From ALICE (I): I just finished the book: Moral Politics: How Liberals and Conservatives Think by George Lakoff - someone Im hoping to interview for the upcoming DPP film. (Stay tuned, and please backchannel me if youre interested in hearing more and possibly participating.) Lakoff is a cognitive scientist who believes that the difference between liberal and conservative worldviews lies in their different conceptual metaphors, specifically metaphors for morality. Deeply embedded in conservative and liberal politics are different models of he family. Conservatism, as we shall see, is based on a Strict Father model, while liberalism is centered around a Nurturant Parent model. These two models of he family give rise to different moral systems and different discourse forms, that is, different choices of words and different modes of reasoning. Just hearing that much.... Whats your immediate reaction? I know you cant say much from a sentence, but might that idea make sense, at least as a partial explanation? Personally I like it, and I also like the idea of searching for a better metaphor, one that has elements of both but reaches beyond them. In the clinical arena, if one parent insists on strict discipline and the other on empathy and nurturance, the kids are going to be too confused to respond to either. Thoughts?
Posted on: Sun, 03 Nov 2013 13:18:39 +0000