 Bertrand Russell Quotes 366 |
I will begin the discussion of political theory with this subject because I think that most current discussions of politics and political theory take insufficient account of psychology. ...
If politics is to become scientific, and if the event is not to be constantly surprising, it is imperative that our political thinking should penetrate more deeply into the springs of human action. What is the influence of hunger upon slogans.'’ How does their effectiveness fluctuate with the number of calorics in your diet? If one man offers you democracy and another offers you a bag of grain, at what stage of starvation will you prefer the grain to the vote? Such questions are far too little considered.
Source： Human Society in Ethics and Politics, 1954, part II: The Conflict of Passions, chapter ２: Politically important desires, n.1
More info.: https://russell-j.com/cool/47T-2_0201.htm
* a brief comment
Various surveys are conducted by the government and the media, mostly on ‘What do you think?’ and only a few on ‘How do you feel?’ and only a few are about ‘how do you feel?’. In fact, the order is ‘how do you feel, therefore how do you think’. In this way, the ‘opinions’ obtained from the ‘how do you think’ questions are almost entirely devoid of the important ‘feelings’ element.
This means, in Russell's view, that ‘most current discussions about politics and political theory do not adequately take psychology into account’. For example, in response to a highly unfavourable report by the LDP that then-Prime Minister Abe had links with the Unification Church, the LDP pressured the media, including NHK, to ‘report neutrally and objectively’ so as not to ‘wake the sleeping child’. The pressure to broadcast objectively, without the ‘emotional’ element, has resulted in important ‘emotional elements’ being stripped away.
* Amazon Gift Card
