Term
| What is a government? A regime? A nation-state? A political culture? |
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Definition
- A government - the individuals that occupy the offices of public authority
- A regime - a set of formalized rules that determines who gets to exercise political authority
- A nation-state - Provides sovereignty for a particular nation.
- A political culture is a pattern of individual attitudes or orientations towards politics.
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Term
| How is the democratic legitimacy of a regime evaluated? |
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Definition
| By how extensive it's participation, interest, group access, and protection of rights is. |
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Term
| How is the stability of a regime evaluated? |
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Definition
| By how institutionalized the systems of power, participation, and rights are. |
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Term
| According to Robert Putnam, what impressed Alexis De Tocqueville most about Americans? |
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Definition
| The Americans' propensity for civic association; "Americans of all ages, all stations of life, and all types of disposition are forever forming associations." |
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Term
| According to Robert Putnam, what is social capital and why is it eroding America? |
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Definition
Social capital refers to features of organizations such as networks, norms, and social trust that facilitate coordination and cooperation for mutual benefit.It is eroding America because:- Women entering the workforce -- reduces the time and energy for building social capital
- Mobility -- People have increased mobility, which results in making it harder to put down new roots in an area
- Demographic transformations -- The American family has changed because of few marriages, more divorces, less children, etc.
- Technological transformation of leisure -- Technology enables individual tastes to be satisfied more fully, but at the cost of social externalities associated with more primitive forms of entertainment.
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Term
| What are the characteristics of democratic regimes? |
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Definition
- Regular and free elections
- Strong and independent legislatures
- Strong and independent judiciaries
- Strong and independent political parties
- A culture of tolerance
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Term
| What are the characteristics of authoritarian regimes? |
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Definition
- Pre-modern forms of political organizations
- Dictatorship
- single party
- limited pluralism (a framework of interaction in which groups show sufficient respect and tolerance of each other, that they fruitfully coexist and interact without conflict or assimilation)
- extensive apathy
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Term
| What are the characteristics of totalitarian regimes? |
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Definition
- Official ideology
- Single mass party
- Terrorist police control
- Monopoly of mass communications
- Central control of economy
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Term
| According to George Orwell, what should a scrupulous writer ask himself? |
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Definition
- What am I trying to say?
- What words will express it?
- What image or idiom will make it clearer?
- Is this image fresh enough to have an effect?
- Could I put it more shortly?
- Have I said anything that is avoidably ugly?
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Term
| According to George Orwell, what is the nature of modern political speech and writing? |
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Definition
- The nature of political speech and writing is the defense of the indefensible
- political speech has to consist largely of euphemism, question-begging, and sheer cloudy vaguenes
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Term
| What does Hecuba learn about the nature of political discourse (discussion)? |
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Definition
| Hecuba is disdainful about the whole idea of persuasive speech; she equates persuasive speech with Odysseus; those who abuse their friends and lull the mob will trick us; most political speakers are engaged in crowd-pleasing |
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Term
| What does Hecuba teach the Greeks about the nature of political discourse? |
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Definition
Hecuba teaches the Greeks the proper ingredients to persuasion:
- Justice – the importance of righteousness in speech, philosophical abstraction, value, and right conduct
- Pathos – the suffering we share as humans, memory, suffering/ the need for mercy, to identify with the human condition
- Self-interest – appealing because of future consequences, expectations on part of person to be persuaded; it is not in the interest of the strong to abuse the weak because “every dog will have its day”
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Term
| What is political discourse and why is it so important to a democracy? |
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Definition
| Political discourse is the art of persuasive speech; it’s important to a democracy because one must be able to persuade people and make people clearly understand their point |
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Term
| What is the nature of democratic participation in the United States vs. Switzerland? (See Grigsby) |
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Definition
In the United States, citizens eligible to vote only vote for electorates, who, in turn, decide which laws should be passed or vetoed.
In Switzerland, the citizens who are eligible to vote have a more direct involvement in policy making. Instead of voting for electorates who decide the law, the citizens decide the law for themselves through referendums which are open to anyone who is eligible to vote. |
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Term
| In the play Oedipus Rex, what is the relationship between truth, freedom, identity, and responsibility? |
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Definition
| Oedipus is searching for the killer of King Laius. This in turn is a search for identity, freedom, and destiny. Oedipus in the play searches for the truth. Freedom is necessary for the search for the truth. The search for the truth is the search for identity. When he finds out who the killer is, he didn’t avoid his fate; he is responsible for his actions. The search for truth has consequences. |
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Term
| What does it mean to say that freedom is recognition of necessity? |
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Definition
| What do you do with the freedoms that you have? Take what’s given, grasp it, and deal with it, openly, freely, and responsibly |
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Term
| What are common themes in Sophocles’ plays? |
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Definition
- Limits of the human knowledge and human power
- Heroes that are larger than life
- Fate, circumstance, and necessity
- Relationships between the gods and human beings
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Term
| In the final analysis, what advice about freedom and fate is Sophocles giving in Oedipus Rex? |
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Definition
- Aim for the highest – achieve the highest possible individual potential we can within the limits set by the gods.
- Know the laws of the gods to understand divine decrees and adhere by them
- Accept fate and necessity with grace
- accept the burdens of responsibility for our actions
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Term
| According to Adrienne Rich, what does a woman need to know to be free? |
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Definition
| She needs knowledge of her own history, of her much-politicized female body, of the creative genius of women of the past, the skills, crafts, techniques, and visions possessed by women in other times and cultures, and how they have been rendered anonymous, censored, interrupted, and devalued |
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Term
| Whose freedom is Sojourner Truth advocating? |
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Definition
| Sojourner Truth was advocating women’s freedoms; more specifically, she was advocating black women’s freedoms |
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Term
| What is the difference between freedom as a natural right and freedom as utility? |
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Definition
| Freedom as a natural right is given to us by nature, the creator, or God; freedom as utility are rights in terms of their usefulness. Utility has to defend the right on grounds of the city rather than of god. |
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Term
| According to Mill, what is the greatest danger to freedom in a democratic society? |
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Definition
| The greatest danger to freedom is public opinion (the voice of the people); public opinion is a form of social tyranny |
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Term
| According to Mill, what utility does freedom have? |
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Definition
| Freedom allows people to search for truth |
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Term
| According to Mill, what is the domain of consciousness, or those freedoms that are most precious? |
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Definition
The domain of consciousness is inside every individual and essentially untouchable; it is the realm that government or anyone else shouldn’t limit, control, or influence
Includes:- liberty of conscience
- freedom of thought and feeling
- freedom of opinion and sentiments
- freedom of expression
- freedom of tastes and pursuits
- freedom to unite (most important in the domain of consciousness)
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Term
| According to Mill, what utility does freedom have for the pursuit of truth? Of individuality? Of a progressive society? |
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Definition
- The Pursuit of Truth – to know the truth, you must be free
- Pursuit of Individuality – to be your own person you take on the issue of self-government and freedom
- In a progressive society, freedom is necessary for innovation. We need the freedom to sustain truths and traditions and the sense of community
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Term
| According to Mill, what is required for us to be individuals? |
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Definition
| We need to observe, we need reason and judgment, we need to gather information, and we need to decide. |
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Term
| How does Sophocles portray Oedipus and the issue of guilt/innocence in Oedipus at Colonus? |
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Definition
| Oedipus declares his innocence to the elders by retelling his story to them. He is no longer guilty. |
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Term
| What does Theseus offer to Oedipus at Colonus? Why? |
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Definition
Theseus offers:- empathy
- hospitality
- protection
- grace
- and citizenship
He does this because Theseus knows what it is like to be in exile. He also believes Oedipus is no longer guilty or sinful for his actions |
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Term
| What is the function/importance of a language of the good? |
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Definition
| It allows us to speak eloquently and powerfully about what human beings need in order to be fully human |
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Term
| Why doesn’t liberalism have a sophisticated language of the good? |
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Definition
| liberalism only has a language about rights. We do not talk about what we owe one another, just about what is owed to us from the government. We need love, respect, dignity, etc… we just don’t know how to express these things in our language |
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Term
| What is Abraham Maslow’s hierarchy of needs? |
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Definition
- Physiological needs – sleep, food, sex
- Safety needs – sense of order, security, stability
- Belongingness needs – need to be loved, need to belong
- Esteem needs – sense of recognition, power, and respect
- Self-actualization – the individual who is created, self-assured, loved, capable of loving, best suited; now has the best opportunity of becoming who he/she wants to
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Term
| Who is Pericles and what are the main principles of his funeral oration? |
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Definition
| Pericles was a statesman, orator, and general during the period where Athens and Greece were at its highest; the main principles of his funeral oration was excellence, public service/duty, reverence, respect for laws and authority, loves of beauty and connectedness, patriotism |
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Term
| What is Socrates’ vocation? |
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Definition
| Socrates’ vocation was to go around the city and refute what the oracle said – that Socrates was the wisest man alive |
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Term
| What is Socratic ignorance? |
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Definition
| The notion that a certain kind of wisdom is a certain kind of admission of ignorance; Do not claim to know that which you do not know |
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Term
| What is Socrates’ daimon (supernatural beings between mortals and god)? |
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Definition
| Socrates’ daimon is his conscience; a divine voice; a sign from the gods |
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Term
| What is the relationship, in Socrates, of philosophy, death and the heroic tradition? |
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Definition
| That philosophy is more important than death; the heroic tradition is those who die for their causes – causes are involved with war, honor, and their homes – Socrates extends it this cause to include truth and philosophy |
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Term
| What are the characteristics of Socrates’ theory of citizenship? |
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Definition
| Caring for the soul, moral dissent/skepticism (nothing is beyond being questioned), moral individualism, Socratic ignorance/humility, heroism, and love of his city |
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