Cognitive/Behavioral Psychology
THE POLITICAL MIND
A Cognitive Scientist's Guide to Your Brain and its Politics
George Lakoff
Penguin 2009
EDUCATIONAL OBJECTIVES The reader will be able to:
• Identify characterizations of the two dominant mental sets in American politics
• Describe how these are related to frames, prototypes and metaphors
• Examine ideas about freedom, equality and democracy
• Compare these dominant mental sets in regards to emotion and empathy
• Describe how reason is characterized by the two dominant mental sets
George Lakoff is Richard and Rhoda Goldman Distinguished Professor of Cognitive Science and Liguistics at the University of California, Berkeley, and senior fellow at the Rockridge Institute.
One of the world 's best-known linguists and cognitive scientists, George Lakoff has a knack for making science make sense for general readers. In his new book, Lakoff spells out what cognitive science has discovered about reason, and reveals that human reason is far more interesting than we thought it was. Reason is physical, mostly unconscious, metaphorical, emotion-laden, and tied to empathy-and there are biological explanations behind our moral and political thought processes. His call for a New Enlightenment is a bold and striking challenge to the cherished beliefs not only of philosophers, but of pundits, pollsters, and political leaders. The Political Mind is a passionate, erudite, and groundbreaking book that will appeal to anyone interested in how the mind works and how we function socially and politically.