My Newfound Respect for Political Scientists

[VetLegion]

I have a mostly technical background so I never had much respect for political "scientists" and the like. I considered them people who talk too much and think too little, based on what they were saying sounded to me. Books I read talked about them as "burger flippers".

However, I have noticed on myself that some of my political opinions have changed over the years. I think that this was not a result of my physical aging, but of me accruing more thinking time devoted to those topics. It has allowed me to "travel the paths" of where various propositions lead and to learn about real-world examples.

Since I have not been doing that (thinking about politics) full time, it was and is a slow process. Following from that is that people who do it full time can explore various options much faster and reach correct positions sooner.

The process of thinking about those things is straightforward (it is not hard), but time dedicated to it can not be substituted with intelligence or will. Where I used to think that for reaching correct political opinions it is enough to have common sense, intelligence and a feeling for moderation, I am now convinced otherwise.


Summary for the lazy: opinions about politics held by political scientists are more correct than those held by me, you and the common person.

[LordShiva]

Nobody's opinions are more correct than mine.

[VetLegion]

Then you are a political scientist

[Dauphin]

Originally posted by LordShiva
Nobody's opinions are more correct than mine.

It's hard to be wrong when you have none.

[LordShiva]

Originally posted by VetLegion
Then you are a political scientist

Does that mean my opinions are more correct than my own?

[Dracon II]

<---- Political Scientist

[Dracon II]

Where's my respect? Bring it!

[Wiglaf]

It's not a science and it's insulting that it's not called 'Government' everywhere.

[Agathon]

Political scientists are just people who can't cut it as political philosophers.

[Maniac]

Philosophers are failed scientists.

[Riesstiu IV]

But both will most likely land you a job flipping burgers.

[Wiglaf]

Or working in government, or in law school, or consulting, or lobbying..

[Lancer]

Really?? I'll have to fake a diploma.

[Agathon]

Originally posted by Maniac
Philosophers are failed scientists.

We invented that too.

You're missing the point. Political Science and philosophy have a lot of overlap. The entire theoretical side of Political Science comes from philosophy and economics. It's a hybrid discipline. It's a bit like Women's Studies: parasitical on other disciplines.

Contemporary philosophy has very little to do with the sciences (unless you count linguistics as a proper science). The only cases of subject matter overlap are in the philosophy of science and metaphysics. Interestingly, many people who do that stuff are both philosophers and scientists (in fact, I think you can't really do good work in Phil Sci without having a degree in one of the geekier scientific subjects, like Physics).

[Agathon]

Originally posted by Wiglaf
Or working in government, or in law school, or consulting, or lobbying..

You're not wrong. Most philosophy graduates I know that aren't working in the profession are senior officials in government agencies or lawyers. There really is no better preparation for law school than a philosophy degree that drags heavily to the applied side.

Serving on a jury in front of incompetent lawyers persuaded me of that years ago.