IDEA Research Seminar - Understanding Right and Left

Part of the IDEA Research Seminar Series

Speaker: Sean Sinclair (IDEA)

Understanding Right and Left

My current work involves analysing public debates about public health, eg lockdown, sugar taxes, obesity. The debates often reflect the right/left split. People are passionate on both sides and the debates are not constructive.

My diagnosis is that people are coming at the issues from different evaluative perspectives. So to understand the debates, I need to understand exactly what right and left disagree about, and why they've ended up with such different perspectives. My aim in this presentation/workshop is to get the audience's help in clarifying the different evaluative perspectives of left and right.

In the presentation I start by listing various specific political issues which divide left and right. There is a great variety, so the question of what motivates each side is not obvious.

I then try to explain the right's position on these issues. One adequacy condition I apply to possible theories is that the explanation can't be such that convergence on diverse issues is a coincidence. Another condition is a constraint of charity: Attributed beliefs must be plausible, even if they're not true.

I consider a range of theorists who have tried to explain the difference between left and right, including Sowell, Lakoff and Haidt. They all fall short on one or other of the adequacy criteria. I then offer my own theory of right-wing ethics, based on re-working materials from Haidt.

However, this leaves two jobs:
1. I would like a better statement of the principles that motivate the left
2. I would like an explanation of why left and right have acquired such different perspectives

I hope the audience can help!

You can join us in person (Seminar Room 2, 17 Blenheim Terrace) or online via teams. All welcome.