{"id":163,"date":"2010-03-18T08:11:10","date_gmt":"2010-03-18T15:11:10","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/lexiconic.net\/wheatfromthechaff\/03-2\/wheat-from-the-chaff-reading-wolin-part-1-philosophies-theories-and-ideologies"},"modified":"2011-07-13T17:16:43","modified_gmt":"2011-07-14T00:16:43","slug":"wheat-from-the-chaff-reading-wolin-part-1-philosophies-theories-and-ideologies","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lexiconic.net\/wheatfromthechaff\/archives\/163","title":{"rendered":"Reading Wolin, Part 1: Philosophies, Theories and Ideologies"},"content":{"rendered":"<div id=\"wp_fb_like_button\" style=\"margin:5px 0;float:none;height:30px;\"><script src=\"http:\/\/connect.facebook.net\/en_US\/all.js#xfbml=1\"><\/script><fb:like href=\"https:\/\/lexiconic.net\/wheatfromthechaff\/archives\/163\" send=\"false\" layout=\"standard\" width=\"450\" show_faces=\"false\" font=\"arial\" action=\"recommend\" colorscheme=\"light\"><\/fb:like><\/div><div id=\"content\">\n<div class=\"blog\"><!-- back and forward --><\/p>\n<div class=\"blogbody\">\n<p><span>In the world of political thought, philosophies, theories and ideologies are traditionally viewed as distinct entities. A philosophy is considered a systematic and logical understanding of the world arrived at primarily through reason and intellect. A theory is also said to be systematic and logical, but aims to represent empirical data and observed evidence. In other words, social scientific theory aspires to a certain level of verisimilitude &#8211; a correspondence between explanation and the real, tangible world. Finally, an ideology is a set of beliefs &#8211; again, said to be internally systematic and coherent &#8211; that has, at its core, a functional political agenda, a worldview that organizes groups either in favour of or against the status quo. Thus, philosophies, theories and ideologies may all set their gaze on politics, and seek a sense of coherence and truthfulness, but they are distinguished by their respective emphases on rationality, science or political action. <\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-family: Arial; font-size: small;\">Nevertheless, there are many who see little difference between philosophies, theories and ideologies. The respected political philosopher, Sheldon Wolin, treats these as interchangeable terms: &#8220;Of all the restraints upon the political philosopher&#8217;s freedom to speculate, none has been so powerful as the tradition of political philosophy itself. In the act of philosophizing, the theorist enters into a debate the terms of which have largely been set beforehand&#8221; (Wolin 21). Moreover, philosophy and theory, particularly in the realm of political knowledge, are inherently programmatic. Most political thinkers, even Plato, &#8220;have believed that precisely because political philosophy was &#8216;political,&#8217; it was committed to lessening the gap between the possibilities grasped through political imagination and the actualities of political existence&#8221; (ibid 20).<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-family: Arial; font-size: small;\">To Wolin, all three types of political thought are united by their common goals: to make sense of our political lives, and to provide the clearest account of the realities and potentials of politics.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-family: Arial;\">_____________ <\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-family: Arial; font-size: x-small;\">* Wolin, Sheldon. <em>Politics and Vision, Expanded Edition<\/em> (Princeton University Press, Princeton), 2004.<\/span><\/p>\n<div class=\"posted\">Posted by <a href=\"mailto:cwelch@lexiconic.net\">Colin Welch<\/a> at 6:06 PM<br \/>\n<em>Edited on: Sunday, May 23, 2010 5:23 PM<\/em><br \/>\nCategories: <a href=\"http:\/\/lexiconic.net\/wheatfromthechaff2\/archives\/cat_inaphilosophicalmood.html\">In a Philosophical Mood<\/a>, <a href=\"http:\/\/lexiconic.net\/wheatfromthechaff2\/archives\/cat_language.html\">Language<\/a>, <a href=\"http:\/\/lexiconic.net\/wheatfromthechaff2\/archives\/cat_sheldonwolin.html\">Sheldon Wolin<\/a><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>In the world of political thought, philosophies, theories and ideologies are traditionally viewed as distinct entities. A philosophy is considered a systematic and logical understanding of the world arrived at primarily through reason and intellect. A theory is also said to be systematic and logical, but aims to represent empirical data and observed evidence. In [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-163","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lexiconic.net\/wheatfromthechaff\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/163","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lexiconic.net\/wheatfromthechaff\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lexiconic.net\/wheatfromthechaff\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lexiconic.net\/wheatfromthechaff\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lexiconic.net\/wheatfromthechaff\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=163"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/lexiconic.net\/wheatfromthechaff\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/163\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":630,"href":"https:\/\/lexiconic.net\/wheatfromthechaff\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/163\/revisions\/630"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lexiconic.net\/wheatfromthechaff\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=163"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lexiconic.net\/wheatfromthechaff\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=163"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lexiconic.net\/wheatfromthechaff\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=163"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}