POLISCI2537: Midterm

What groups are studied in political theory

• political institutions

• political practices

• political forms of organization

What is being studied in political theory

• what groups and whether these groups can be justified

• how these groups should be arranged

• the decisions these groups should make

What are political scientists asking

They are asking descriptive questions and are asking how the world is

Are political scientists objective

Yes

What are political theorists asking

Normative questions and are asking how the world should be

Are political theorists objective

No

What are normative questions

Dont have falsifiable answers

What is falsifiable

Can be proven to be false

What are conceptual questions

Often contested, leading to disagreement that cannot be resolved

What types of questions are political theorists primarily interested in and why

Conceptual and normative questions which cannot be resolved or proven right or wrong

BC most political decisions are normative

What tools does political theory provide us with

1. Clarifying values being invoked

2. Drawing attention to unstated assumptions

3. Drawing attention to alternative possibilities

What theory is much of political theory known as

Ideal theory

What is ideal theory

Everybody complies with the principles and knows that everyone else will comply

• very unrealistic 

What are the two parts of an argument

1. premise

2. conclusion

What are premises

Statements in support of the conclusion

What is the conclusion

The claim a person is trying to prove

What are the steps to evaluating a debate

1. Break the argument down

2. Ask: do the premises support the argument?

3. Ask: are the premises reasonable/ acceptable/ true?