posted by marc_geddes to the Extropians 2002 board on ExI BBS. <http://www.extropy.org/bbs/index.php?board=61;action=display;threadid=53184 >
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