Political Science 1020E Lecture Notes - Lecture 1: Russ Baker, African Nationalism, The Good Life
23 Oct 2022
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Week 1: who/what/why of poli sci & the state. Argued it was the master science bc it determines everything in a community & individual beliefs. Highest level of human was political animal. They had power, could judge us & decided the question of death. It is the mark of an educated mind to be able to entertain a thought without accepting it . Basically u acknowledge other possibilities but reject them. Different societies - western liberal democracies, african nationalist dictatorships, middle east theocracies, etc. Dif elements - social, process, conflict, binding decisions, & enforcing decisions. Value questions - what should we value, when & why. Natural sciences, rules / laws / axioms. Meaning & origin of concepts, ideas, and words. Essentially contested concepts (all of poli sci) Deductive process - information, pattern, tentative hypothesis, theory. Are we a science or an art. Machiavelli & burke & butler say art.
