tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1506855282716397592.post6513740278157617462..comments2023-03-28T04:45:24.131-04:00Comments on Deus Decorus Est: Liberal vs. Conservative ValuesSpeaker for the Deadhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10032990561585099482noreply@blogger.comBlogger2125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1506855282716397592.post-6531546182499706152009-06-01T03:44:37.073-04:002009-06-01T03:44:37.073-04:00I would say this: if a few examples can contradict...I would say this: if a few examples can contradict the results of a study, perhaps the study has not been designed well enough. I think this is the case with this particular study (or, at the very least, a conclusion has been drawn too quickly).<br /><br />The point of the study seemed to be to see what moral values appealed to the different parties. So even if liberals think of affirmative action in terms of fairness as well, that doesn't change the fact that BOTH parties appeal to fairness when addressing the issue. Thus, fairness is not a one-partied appeal, as the study seems to suggest. (This applies to the working mother example as well.)<br /><br />Finally, Beck is not the author of the study, and as far as I know, the author did not question the religious conservatism or liberalism of study participants, only their political conservatism or liberalism.<br /><br />(It may be unfair to classify all Democrats as liberal or all Republicans as conservatism, but for the sake of not repeating words, I used them synonymously. Despite my conservative leanings, perhaps I used the definitions too liberally.)<br /><br />Finally, I'm not sure that it was the intent of the study to show that political affiliation fully explained the different approaches to morality. In fact, my impression is that the opposite is true: our differences in moral approaches lead us to different political opinions. Yet it seems to me that political affiliation is linked to religion, from which stem our moral values.<br /><br />My point about religion is merely to question how the rankings would shift if liberal Christians were isolated from the rankings for secular Democrats or secular conservatives from the religious Republicans. I wonder if there is a stronger correlation between religion and morality that gives the appearance of a link between politics and morality because religious people tend to be more politically conservative. This possibility seems to be completely ignored.<br /><br />In the end, I just want more data on the matter. I included the link to the website that features the study. You have to log in to get the results, but I think examining that will give you a better idea of the general study itself. (I think it's wise to be skeptical of "studies" in general.)Sword Reforgedhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01377022497205905074noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1506855282716397592.post-40062917846014034772009-05-29T22:02:04.501-04:002009-05-29T22:02:04.501-04:00I find it a bit difficult to see how your own opin...I find it a bit difficult to see how your own opinion about how Republicans and Democrats reason could succeed in contradicting the results of an empirical study. His thesis, at least in your quotation was "Research has shown...", not "I think people reason this way..."<br /><br />In your examples, as far as I can tell you're only reasoning from a conservative point of view. I don't think liberals actually believe that a working mother is somehow unfair to the children. They could very well be wrong, but that's neither here nor there. <br /><br />And same with race relations. It isn't that liberals don't care about being fair to white people, it's that they think without affirmative action, things will be unfair for others whereas the actual loss in fairness to whites due to affirmative action will be very small. <br /><br />And, of course, Beck didn't posit in his post that political affiliation fully explained the different approaches to morality; he would surely agree that religion plays a role. On the other hand, he's done research before that takes into account the differences between religious people who are more conservative and those who are more progressive with respect to their religious beliefs. (Speaking of which, it seems a bit of a jump to identify conservative and liberal with Republican and Democrat doesn't it?)Spaceman Spiffhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02195067716296117149noreply@blogger.com