Democracy And The Culture Of Skepticism

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Democracy and the Culture of Skepticism

Author : Matthew R. Cleary
Publisher : Russell Sage Foundation
ISBN 13 : 1610441281
Total Pages : 264 pages
Book Rating : 4.6/5 (14 download)

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Book Synopsis Democracy and the Culture of Skepticism by : Matthew R. Cleary

Download or read book Democracy and the Culture of Skepticism written by Matthew R. Cleary and published by Russell Sage Foundation. This book was released on 2006-01-12 with total page 264 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Some theorists claim that democracy cannot work without trust. According to this argument, democracy fails unless citizens trust that their governing institutions are serving their best interests. Similarly, some assert that democracy works best when people trust one another and have confidence that politicians will look after citizen interests. Questioning such claims, Democracy and the Culture of Skepticism, by Matthew Cleary and Susan Stokes, suggests that skepticism, not trust, is the hallmark of political culture in well-functioning democracies. Drawing on extensive research in two developing democracies, Argentina and Mexico, Democracy and the Culture of Skepticism shows that in regions of each country with healthy democracies, people do not trust one another more than those living in regions where democracy functions less well, nor do they display more personal trust in governments or politicians. Instead, the defining features of the healthiest democracies are skepticism of government and a belief that politicians act in their constituents' best interest only when it is personally advantageous for them to do so. In contrast to scholars who lament what they see as a breakdown in civic life, Cleary and Stokes find that people residing in healthy democracies do not participate more in civic organizations than others, but in fact, tend to retreat from civic life in favor of private pursuits. The authors conclude that governments are most efficient and responsive when they know that institutions such as the press or an independent judiciary will hold them accountable for their actions. The question of how much citizens should trust politicians and governments has consumed political theorists since America's founding. In Democracy and the Culture of Skepticism, Matthew Cleary and Susan Stokes test the relationship between trust and the quality of governance, showing that it is not trust, but vigilance and skepticism that provide the foundation for well-functioning democracies. A Volume in the Russell Sage Foundation Series on Trust

The Foundation Administrator

Author : Arnold John Zurcher
Publisher : Russell Sage Foundation
ISBN 13 : 161044017X
Total Pages : 188 pages
Book Rating : 4.6/5 (14 download)

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Book Synopsis The Foundation Administrator by : Arnold John Zurcher

Download or read book The Foundation Administrator written by Arnold John Zurcher and published by Russell Sage Foundation. This book was released on 1972-06-15 with total page 188 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book offers a systematic study of those individuals who derive their livelihood and professional satisfactions from foundation employment above a clerical level. Replies to questionnaires addressed to foundations and to foundation staff, supplemented by other research, enabled the authors to secure a wealth of data, not previously available, concerning such staff personnel. The data relates to their origin, education or training, professional or occupational background, personal qualities, recruitment for foundation service, job specialization in foundations and in-service and on-the-job training, salary levels, retirement, fringe benefits and perquisites of various kinds. These data are systematically analyzed according to the employing foundation's asset size, program, founding auspices, staff size, geographical location, and other variables. The comprehensiveness of the data also makes possible a census of full-time and part-time staff employed by all foundations and better reveals the rather distorted pattern of the distribution of that staff among the employing foundations. A feature of the study is a chapter that tabulates and analyzes the comments on foundation employment of some 420 foundation executives—on their satisfactions, dissatisfactions, and frustrations and on how foundation employment might be made more attractive. The pros and cons of the related issue of increased professionalization of foundation service is considered in the light of these comments and from the standpoint, also, of the current philanthropic policies of different kinds of foundations. The probable long-term effect on foundation service of certain provisions of the Tax Reform Act of 1969 is also examined.

Nietzsche's Political Skepticism

Author : Tamsin Shaw
Publisher : Princeton University Press
ISBN 13 : 0691146535
Total Pages : 171 pages
Book Rating : 4.6/5 (911 download)

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Book Synopsis Nietzsche's Political Skepticism by : Tamsin Shaw

Download or read book Nietzsche's Political Skepticism written by Tamsin Shaw and published by Princeton University Press. This book was released on 2010-07-21 with total page 171 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: It is difficult to spell out the precise political implications of Nietzsche's critique of morality. He himself never did so in any systematic way. Tamsin Shaw argues there is a reason for this: that Nietzsche's insights entail a distinctive form of political skepticism.

Species intelligibilis. 1. Classical roots and medieval discussions

Author : Leen Spruit
Publisher : BRILL
ISBN 13 : 9789004098831
Total Pages : 476 pages
Book Rating : 4.0/5 (988 download)

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Book Synopsis Species intelligibilis. 1. Classical roots and medieval discussions by : Leen Spruit

Download or read book Species intelligibilis. 1. Classical roots and medieval discussions written by Leen Spruit and published by BRILL. This book was released on 1994 with total page 476 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The main purpose of this book is to offer a comprehensive historical analysis of the discussions on a crucial problem for the Medieval theory of knowledge: the formal mediation of sensible reality in intellectual knowledge.

Democracy and Truth

Author : Sophia Rosenfeld
Publisher : University of Pennsylvania Press
ISBN 13 : 0812250842
Total Pages : 221 pages
Book Rating : 4.8/5 (122 download)

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Book Synopsis Democracy and Truth by : Sophia Rosenfeld

Download or read book Democracy and Truth written by Sophia Rosenfeld and published by University of Pennsylvania Press. This book was released on 2018-11-29 with total page 221 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: "Fake news," wild conspiracy theories, misleading claims, doctored photos, lies peddled as facts, facts dismissed as lies—citizens of democracies increasingly inhabit a public sphere teeming with competing claims and counterclaims, with no institution or person possessing the authority to settle basic disputes in a definitive way. The problem may be novel in some of its details—including the role of today's political leaders, along with broadcast and digital media, in intensifying the epistemic anarchy—but the challenge of determining truth in a democratic world has a backstory. In this lively and illuminating book, historian Sophia Rosenfeld explores a longstanding and largely unspoken tension at the heart of democracy between the supposed wisdom of the crowd and the need for information to be vetted and evaluated by a learned elite made up of trusted experts. What we are witnessing now is the unraveling of the détente between these competing aspects of democratic culture. In four bracing chapters, Rosenfeld substantiates her claim by tracing the history of the vexed relationship between democracy and truth. She begins with an examination of the period prior to the eighteenth-century Age of Revolutions, where she uncovers the political and epistemological foundations of our democratic world. Subsequent chapters move from the Enlightenment to the rise of both populist and technocratic notions of democracy between the nineteenth and twentieth centuries to the troubling trends—including the collapse of social trust—that have led to the rise of our "post-truth" public life. Rosenfeld concludes by offering suggestions for how to defend the idea of truth against the forces that would undermine it.

Skepticism

Author : Aryeh Botwinick
Publisher : Temple University Press
ISBN 13 : 9780877226574
Total Pages : 264 pages
Book Rating : 4.2/5 (265 download)

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Book Synopsis Skepticism by : Aryeh Botwinick

Download or read book Skepticism written by Aryeh Botwinick and published by Temple University Press. This book was released on 1990-01-18 with total page 264 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Aryeh Botwinick argues for the recovery of a radical democratic tradition that emphasizes the role of individual participation in the development and control of social and political institutions. Such involvement implies philosophical skepticism—the assumption that the truth about what is the best course of action cannot be known with certainty and that, therefore, every person’s opinion has an equal claim to be considered. The crucial stumbling block to reappropriating this radical egalitarian tradition is the supposed unviability of a consistent skepticism. In an effort to chart a new course of philosophical inquiry into political matters, Botwinick grapples with the formulation of a consistent version of skepticism, claiming that it provides "a continually renewing impetus for the expansion of political participation." Twentieth-century philosophers have, for the most part, opted for some version of mitigated skepticism, which, the author argues, "has blinded them to the radical political implications of skepticism." Underscoring a pattern of convergence between Anglo-American and Continental philosophy, Botwinick proposes a number of strategies to rehabilitate the rationality of participatory democratic political institutions by articulating an acceptable version of consistent skepticism.

Wittgenstein, Skepticism, and Political Participation

Author : Aryeh Botwinick
Publisher :
ISBN 13 :
Total Pages : 64 pages
Book Rating : 4.3/5 (91 download)

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Book Synopsis Wittgenstein, Skepticism, and Political Participation by : Aryeh Botwinick

Download or read book Wittgenstein, Skepticism, and Political Participation written by Aryeh Botwinick and published by . This book was released on 1985 with total page 64 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:

The Civic Culture

Author : Gabriel Abraham Almond
Publisher : Princeton University Press
ISBN 13 : 1400874564
Total Pages : 575 pages
Book Rating : 4.4/5 (8 download)

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Book Synopsis The Civic Culture by : Gabriel Abraham Almond

Download or read book The Civic Culture written by Gabriel Abraham Almond and published by Princeton University Press. This book was released on 2015-12-08 with total page 575 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The authors interviewed over 5,000 citizens in Germany, Italy, Mexico, Great Britain, and the U.S. to learn political attitudes in modem democratic states. Originally published in 1963. The Princeton Legacy Library uses the latest print-on-demand technology to again make available previously out-of-print books from the distinguished backlist of Princeton University Press. These editions preserve the original texts of these important books while presenting them in durable paperback and hardcover editions. The goal of the Princeton Legacy Library is to vastly increase access to the rich scholarly heritage found in the thousands of books published by Princeton University Press since its founding in 1905.

The Politics of Faith and the Politics of Scepticism

Author : Michael Oakeshott
Publisher : Yale University Press
ISBN 13 : 9780300105339
Total Pages : 166 pages
Book Rating : 4.1/5 (53 download)

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Book Synopsis The Politics of Faith and the Politics of Scepticism by : Michael Oakeshott

Download or read book The Politics of Faith and the Politics of Scepticism written by Michael Oakeshott and published by Yale University Press. This book was released on 1996-01-01 with total page 166 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Michael Oakeshott, the foremost British political philosopher of the twentieth century, died in 1990, leaving a substantial collection of unpublished material. Yale University Press is continuing to make available the best of these illuminating works. In this polished and hitherto unknown work, Oakeshott argues that modern politics was constituted out of a debate, persistent through centuries of European political experience down to our own day, over the question "What should governments do?" According to Oakeshott, two different answers have dominated our thought since the fifteenth century. One, exemplified by such thinkers as Rousseau and Marx, expresses a belief in the capacity of human beings to control, design, and monitor all aspects of social and political life, a belief fostered by the intoxicating increase in power available to governments in modern times. On the other hand, sceptics such as Montaigne, Pascal, and Hobbes argued that governments cannot, in principle, produce perfection and that we should prevent concentrations of power that may result in tyrannies that oppress the dignity of the human spirit. Oakeshott exposes the pitfalls of both positions and shows the value of a middle ground that incorporates scepticism with enough faith to avoid total quietism. Readers of Oakeshott will find here the thinking that lies behind his famous definition of politics as "the pursuit of intimations.".

Cultural Revolutions

Author : Lawrence E. Cahoone
Publisher : Penn State Press
ISBN 13 : 9780271045917
Total Pages : 248 pages
Book Rating : 4.0/5 (459 download)

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Book Synopsis Cultural Revolutions by : Lawrence E. Cahoone

Download or read book Cultural Revolutions written by Lawrence E. Cahoone and published by Penn State Press. This book was released on 2010-11-01 with total page 248 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In this probing examination of the meaning and function of culture in contemporary society, Lawrence Cahoone argues that reason itself is cultural, but no less reasonable for it. While recent political and philosophical movements have recognized that cognition, the self, and politics are embedded in culture, most fail to appreciate the deep changes in rationalism and liberal theory this implies, others leap directly into relativism, and nearly all fail to define culture. Cultural Revolutions systematically defines culture, gauges the consequences of the ineradicably cultural nature of cognition and action, yet argues that none of this implies relativism. After showing where other &“new culturalists&” have gone wrong, Cahoone offers his own definition of culture as teleologically organized practices, artifacts, and narratives and analyzes the notion of cultural membership in relation to race, ethnicity, and &“primordialism.&” He provides a theory of culture&’s role in how we form our sense of reality and argues that the proper conception of culture dissolves &“the problem&” of cultural relativism. Applying this perspective to Islamic fundamentalism, Cahoone identifies its conflict with the West as representing the break between two of three historically distinctive forms of reason. Rather than being &“irrational,&” he shows, fundamentalism embodies a rationality only recently devalued&—but not entirely abandoned&—by the West. The persistence of plural forms of reason suggests that modernization in various world cultures is compatible with continued, even magnified, cultural differences.

Conceived in Doubt

Author : Amanda Porterfield
Publisher : University of Chicago Press
ISBN 13 : 0226675122
Total Pages : 266 pages
Book Rating : 4.2/5 (266 download)

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Book Synopsis Conceived in Doubt by : Amanda Porterfield

Download or read book Conceived in Doubt written by Amanda Porterfield and published by University of Chicago Press. This book was released on 2012-04-23 with total page 266 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Americans have long acknowledged a deep connection between evangelical religion and democracy in the early days of the republic. This is a widely accepted narrative that is maintained as a matter of fact and tradition—and in spite of evangelicalism’s more authoritarian and reactionary aspects. In Conceived in Doubt, Amanda Porterfield challenges this standard interpretation of evangelicalism’s relation to democracy and describes the intertwined relationship between religion and partisan politics that emerged in the formative era of the early republic. In the 1790s, religious doubt became common in the young republic as the culture shifted from mere skepticism toward darker expressions of suspicion and fear. But by the end of that decade, Porterfield shows, economic instability, disruption of traditional forms of community, rampant ambition, and greed for land worked to undermine heady optimism about American political and religious independence. Evangelicals managed and manipulated doubt, reaching out to disenfranchised citizens as well as to those seeking political influence, blaming religious skeptics for immorality and social distress, and demanding affirmation of biblical authority as the foundation of the new American national identity. As the fledgling nation took shape, evangelicals organized aggressively, exploiting the fissures of partisan politics by offering a coherent hierarchy in which God was king and governance righteous. By laying out this narrative, Porterfield demolishes the idea that evangelical growth in the early republic was the cheerful product of enthusiasm for democracy, and she creates for us a very different narrative of influence and ideals in the young republic.

Dictators, Democracy, and American Public Culture

Author : Benjamin Leontief Alpers
Publisher : Univ of North Carolina Press
ISBN 13 : 9780807854167
Total Pages : 422 pages
Book Rating : 4.8/5 (541 download)

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Book Synopsis Dictators, Democracy, and American Public Culture by : Benjamin Leontief Alpers

Download or read book Dictators, Democracy, and American Public Culture written by Benjamin Leontief Alpers and published by Univ of North Carolina Press. This book was released on 2003-01-01 with total page 422 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Focusing on portrayals of Mussolini's Italy, Hitler's Germany, and Stalin's Russia in U.S. films, magazine and newspaper articles, books, plays, speeches, and other texts, Benjamin Alpers traces changing American understandings of dictatorship from the la

Democratic Theory and Causal Methodology in Comparative Politics

Author : Mark I. Lichbach
Publisher : Cambridge University Press
ISBN 13 : 1107025818
Total Pages : 249 pages
Book Rating : 4.1/5 (7 download)

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Book Synopsis Democratic Theory and Causal Methodology in Comparative Politics by : Mark I. Lichbach

Download or read book Democratic Theory and Causal Methodology in Comparative Politics written by Mark I. Lichbach and published by Cambridge University Press. This book was released on 2013-08-06 with total page 249 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Barrington Moore bequeathed comparativists a problem: how to reconcile his causal claim of "no bourgeoisie, no democracy" with his normative "dream of a free and rational society." In this book, Mark I. Lichbach harmonizes causal methodology and normative democratic theory, illustrating their interrelationship. Using a dialogue among four specific texts, Lichbach advances five constructive themes. First, comparativists should study the causal agency of individuals, groups, and democracies. Second, the three types of collective agency should be paired with an exploration of three corresponding moral dilemmas: ought-is, freedom-power, and democracy-causality. Third, at the center of inquiry, comparativists should place big-P Paradigms and big-M Methodology. Fourth, as they play with research schools, creatively combining prescriptive and descriptive approaches to democratization, they should encourage a mixed-theory and mixed-method field. Finally, comparativists should study pragmatic questions about political power and democratic performance: In building a democratic state, which democracy, under which conditions, is best, and how might it be achieved?

The Third Wave

Author : Samuel P. Huntington
Publisher : University of Oklahoma Press
ISBN 13 : 0806186046
Total Pages : 388 pages
Book Rating : 4.8/5 (61 download)

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Book Synopsis The Third Wave by : Samuel P. Huntington

Download or read book The Third Wave written by Samuel P. Huntington and published by University of Oklahoma Press. This book was released on 2012-09-06 with total page 388 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Between 1974 and 1990 more than thirty countries in southern Europe, Latin America, East Asia, and Eastern Europe shifted from authoritarian to democratic systems of government. This global democratic revolution is probably the most important political trend in the late twentieth century. In The Third Wave, Samuel P. Huntington analyzes the causes and nature of these democratic transitions, evaluates the prospects for stability of the new democracies, and explores the possibility of more countries becoming democratic. The recent transitions, he argues, are the third major wave of democratization in the modem world. Each of the two previous waves was followed by a reverse wave in which some countries shifted back to authoritarian government. Using concrete examples, empirical evidence, and insightful analysis, Huntington provides neither a theory nor a history of the third wave, but an explanation of why and how it occurred. Factors responsible for the democratic trend include the legitimacy dilemmas of authoritarian regimes; economic and social development; the changed role of the Catholic Church; the impact of the United States, the European Community, and the Soviet Union; and the "snowballing" phenomenon: change in one country stimulating change in others. Five key elite groups within and outside the nondemocratic regime played roles in shaping the various ways democratization occurred. Compromise was key to all democratizations, and elections and nonviolent tactics also were central. New democracies must deal with the "torturer problem" and the "praetorian problem" and attempt to develop democratic values and processes. Disillusionment with democracy, Huntington argues, is necessary to consolidating democracy. He concludes the book with an analysis of the political, economic, and cultural factors that will decide whether or not the third wave continues. Several "Guidelines for Democratizers" offer specific, practical suggestions for initiating and carrying out reform. Huntington's emphasis on practical application makes this book a valuable tool for anyone engaged in the democratization process. At this volatile time in history, Huntington's assessment of the processes of democratization is indispensable to understanding the future of democracy in the world.

Engaging Cultural Differences

Author : Richard A., Shweder
Publisher : Russell Sage Foundation
ISBN 13 : 1610445007
Total Pages : 504 pages
Book Rating : 4.6/5 (14 download)

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Book Synopsis Engaging Cultural Differences by : Richard A., Shweder

Download or read book Engaging Cultural Differences written by Richard A., Shweder and published by Russell Sage Foundation. This book was released on 2002-06-27 with total page 504 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Liberal democracies are based on principles of inclusion and tolerance. But how does the principle of tolerance work in practice in countries such as Germany, France, India, South Africa, and the United States, where an increasingly wide range of cultural groups holds often contradictory beliefs about appropriate social and family life practices? As these democracies expand to include peoples of vastly different cultural backgrounds, the limits of tolerance are being tested as never before. Engaging Cultural Differences explores how liberal democracies respond socially and legally to differences in the cultural and religious practices of their minority groups. Building on such examples, the contributors examine the role of tolerance in practical encounters between state officials and immigrants, and between members of longstanding majority groups and increasing numbers of minority groups. The volume also considers the theoretical implications of expanding the realm of tolerance. Some contributors are reluctant to broaden the scope of tolerance, while others insist that the notion of "tolerance" is itself potentially confining and demeaning and that modern nations should aspire to celebrate cultural differences. Coming to terms with ethnic diversity and cultural differences has become a major public policy concern in contemporary liberal democracies, as they struggle to adjust to burgeoning immigrant populations. Engaging Cultural Differences provides a compelling examination of the challenges of multiculturalism and reveals a deep understanding of the challenges democracies face as they seek to accommodate their citizens' diverse beliefs and practices.

Explaining Postmodernism

Author : Stephen R. C. Hicks
Publisher : Scholargy Publishing, Inc.
ISBN 13 : 9781592476428
Total Pages : 250 pages
Book Rating : 4.4/5 (764 download)

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Book Synopsis Explaining Postmodernism by : Stephen R. C. Hicks

Download or read book Explaining Postmodernism written by Stephen R. C. Hicks and published by Scholargy Publishing, Inc.. This book was released on 2004 with total page 250 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:

Enlightenment Now

Author : Steven Pinker
Publisher : Penguin
ISBN 13 : 0525427570
Total Pages : 578 pages
Book Rating : 4.5/5 (254 download)

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Book Synopsis Enlightenment Now by : Steven Pinker

Download or read book Enlightenment Now written by Steven Pinker and published by Penguin. This book was released on 2018-02-13 with total page 578 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: INSTANT NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER A NEW YORK TIMES NOTABLE BOOK OF 2018 ONE OF THE ECONOMIST'S BOOKS OF THE YEAR "My new favorite book of all time." --Bill Gates If you think the world is coming to an end, think again: people are living longer, healthier, freer, and happier lives, and while our problems are formidable, the solutions lie in the Enlightenment ideal of using reason and science. By the author of the new book, Rationality. Is the world really falling apart? Is the ideal of progress obsolete? In this elegant assessment of the human condition in the third millennium, cognitive scientist and public intellectual Steven Pinker urges us to step back from the gory headlines and prophecies of doom, which play to our psychological biases. Instead, follow the data: In seventy-five jaw-dropping graphs, Pinker shows that life, health, prosperity, safety, peace, knowledge, and happiness are on the rise, not just in the West, but worldwide. This progress is not the result of some cosmic force. It is a gift of the Enlightenment: the conviction that reason and science can enhance human flourishing. Far from being a naïve hope, the Enlightenment, we now know, has worked. But more than ever, it needs a vigorous defense. The Enlightenment project swims against currents of human nature--tribalism, authoritarianism, demonization, magical thinking--which demagogues are all too willing to exploit. Many commentators, committed to political, religious, or romantic ideologies, fight a rearguard action against it. The result is a corrosive fatalism and a willingness to wreck the precious institutions of liberal democracy and global cooperation. With intellectual depth and literary flair, Enlightenment Now makes the case for reason, science, and humanism: the ideals we need to confront our problems and continue our progress.