Ideology used to mean false consciousness, distorted thinking and end ability to change. For Marx it meant reaction. That was in the 19th Century and thinking has moved forward. Now Roy Hattersley writes on his own Labour Party having an ideology and Noel Sullivan uses “Conservative Ideology” without conservatives objecting. One firm publishes a series… read more »
Distinguished by precision: After saying that the Keynesians believed themselves to have grasped the principles of controlling the economy, Jane Jacobs goes on to add that they: ‘concentrated on creating a science of fiscal intervention – a real science, like chemistry or physics, in which one can count on precise, quantifiable interventions yielding predictable, quantifiable… read more »
Freedom, the anarchist journal, quotes David Ricardo: ‘The interest of the landlords is always opposed to the interest of every other class in the community.’ [1] Back in the days of raging inflation a Wilson government declared a moratorium on increases in office rents. They had to abandon it in the face of desperate pleas… read more »
Until IC draws attention to it, absolute truth (or the question whether absolute truth exists) attracts hardly any attention. It seldom forms the topic of conversation, and little gets written about it. This does not mean that it plays no part in thinking. IC‘s challenge provokes more letters than any other subject raised, and almost… read more »
Entertainment has played a big part in life for as far back as knowledge reaches. Although now mostly professional it still opens a never-never land of fantasy and imagination, offering more drama, and more fun, than daily experience provides. The onset of rationalism has done nothing to restrain it; rather the contrary. Science and techology… read more »
Under this head IC presents instances of the political divisiveness displayed by the eidodynamic movements; most of these come from the movements themselves. When possible we also offer, for contrast, examples of the emphasis on party loyalty, faith in the leader and ‘don’t rock the boat’ of the eidostatics. (Co-operation being less newsworthy than conflict,… read more »
A large part of the argument about feminism turns on the question whether present sex-linked tendencies such as the greater warmth, gentleness and passivity of women and the greater aggressiveness exhibited by men, come from biological or social sources. If biological they will remain constant, if social they will change with social conditions. From early… read more »
During one of the kerfuffles about financial arrangements within the EC, a writer in the Financial Times declared: ‘Amid the turmoil and confusion of the past few days, one fact emerges ever starker: politics and diplomacy can no more resist the logic of international economic forces than King Canute could turn back an incoming tide.’… read more »
In 1857 the two German socialist parties, one following Marx and the other Ferdinand Lasalle, joined to form one organisation. This took place at a congress held at Gotha, and they went on to issue the Gotha Programme. Any idea that this foretold the end of dissension among socialists was quickly put down; Marx responded… read more »
People interested in ethics tend to maintain that one cannot derive ‘ought’ from ‘is.’ The Editor of The Ethical Record, for example: ‘There is no way that, starting from an “is” or purely factual statement, one can rigorously deduce from it an “ought” statement or a moral imperative.’ A writer in the Financial Times (25… read more »