tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4266300416434206693.post5262034135594292693..comments2023-08-11T12:04:42.077+02:00Comments on The Church of Rationality: Who Are the Republicans?LemmusLemmushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00917054221547240969noreply@blogger.comBlogger2125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4266300416434206693.post-86308723822787409382008-12-17T13:51:00.000+01:002008-12-17T13:51:00.000+01:00Your disagreement about the nuclear power example ...Your disagreement about the nuclear power example indeed seems to stem from our being in different countries - it is a very defining issue over here.<BR/><BR/>I don't have the time to read the links now or during the next few days (may add another comment later), but I don't think the specific examples are explained either by Jonathan Haidt's work (which I know in part and have blogged about) nor Thomas Sowell's view that conservatives have a more skeptical view of human nature than liberals (in the American sense).LemmusLemmushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00917054221547240969noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4266300416434206693.post-80764099614699237242008-12-17T00:23:00.000+01:002008-12-17T00:23:00.000+01:00I think there's a really crucial point in this blo...I think there's a really crucial point in this blog post about conservatives vs. liberals in general -- that it doesn't necessarily make sense why people so strongly tend to share a whole messy collection of views. But I disagree with your specific example of nuclear, though this could just be due to the fact that we're in different countries. As I see it, conservatives try to trump up nuclear power as if it were one of the defining issues of our time (implying liberals are rigidly opposed to it), while it's far less common for liberals to actually feel so strongly about it. (Admittedly there are some liberals who are reflexively opposed to nuclear power, but I think they're in a minority.) <A HREF="http://bloggingheads.tv/diavlogs/16463?in=32:20&out=36:09" REL="nofollow">See this Bloggingheads segment, where Conn Carroll (conservative) gives Bill Scher (liberal) a hard time about liberal views on nuclear power, and Scher responds, "I'm fascinated by the right's fascination with nuclear."</A> <BR/><BR/>As for the broader topic, Jonathan Haidt has a pretty elaborate psychological theory about the real dividing line between liberals & conservatives -- <A HREF="http://www.ted.com/index.php/talks/jonathan_haidt_on_the_moral_mind.html" REL="nofollow">video</A>, <A HREF="http://www.edge.org/3rd_culture/haidt08/haidt08_index.html" REL="nofollow">article</A>.John Althouse Cohenhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11703450281424023177noreply@blogger.com