I thought this was a very interesting book. Lakoff's methodology is very compelling, since I should hope that cognitive science has something to say about how people think about moral issues. His argument seems pretty sound. People think about morality metaphorically (based on findings from cognitive science). Their metaphors for morality are related to groups of metaphors involving different parenting styles which are given different moral priority (described extensively in much of the book). Two ways of thinking about how families should be raised give rise to two separate sets of morals. These sets of morals, when applied to society (society considered as a family) give rise to precisely the conservative and liberal political agendas. (These agendas are in many cases non-intuitive, such as why a pro-life stance correlates with support for the death penalty and opposition to programs for young mothers which save babies). I don't like when he talks about his "nonpartisan" reasons for liberalism. He cites cognitive studies that show that strict parenting is harmful and nurturant parenting is good. In my mind, this shouldn't be relevant since its not important that the moral metaphor be empirically verified as applied to child rearing; in fact it's important that this metaphor be verified as applied to politics. My understanding is that metaphors are *approximately* how the world works - not exactly.  

Review: Moral Politics: How Liberals and Conservatives Think

Lakoff has fascinating, even exciting, insights, but his treatment is ponderous and marred by equivocations in how he approaches his subject. His basic idea is that the differences between Democrats ... Read full review

Review: Moral Politics: How Liberals and Conservatives Think

This book gave me valuable insights into why some people are liberal and some conservative. I had no idea that such firmly held beliefs had become a moral issue. Read full review

Review: Moral Politics: How Liberals and Conservatives Think

When in a political book you find something about metaphor, you use it. Read full review

Review: Moral Politics: How Liberals and Conservatives Think

There at points at which Lakoff, whose book served as another of our local reading group's book selection, shines through and clarifies the seemingly inherent contradictions between liberal and ... Read full review

Review: Moral Politics: How Liberals and Conservatives Think

A must read. Read full review

Review: Moral Politics: How Liberals and Conservatives Think

Lakoff's thesis is that the political divisions in our country are so intense because they are ultimately grounded in divisions in personal morality. Conservatives approach issues from a morality of ... Read full review

Review: Moral Politics: How Liberals and Conservatives Think

Really just started this. Its astounding. Wonderful. Horrifying. It is not easy reading, and it is not tons of fun. It is a modern treatise on current political thought in the USA, and as such it is very serious, thoughtful, and scholarly. Read full review

Review: Moral Politics: How Liberals and Conservatives Think

Very good theory for why Conservatives and Liberals think the way they do. He focuses on the fundamental reason why we think differently, then applies that model to explain a particular stance on an ... Read full review

Review: Moral Politics: How Liberals and Conservatives Think

This book defines a model to look at the conservative mind and the liberal mind and how they so often clash. Here are my reading notes: # Morality Morality is often talked about as a problem of ... Read full review