PLS 201 Lecture Notes - Lecture 1: Free Market, Constitutionalism, Oligarchy
7 Jun 2018
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Lecture 1: Political Science Overview, What Government Does, Necessity of Government
Video Notes:
● Politics is about who gets what, when, and how
● Politics also defined as the art of guiding or influencing governmental policy and
winning/holding control over a government
● Help us manage disagreements
● Power relationship (how power is distributed)
○ Ex. How congress relates to the President
Lecture 2: Political Culture and Systems of Government
Video Notes:
● Political culture is the attachment to ideas of government and the role of government in
our everyday lives
● We believe in certain ideas
○ Ex. equality, liberty, individualism, self-government
■ Liberty: principles that individuals ought to be free to do what they want
to do (without hurting others in some extreme sense)
■ Individualism: idea that we should be self sustained as much as possible,
personal initiative, pursue our “destiny”
■ Equality: all equal in moral worth, entitled to equal treatment under the
law
Lecture 3: Political Thinking
Video Notes:
● Types of reasoning that can lead to faulty conclusions:
○ Faulty reasoning
● Selective perception: when individuals perceive what they want in media messages while
ignoring opposing views
● Evaluating Argument Strength
○ What is the conclusion?
○ What are the premises provided to support the conclusion?
■ Are the premises valid? Do they suffer from logical fallacies?
○ Does the conclusion follow from the premises?
■ Are there any fallacies in the reasoning?
○ What assumptions have been made?
■ Are they valid assumptions?
■ Should they be stated explicitly?
○ What are the counterarguments?
■ Do they weaken the argument?
○ Is there any other information omitted from the argument?
find more resources at oneclass.com
find more resources at oneclass.com
Document Summary
Lecture 1: political science overview, what government does, necessity of government. Politics is about who gets what, when, and how. Politics also defined as the art of guiding or influencing governmental policy and winning/holding control over a government. Lecture 2: political culture and systems of government. Political culture is the attachment to ideas of government and the role of government in our everyday lives. Liberty: principles that individuals ought to be free to do what they want to do (without hurting others in some extreme sense) Individualism: idea that we should be self sustained as much as possible, personal initiative, pursue our destiny . Equality: all equal in moral worth, entitled to equal treatment under the law. Types of reasoning that can lead to faulty conclusions: Selective perception: when individuals perceive what they want in media messages while ignoring opposing views. People who are more informed about politics are more likely to get involved in politics.
