After attempting to moderate this thread, I feel now as if it is better to do so while still being a participant. I first want to say to Faith that you are being quite honest for a change in explaining your views and everyone else is by and large being cooperative also...allow me to attempt to steer us back on topic by introducing another book to support my observations.
The Righteous Mind
Granted this is a book review rather than the actual book, but it addresses some of the questions which Percy raises as he challenges Faith.
Some quotes from the review:
quote:
In The Righteous Mind, Haidt seeks to enrich liberalism, and political discourse generally, with a deeper awareness of human nature. Like other psychologists who have ventured into political coaching, such as George Lakoff and Drew Westen, Haidt argues that people are fundamentally intuitive, not rational. If you want to persuade others, you have to appeal to their sentiments.
Note that Faith started this topic to express the alternative viewpoint as she sees it.
quote:
Politics isn’t just about manipulating people who disagree with you. It’s about learning from them.
Faiths hope is that people might learn by reading
Liars Leakers and Liberals: The Case Against the Anti-Trump Conspiracy.. I will say that people in this thread...
all of you....might learn about Faith's reasoning for creating this thread by reading
The Righteous Mind or at least as I did browse the review!
So many books...so little time! A few more quotes from the review:
quote:
To the question many people ask about politics Why doesn’t the other side listen to reason? Haidt replies: We were never designed to listen to reason. When you ask people moral questions, time their responses and scan their brains, their answers and brain activation patterns indicate that they reach conclusions quickly and produce reasons later only to justify what they’ve decided.
Can we not all agree that we all reach conclusions rather quickly but for different reasons?
quote:
The problem isn’t that people don’t reason. They do reason. But their arguments aim to support their conclusions, not yours. Reason doesn’t work like a judge or teacher, impartially weighing evidence or guiding us to wisdom. It works more like a lawyer or press secretary, justifying our acts and judgments to others.
[moderator] Keep respecting each other and attempt to find common ground. Ive given up trying to force the topic to comment only on the book...taming EvC is as hard as taming a wild stallion![/moderator]
Chance as a real force is a myth. It has no basis in reality and no place in scientific inquiry. For science and philosophy to continue to advance in knowledge, chance must be demythologized once and for all. —RC Sproul
"A lie can travel half way around the world while the truth is putting on its shoes." —Mark Twain "
~"If that's not sufficient for you go soak your head."~Faith
You can "get answers" by watching the ducks. That doesn't mean the answers are coming from them.~Ringo