POL 2103 Lecture Notes - Lecture 5: Individualism, Materialism, Bayesian Probability
23 Jul 2018
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Document Summary
The most successful challenger of realism and liberalism. Launched by an article in 1992: alexander whent. Now = major rival to nr and nl. Origins = "critical ir theory" (1980s: critique of epistemological and ontological assumptions (r/nr and l/nl), drew to philosophy, "social theory". Ontology: the study of being: how the world itself is studied, what are the major categories of things that we should be studying. Ir = the way the world works, major phenomena, major actors, etc: ex: globalization, balance of power, human nature, etc, more common than epistemological assumptions. Individuals are examined abstractly, in isolation: actors = self-interested, act instrumentally, all actors reason the exact same way. Interests imputed to actors: materialism, human behaviour, history driven by material/physical factors, drives our lives. In ir: distribution of material power, ex: # of tanks, aircraft carriers, divisions, etc. "material" interests: ex: power, wealth, etc, factors are easily observed, counted, and measured, why it is so popular.
