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Hi,
I have decided to start this thread in an attempt to, more accurately, understand the subjects and arguments being made on this forum and also the contributing members
In past and present experiences on these types of froums i have noticed (as i'm sure so have you) that many discussions become heated to the point where frustrations can boil over. I'll be the first to put up my hand as one of the guilty ones. However, the whole purpose of this thread is to try to correct that and better understan each others arguments, so i hope for cohession in discussions sake you will read on and take part!
When i first visited forums on politics/military issues I was amazed at the amount of uneducated and stupid opinions being thrown around as though they were indesputable facts. Thats not to say I am some type of arrogant intellectual or anything, i'm just a student with a couple of years study behind me as an undergrad and i don't believe i have all the answers. However, it did seem that people were just talking 'outdated' crud when it came to the subject matter. Not all, many had insightfull knowledge from both sides of the political spectrum.
However, i soon came to a conclusion that these people were not stupid, they were intelligent people, who could even structure an argument well, and had decent careers and employment. I then concluded that, by virtue of the fact that a great majority of those i thought 'stupid' were from the same country, there was obviously an education 'gap' between us. It seemed the places where they had received their knowledge had not covered a similar range of theoretical and epistemological options that i am in the process of learning (and will spend a lifetime learning no doubt).
Adding to this assumption, was the observation that people educated in other nations institutions had a similar, not necessarilly an agreable, grasp of the wider theories and 'isms' used to analyse certain situations. Basically, just looking at things from different angles. By now i'm sure you have all probably guessed which nation i'm talking about, America. However, far from being a anti-US bash my intention here is to help alleviate this sentiment felt, not encourage it.
Now my thoughts have developed to a new assumption. I think it is highly unlikely such a gap in education exists, especially in the worlds superpower, so it must be a phenomena that can only be explained through a cultural relativist appraoch. In other words it is to do with culture not just epistemology. That is not meant to be a judgement or ridicule of US culture, merely an acknowledgement of the possibility of an apparent cultural difference, if my assumption is correct.
BTW, i can't remember the proper term that would be used in philosophy for an 'assumption' that leads to a theory so i'm going with assumtion for now.
Understanding that this is only an assumption, and could very well prove to be a false one, i am left asking myself, 'what is to be done now'. I feel that it is an important issue for me to engage in and it could help others and the pefromance of the discussions here. At the end of the day i'm here to learn and understand in a social manner, all in that order.
So i am going to suggest that we use this thread to launch into a discourse on epistomology and related topics. This is not an area i would say i am strong in knowledge of, and i hope this will build my skills in this area. Moreover, the scope discussion should cover more than just a US v the rest approach. I would prefer this to be an investigation of the subject matter and its contexts worldwide. Contrary to popular opinion, i don't have a fixation with the US, and i doubt anyone else doeshere. The reality of the world we live in dictates that the US comes up probably more times than others put together here.
For those interested, i propose we now just post a reply to show if if there is an interest here, and other genral thoughts, comments. Also, it would be helpfull if people, when first posting, counld give a micro-autobiography on education level, career/job, relevent job history, ie if miltiary a rank and which aspect of military you were involved in or if education, what subjects you taught etc. Anything you might think is relevant to this discussion and topics covered in the forum in general. How much or how little you write is up to you. I'm not suggesting this as a medium to show who is 'better' than who, its purely to help the discourse along by giving readers an idea of where and how your contributions here were formed.
So if you worked through all of that longwindedness you are obviously interested so i will get the ball rolling.
As i have mentioned before, i am a mature age university student persuing a BA in Politics & International Studies and History and im going to add a minor or major in Security, Terrorism and Counter-Terrorism Studies. The last major is basically a combination of the first two, with added units, new or from other majors. I'm adding this one late because it is a new degree that my uni has been specifically requested to do, by the 'industry', so that they have specific specialists in that area to recruit from.
Apart from that, i have no other employment experience in anything that relates to the subjects covered here. Except a lifetime of interest in military and warfare 'topics' across a broad area, though i would not call myself an expert or vastly knowledgable on any of them. My work experience has been in many varied fields, basically at a labouring (monkey) level, although i hav travelled alot doing it and seen and done alot of things most haven't. I geuss this gives me a bit of an edge over the kids at uni as i have experienced life a bit more.
Well thats me done.
I'll now part with a question:
When studying politics in the US, is it still referred to as Political Science, and taught in that manner, from objective frameworks with subjective ones?
I have decided to start this thread in an attempt to, more accurately, understand the subjects and arguments being made on this forum and also the contributing members
In past and present experiences on these types of froums i have noticed (as i'm sure so have you) that many discussions become heated to the point where frustrations can boil over. I'll be the first to put up my hand as one of the guilty ones. However, the whole purpose of this thread is to try to correct that and better understan each others arguments, so i hope for cohession in discussions sake you will read on and take part!
When i first visited forums on politics/military issues I was amazed at the amount of uneducated and stupid opinions being thrown around as though they were indesputable facts. Thats not to say I am some type of arrogant intellectual or anything, i'm just a student with a couple of years study behind me as an undergrad and i don't believe i have all the answers. However, it did seem that people were just talking 'outdated' crud when it came to the subject matter. Not all, many had insightfull knowledge from both sides of the political spectrum.
However, i soon came to a conclusion that these people were not stupid, they were intelligent people, who could even structure an argument well, and had decent careers and employment. I then concluded that, by virtue of the fact that a great majority of those i thought 'stupid' were from the same country, there was obviously an education 'gap' between us. It seemed the places where they had received their knowledge had not covered a similar range of theoretical and epistemological options that i am in the process of learning (and will spend a lifetime learning no doubt).
Adding to this assumption, was the observation that people educated in other nations institutions had a similar, not necessarilly an agreable, grasp of the wider theories and 'isms' used to analyse certain situations. Basically, just looking at things from different angles. By now i'm sure you have all probably guessed which nation i'm talking about, America. However, far from being a anti-US bash my intention here is to help alleviate this sentiment felt, not encourage it.
Now my thoughts have developed to a new assumption. I think it is highly unlikely such a gap in education exists, especially in the worlds superpower, so it must be a phenomena that can only be explained through a cultural relativist appraoch. In other words it is to do with culture not just epistemology. That is not meant to be a judgement or ridicule of US culture, merely an acknowledgement of the possibility of an apparent cultural difference, if my assumption is correct.
BTW, i can't remember the proper term that would be used in philosophy for an 'assumption' that leads to a theory so i'm going with assumtion for now.
Understanding that this is only an assumption, and could very well prove to be a false one, i am left asking myself, 'what is to be done now'. I feel that it is an important issue for me to engage in and it could help others and the pefromance of the discussions here. At the end of the day i'm here to learn and understand in a social manner, all in that order.
So i am going to suggest that we use this thread to launch into a discourse on epistomology and related topics. This is not an area i would say i am strong in knowledge of, and i hope this will build my skills in this area. Moreover, the scope discussion should cover more than just a US v the rest approach. I would prefer this to be an investigation of the subject matter and its contexts worldwide. Contrary to popular opinion, i don't have a fixation with the US, and i doubt anyone else doeshere. The reality of the world we live in dictates that the US comes up probably more times than others put together here.
For those interested, i propose we now just post a reply to show if if there is an interest here, and other genral thoughts, comments. Also, it would be helpfull if people, when first posting, counld give a micro-autobiography on education level, career/job, relevent job history, ie if miltiary a rank and which aspect of military you were involved in or if education, what subjects you taught etc. Anything you might think is relevant to this discussion and topics covered in the forum in general. How much or how little you write is up to you. I'm not suggesting this as a medium to show who is 'better' than who, its purely to help the discourse along by giving readers an idea of where and how your contributions here were formed.
So if you worked through all of that longwindedness you are obviously interested so i will get the ball rolling.
As i have mentioned before, i am a mature age university student persuing a BA in Politics & International Studies and History and im going to add a minor or major in Security, Terrorism and Counter-Terrorism Studies. The last major is basically a combination of the first two, with added units, new or from other majors. I'm adding this one late because it is a new degree that my uni has been specifically requested to do, by the 'industry', so that they have specific specialists in that area to recruit from.
Apart from that, i have no other employment experience in anything that relates to the subjects covered here. Except a lifetime of interest in military and warfare 'topics' across a broad area, though i would not call myself an expert or vastly knowledgable on any of them. My work experience has been in many varied fields, basically at a labouring (monkey) level, although i hav travelled alot doing it and seen and done alot of things most haven't. I geuss this gives me a bit of an edge over the kids at uni as i have experienced life a bit more.
Well thats me done.
I'll now part with a question:
When studying politics in the US, is it still referred to as Political Science, and taught in that manner, from objective frameworks with subjective ones?
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