Assertion: Politics is reductionist

By Aziz P. -
Discuss.

Comments

Anonymous said…
Apart from being reductionist, Politics is also primate nature. Ever read De Waal's books on chimp behavior? Even human tactics and strategies in politics don't look too sophisticated in comparison to chimps'. I recommend De Waal to anyone interested in the roots of human behavioral developments.
6:18 PM
Aziz P. said…
I think it's pointless to discuss "primate nature". There may be similarities but we have a far more complex society than anything chimps can possibly create. You're just being reductionist in your own way by trying to scale down from complex human socities to "building blocks" of primate behavior.

I think the more insightful way to go is the opposite direction - to look at systems as a whole rather than individual holons in the hierarchy.

However as your own comment illustrates people prefer to think about things as atomic in nature. You are doing it with biiology; others do it with politics. For example, look at eth conservative and liberal positions on abortion, death penalty, and collateral damage in war. Neither side has a coherent narrative or set of principles that tie their positions on these issues together. They apply reductionist analysis - largely driven by political maneuvering - and come up with stances that are not really related to each other.
8:01 AM
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