Jump to Navigation
Home

Main menu

  • Home
  • Latest Stories
  • Markets Map
  • Trends and Sentiments
  • Leading Topics
  • News Search
  • Comments and Analysis

Secondary menu

  • Latest News
  • Top Rated
  • Most Popular
  • Archive
  • About Us
  • Italy By The (Wine) Glass: Pallagrello Nero From Campania
  • Are You Playing Too Much 401(k) Fiduciary Defense?
  • 'Fortnite: Battle Royale' Servers Are Currently...
  • Mining Rewards Show You What The Bitcoin Price Will Do
  • Inflation Is Here.. Get Used To It!
  • MarketWatch First Take: Jobs guarantee plans bring...
  • GE dealt another blow by Moody’s as shareholders line up...
  • Jet Airways passengers can bid for upgraded class
  • Mumbai no more vertically challenged, gets space to grow
  • This is why millennial men want a spouse who earns more...

    Gut feelings

    Mon, 04/18/2011 - 10:35 EDT - Stumbling and Mumbling
    • Comments

    David Cameron says something curious:

    For me, politics shouldn't be some mind-bending exercise. It's about what you feel in your gut – about the values you hold dear and the beliefs you instinctively have. And I just feel it, in my gut, that AV is wrong

    As a member of the Meh to AV camp, I have mixed feelings about this attitude.I want to applaud Cameron’s honesty. Most of us, normally, use apparently rational arguments as a cloak of respectability for what are really instincts and prejudice. It’s refreshing to see someone breaking with this hypocritical and self-serving tosh.Also, there’s much to be said for gut instinct. As Malcolm Gladwell showed in Blink!, there are many cases when snap judgments work.Such cases are common when there is huge Knightian uncertainty, as in such cases rationality does us little good simply because we can foresee only a tiny subset of all possible events. I’ve long suspected - albeit based upon my personal experience - that many of the best investment decisions are founded more upon gut instinct than upon explicit reasoning, as this can at least warn us when something fishy is going on. I suspect this is what Cameron’s doing here; he’s got a feeling he can’t articulate that AV is a slippery slope to something nasty.This is a perfectly respectable small-c conservative attitude. As Michael Oakeshott wrote (pdf), there is much to be said for a cautious disposition to prefer the familiar and the known rather than the rationalist promises of improvement.On the other hand, though, I have misgivings.For one thing, such an attitude is very close to idle cultural relativism. If politics is all about gut feel, it’s not obvious what difference there is between liberal democrats and Islamists. Their gut feeling is to oppress women and kill infidels. Our gut feeling is otherwise. How can we distinguish the two, without some “mind-bending exercise” which puts values onto some rational foundation?Also, such an attitude brings the legitimacy of government into (further) question. Why should I obey Cameron’s gut feelings? The obvious answer, of course, is that he has the power of the state to back them. Equally, if gut feel is all there is, then there’s little place for rational debate. The clash between your gut instincts and mine can be resolved only by force of ballots or bullets. But this reduces politics to mere power (which it is, of course - but it would be nice to retain some illusions to the contrary.) In this sense, Cameron’s elevation of gut instinct serves big-C conservative interests. It is the rich and powerful, by definition, who have power on their side whilst the poor have, at best, truth and reason. Anything that downplays the latter, therefore, supports the interests of the ruling class.It does this in another sense too. Put it this way. How did I, and a few like me, manage to “rise” - God, I hate that metaphor - out of our poor childhoods? It’s because we succeeded at education - because of our knowledge and reasoning ability. But now, we are told that such ability is not what really matters. When I passed all those exams, I was not demonstrating that I had the skills to join the elite: it‘s gut instinct that matters, after all, not knowledge and logic. Instead, I was like a dog jumping through hoops - performing a few mildly distracting tricks in exchange for a patronizing pat on the head.

    • Original article
    • Login to post comments
     

    Related

    • Malcolm Gladwell explains his 'haphazard method' for becoming an expert on anything

      Neilson Barnard/Getty ImagesMalcolm Gladwell has made his own cottage industry out of explaining complicated topics to the masses.

    • Tuesday Archives: A Question About What I Do Not Get About Michael Oakeshott...

      Jacob Levy (2008): "There is no modern work to teach alongside Theory of Justice and Anarchy, State, and Utopia...

    • Don’t Be “Rationalist”

      The first principle is that you must not fool yourself — and you are the easiest person to fool. Richard Feynman. 

    • Gay marriage & the conservative disposition

      Charles Moore's hapless attempt on the Today programme to oppose gay marriage has been widely decried. But I suspect that, underneath his waffle, there is a useful perspective which is in danger of being forgotten.

    • Chris Mooney on Motivated Reasoning

      Chris Mooney has a great piece in Mother Jones on why people aren’t persuaded by evidence:

    • Afternoon Must-Read: Malcolm Gladwell: Black Like Them

      Malcolm Gladwell: Black Like Them: Tthings changed when I left for Toronto.... The infamous Jane-Finch projects...

    • Now You Can Read Essays By Malcolm Gladwell And Judd Apatow While Eating Your Chipotle Burrito

      Short stories written by Malcolm Gladwell, Michael Lewis, Judd Apatow and a handful of other famous authors, actors and screenwriters will soon start appearing on Chipotle's paper cups and bags. The burrito chain teamed up with New York Times best-selling author Jonathan Safran Foer for the project, which Chipotle has branded the "Cultivating Thought" author series.

    • Malcolm Gladwell Explains Why He Never Roots For The Underdog

      In his new bestseller, "David and Goliath: Underdogs, Misfits, and the Art of Battling Giants," Malcolm Gladwell looks at what happens when ordinary people confront powerful opponents.

    • These Are The Insights That Made Malcolm Gladwell Famous

    Latest

    What we know about the victims of the Toronto van attack
    What we know about the victims of the Toronto van...
    French President Macron gives big speech to Congress filled with subtle shots at Trump after days of flaunting their 'bromance'
    French President Macron gives big speech to...

    Markets Map

    Markets Map

    Follow Us

    Follow Us on Facebook, Twitter, Google Plus and RSS LinkedIn Facebook Twitter Google Plus RSS
    S&P 500: 2579.37 0.16% FTSE: 7487.96 -0.07% Nikk.: 22420.08 1.82% DAX: 13465.51 1.75% HSI: 28594.06 1.22% FX: EUR/GBP: 1.1401 USD/EUR: 1.1618 JPY/USD: 114.1510 Commodities: Gold: 1276.1000

    Bullfax.com - Market News & Analysis 2008-2011
    Contact Us | About Us | Terms & Conditions

    Follow Us on Facebook, Twitter, Google Plus and RSS LinkedIn Facebook Twitter Google Plus RSS .

    Secondary menu

    • Latest News
    • Top Rated
    • Most Popular
    • Archive
    • About Us