Synopses & Reviews
Moral Politics takes a fresh look at how we think and talk about political and moral ideas. George Lakoff analyzed recent political discussion to find that the family—especially the ideal family—is the most powerful metaphor in politics today. Revealing how family-based moral values determine views on diverse issues as crime, gun control, taxation, social programs, and the environment, George Lakoff looks at how conservatives and liberals link morality to politics through the concept of family and how these ideals diverge. Arguing that conservatives have exploited the connection between morality, the family, and politics, while liberals have failed to recognized it, Lakoff explains why conservative moral position has not been effectively challenged. A wake up call to political pundits on both the left and the right, this work redefines how Americans think and talk about politics.
Synopsis
Moral Politics takes a fresh look at how we think and talk about politics and shows that political and moral ideas develop in systematic ways from our models of ideal families.
Description
Includes bibliographical references (p. [389]-413).
About the Author
George Lakoff is the Richard and Rhoda Goldman Distinguished Professor of Cognitive Science and Linguistics at the University of California at Berkeley, where he has taught since 1972. He previously taught at Harvard and the University of Michigan. His academic career has been devoted to developing the field of cognitive lingusitics, the cognitive theory of metaphor, construction grammar, embodied conceptual systems, a neural theory of grammar, and the cognitive foundations of mathematics.
Table of Contents
Acknowledgments
1: The Minds and Politics
2: The Worldview Problem for American Politics
3: Experiential Mortality
4: Keeping the Moral Books
5: Strict Father Morality
6: Nurturant Parent Morality
7: Why We Need a New Understanding of American Politics
8: The Nature of the Model
9: Moral Categories in Politics
10: Social Programs and Taxes
11: Crime and the Death Penalty
12: Regulation and the Environment
13: The Culture Wars: From Affirmative Action to the Arts
14: Two Models of Christianity
15: Abortion
16: How Can You Love Your Country and Hate Your Government?
17: Varieties of Liberals and Conservatives
18: Pathologies, Stereotypes, and Distortions
19: Can There Be a Politics without Family Values?
20: Nonideological Reasons for Being a Liberal
21: Raising Real Children
22: The Human Mind
23: Basic Humanity
Epilogue: Problems for Public Discourse
References