Arthur Brooks is a Harvard professor, Ph.D. social scientist, bestselling author, and columnist at The Atlantic who specializes in using science and philosophy to provide people with actionable strategies to live their best lives. WebsiteArthur C. BrooksWikipediaArthur BrooksTwitter@arthurbrooksYouTubeArthur BrooksGoogleArthur Brooks Twitter Tweets by Arthur Brooks Books: Arthur BrooksArthur C. Brooks American social scientistLove Your Enemies … Continue reading Arthur C. Brooks American social scientist
Why we hate our political enemies — and how to stop | Arthur Brooks Posts where this video is embedded Benjamin Franklin’s Junto Club Benjamin Franklin founded the Junto Club – a conversational society in 1727 British Gentlemen’s Clubs ** Of the 17th and 18th Centuries Cicero’s Sermo ** Conversari Complex Responsive Processes Ongoing patterns of interaction between people Conversation … Continue reading Why We Hate Our Political Enemies — and How to Stop Arthur Brooks
Values and Identities – a policymaker’s guide Abstract This report presents the state-of-the-art scientific knowledge on Values and Identities from an interdisciplinary perspective. Values are said to be the dominating forces in life and Identities represent who we are and to whom we belong. Both shape the political landscape in democracies and have gained in … Continue reading Values and Identities – a Policymaker’s Guide EU Science Hub (2021)
Gurteen Knowledge Blog July 30, 2022, 16:14I have started to write about rhetoric in my blook though it is still a work in progress. I was never taught rhetoric in school, so I was unaware of its long history and depth. Like many people, I also tended to take a negative view of the concept, given … Continue reading Comparing Oracy and Rhetoric What’s the difference?
A real society comprises hundreds of millions of social beings, each with a trillion-synapse brain, who pursue their well-being while affecting the well-being of others in complex networks with massive positive and negative externalities, many of them historically unprecedented. It is bound to defy any simple narrative of what will happen under a given set … Continue reading A Rational Approach to Politics Is to Treat Societies as Ongoing Experiments Steven Pinker
Politics is life. Politics is the basis for real can do, as opposed to the imaginary sort brought to you by “strong leaders.” Credit: Tom Peters Posts where this quotation is embedded Benjamin Franklin’s Junto Club Benjamin Franklin founded the Junto Club – a conversational society in 1727 British Gentlemen’s Clubs ** Of the 17th and 18th Centuries Cicero’s … Continue reading Politics Is Life Tom Peters
Reason tells us that political deliberation would be most fruitful if it treated governance more like scientific experimentation and less like an extreme-sports competition. Credit: Steven Pinker Source: Enlightenment Now (Page 366 Penguin paperback edition)Posts where this quotation is embedded Benjamin Franklin’s Junto Club Benjamin Franklin founded the Junto Club – a conversational society in 1727 British … Continue reading Treating Governance Like Scientific Experimentation Steven Pinker
Understanding our Political Nature: How to put knowledge and reason at the heart of political decision-making Abstract Recognising that advances in behavioural, decision and social sciences demonstrate that we are not purely rational beings, this report brings new insights into our political behaviour and this understanding have the potential to address some of the current … Continue reading Understanding Our Political Nature EU Science Hub (2019)
The politics of our society are a conversation in which past, present and future each has a voice; and though one or other of them may on occasion properly prevail none permanently dominates, and on this account we are free. Credit: Michael Oakeshott Source: The Voice of Poetry in The Conversation of MankindPosts where this … Continue reading The Politics of Our Society Are a Conversation Michael Oakeshott
In this book, The Righteous Mind, Jonathan Haidt shows how moral judgments arise not from reason but from gut feelings. He shows why liberals, conservatives, and libertarians have such different intuitions about right and wrong, and he shows why each side is actually right about many of its central concerns. Credit: Amazon The Righteous Mind … Continue reading The Righteous Mind: Why Good People Are Divided by Politics and Religion Jonathan Haidt (2013)
Technology and Democracy: Understanding the influence of online technologies on political behaviour and decision-making Abstract Drawing from many disciplines, the report adopts a behavioural psychology perspective to argue that “social media changes people’s political behaviour”. Four pressure points are identified and analysed in detail: the attention economy; choice architectures; algorithmic content curation; and mis/disinformation. Policy … Continue reading Technology and Democracy EU Science Hub (2020)
Gurteen Knowledge Blog October 23, 2023, 12:22If you seek insightful political discourse amidst the noise, I highly recommend The Rest is Politics podcast with Rory Stewart and Alastair Campbell. Despite differing political perspectives, they engage in respectful, substantive conversations informed by their extensive government and journalism backgrounds. Take their recent discussion on the Israel-Palestine conflict, for … Continue reading The Rest Is Politics Podcast With Rory Stewart and Alastair Campbell
In the book Enlightenment 2.0, Joseph Heath outlines a program for a second Enlightenment. The answer, he argues, lies in a new “slow politics.” It takes as its point of departure recent psychological and philosophical research that identifies the social and environmental preconditions for the exercise of rational thought. It is impossible to restore sanity … Continue reading Enlightenment 2.0: Restoring Sanity to Our Politics, Our Economy, and Our Lives by Joseph Heath (2014)
Gurteen Knowledge Blog April 11, 2021, 15:40The US Intelligence Community has published a report entitled Global Trends 2040: A More Contested World. The report has been published every four years since 1997 and assesses the key trends and uncertainties that will shape the strategic environment for the United States during the next two decades. It makes … Continue reading A More Contested World A report on the future by the US Intelligence Community
In its broadest sense, politics is the actions or activities of a person or group to influence or control decisions and the outcomes of those decisions within a specific group context, e.g., a country, community, or organization. These actions or activities include gaining power or helping others achieve power and consequently influencing or controlling the … Continue reading What Is Politics? The actions or activities of a person or group to influence decision-making
Gurteen Knowledge Blog November 7, 2021, 12:37In writing my blook, I often find myself wishing to write about a topic. However, before I get into it too deeply, I need to clearly define a component concept whose everyday use I am not entirely satisfied with. For example, I recently started to research and write about political … Continue reading What Is Politics? A broad definition
I felt that politics at its best is a practical activity, not an ideology — a continual exercise of compassion, and grip, and competence, trying as best as you can to do a dozen small things for each problem in turn. Credit: Rory Stewart Source: Politics: A Dozen Small ThingsPosts where this quotation is embedded Benjamin … Continue reading Politics at Its Best Is a Practical Activity Rory Stewart
Gurteen Knowledge Blog September 14, 2021, 10:26My top tweet for August with over 58,000 impressions was a quote from Rory Stewart (@RoryStewartUK) — the former Member of the UK Parliament for Penrith and The Border from 2010 to 2019 and now a senior fellow at Yale University’s Jackson Institute for Global Affairs where he teaches politics … Continue reading Tweet of the Month August 2021 August 2021
Evolution of Democracy ** Modern Democracy ** Close Pop-up all posts in this chapter Democracy’s theoretical ideals clash with citizens’ limited expertise; the loudest voices often prevail over the wisest. Socrates proposed a balanced approach – civic education to cultivate wisdom alongside expert policy guidance to strengthen democratic governance. Socrates was one of the most … Continue reading Socrates on Democracy Socrates had a nuanced view of democracy
Oral Public Discourse The Narrative Paradigm Close Pop-up all posts in this chapter Narratives shape our understanding of the world and reinforce shared identities and values within a society. In contrast, the stories a culture tells about itself and its history reveal what that society finds meaningful and aims to pass on to future generations. … Continue reading Narrative and Story ** Narrative provides a way of looking at and interpreting the world.
The Extended Mind Rethinking Our Beliefs Close Pop-up all posts in this chapter Polarization of opinions is becoming more prevalent in today’s society and is creating both unrest at the societal level as well as conflict within small groups with different views. We are polarized across political, religious, moral, and racial divides. We fail to … Continue reading Opinion Polarization We are polarized across political, religious, moral, and racial divides
What Is Communityship? We All Have the Freedom to Choose If We Choose To Close Pop-up all posts in this chapter Many see politics in its Machiavellian, manipulative sense, backstabbing and spreading false rumors, but politics need not be dirty. It is through politics that we get things done. Politics is life. The concept of … Continue reading Politics Is Life We can’t escape it
Don’t Do Knowledge Management ** The Four Levels of Knowledge Management Close Pop-up all posts in this chapter Is knowledge power, or is it potential power? And if knowledge is not power, what is power? A little history The phrase “knowledge is power” is a popular translation of the Latin aphorism “scientia potentia est” (or “scientia … Continue reading Knowledge Is Not Power Our ability to influence people is power
Gossip and Lashon Hara Ownership, Not Buy-in Close Pop-up all posts in this chapter Effective leadership is vital for driving positive change in a complex world. However, many view leadership as a position of authority rather than a practice accessible to all. We can create a more engaged and sustainable society by recognizing that anyone … Continue reading Leadership Is a Practice Not a Position of Authority Anyone can practice leadership