tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-26951738.post3466500784111053242..comments2024-03-25T11:49:21.281-07:00Comments on The Splintered Mind: Political Scientists Vote More Often Than Other ProfessorsEric Schwitzgebelhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11541402189204286449noreply@blogger.comBlogger8125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-26951738.post-72023466870751826862008-06-15T23:55:00.000-07:002008-06-15T23:55:00.000-07:00I was thinking that even a limited sample might gi...I was thinking that even a limited sample might give some indication of whether it was a factor. <BR/><BR/>As to the homogeneous theory, It sounded nice at the time but I'm always happy to be proven wrong by the numbers.Geniushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11624496692217466430noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-26951738.post-29918447315356273742008-06-15T12:31:00.000-07:002008-06-15T12:31:00.000-07:00Thanks, Genius, for your kind remark!It would be n...Thanks, Genius, for your kind remark!<BR/><BR/>It would be neat to look for a relationship with normative ethical stance, but it would also take a lot of work since stance is rarely readily evident from one's website. But maybe someone really in the know about normative ethics could look at a list of names and affiliations and sort those ethicists she knows into groups by normative stance, then we could look for effects. (Any volunteers?) But I suspect that the numbers involved would be too small to pick up any but very large effects.<BR/><BR/>As to why people vote, you may be right. In fact, those factors may better explain most of our moral behavior than any actual attention to morality or duty!<BR/><BR/>The homogeneity idea is interesting, but I suspect it doesn't fit with the other results that have been coming in, which I plan to post tomorrow or Tuesday.Eric Schwitzgebelhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11541402189204286449noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-26951738.post-81842117718140827472008-06-14T22:44:00.000-07:002008-06-14T22:44:00.000-07:00Eric,I'd say, on the whole, you are one of the lea...Eric,<BR/>I'd say, on the whole, you are one of the least grumpy bloggers I have ever conversed with!<BR/><BR/>As to why they vote you could probably collect one additional piece of data (e.g. if they are Kantian etc) and use that as a control to see if it has harmed the experiment.<BR/><BR/>As to why people vote I think its best explained in terms of habits and social pressure.<BR/><BR/>I expect that you will find that voting is actually related to how homogeneous (esp politically) the department is - you may find that ethic professors actually vote more than political scientist professors.Geniushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11624496692217466430noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-26951738.post-7473664613901048762008-06-14T21:20:00.000-07:002008-06-14T21:20:00.000-07:00Thanks for following up, Richard! I'm sorry if I c...Thanks for following up, Richard! I'm sorry if I came across grumpy. I seem to be having a grumpy day, as my wife would no doubt confirm!<BR/><BR/>I appreciate that it's contestable whether voting is a duty (or whether, more weakly, it is morally better to vote than not to vote), assuming a companion duty to be informed enough to vote reasonably well. But virtually every measurable morally assessible action where ordinary folks' behavior diverges is disputable. I have a study about stealing ethics books, but it's disputable whether stealing philosophy books from libraries is generally wrong. I have a study on students donating money to other needy students, but maybe people really should be directing their charity elsewhere. Etc.<BR/><BR/>For this reason, I don't want to hang too much on any one study, but to look instead for overall patterns. (This is wise for other reasons too!) If some people doubt my assumptions about the morality or immorality of one type of behavior, maybe they'll still go along with me on others!Eric Schwitzgebelhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11541402189204286449noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-26951738.post-38067412279682080422008-06-14T17:10:00.000-07:002008-06-14T17:10:00.000-07:00Well, for what it's worth, I both personally like ...Well, for what it's worth, I both personally like voting and don't think it's a duty. There are any number of ways to contribute as a citizen, so an exclusive focus on voting strikes me as a piece of unthinking fetishism -- especially when applied to those who live in gerrymandered districts and states where the outcome is all but guaranteed in advance. (Similarly, the maxim may be precisified in ways that are universalizable.)<BR/><BR/>Further, I think it's obligatory to take care to vote <I>well</I> if you vote at all; many people who vote do so impermissibly and make the world a much worse place. We would all be better off if fewer "patriotism"-fevered "terrorist"-fearful warmongers voted, for example.<BR/><BR/>But if you're taking the duty to vote as an indisputable <I>given</I>, I guess that's that.Richard Y Chappellhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16725218276285291235noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-26951738.post-30862618740756734322008-06-14T16:37:00.000-07:002008-06-14T16:37:00.000-07:00Thanks for the comments, kboughan and richard! I ...Thanks for the comments, kboughan and richard! I agree that political science profs may vote more often due to a passion for politics that makes them want to vote rather than out of a sense of duty -- though they may also feel more duty about it than others, too. (The website of one of the PoliSci departments I looked at showed students wearing "Vote or Die!" t-shirts.) I don't mean to venture any particular hypothesis about causation here.<BR/><BR/>Richard: It would be interesting to see data on that question. I suspect that if, indeed, ethicists don't tend to consider voting a duty that may be post-hoc ratonalization rather than genuine moral insight. Straightforward Kantian and virtue ethics approaches seem to recommend the morality of voting (not voting doesn't seem a universalizable maxim; voting expresses the virtue of civic engagement). Consequentialism, though, may make the issue more problematic: Does the benefit to society of your being informed and voting outweigh the costs to yourself of voting?<BR/><BR/>Of course all these analyses are simplistic. But I take it as a given that voting is a duty, and I hope I'm on solid ground and with the sensible majority in saying so! (This isn't to say that it's an overriding duty that admits of no excuses.)<BR/><BR/>If it is a duty and moral philosophers do it less, there are many possible explanations. One is that moral philosophy tends to lead one's opinion <I>away</I> from, rather than toward, what's morally right (perhaps because it improves one's ability to rationalize). Another possibility is that such intellectual approaches to ethics somehow weaken the connection between moral opinion and moral behavior.Eric Schwitzgebelhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11541402189204286449noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-26951738.post-54727054120305317132008-06-14T16:03:00.000-07:002008-06-14T16:03:00.000-07:00I suspect relatively few ethics professors would c...I suspect relatively few ethics professors would consider voting a duty (or at least fewer than the base population). So I'm not sure it's a good example to use. If you find that they vote less often than other people, that might simply show that they have unconventional moral views. (Which is precisely what you'd expect if all that philosophizing makes a difference!) If they turn out to vote more often than others, I'd expect that's for the reason KB points out above.Richard Y Chappellhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16725218276285291235noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-26951738.post-24881685164776529282008-06-14T13:28:00.000-07:002008-06-14T13:28:00.000-07:00I doubt poli sci profs vote more often than others...I doubt poli sci profs vote more often than others out of any sense of *duty*. These guys (they seem -- like philosophers -- to be male by an overwhelming majority) vote because political processes are their *passion.* They're fanboys of political process. Or so it seems from my limited experience.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com