Yesterday I quoted G. K. Chesterton, from one of his short stories, on the importance of the theories we hold about life, the universe, and everything; Chesterton, speaking there through the character Gabriel Gale, declares (correctly) that “most men are what their theories make them.” The economist and columnist Thomas Sowell understands this well, as you can see in this interview (video below) he gave Peter Robinson last fall for Robinson’s program “Uncommon Knowledge.” As Sinistar of C4P sums it up,
In the interview . . . Sowell talks about his 1987 book A Conflict of Visions and the 2008 Presidential Election. . . .Sowell states that “visions . . . are the implicit assumptions by which people operate” and that with regards to politics, these visions can be divided into two camps—a constrained view and unconstrained view. To put things another way, these visions are your “gut feeling” or views on how the world works, and they will color your views of how you approach many political and social issues.The unconstrained vision suggests that human nature is changeable and that society’s and the world’s problems can be solved if rational plans are enacted. The constrained vision, on the other hand, banks on the concept that human nature is static and flawed, and that there are limitations to what can be done.
Of particular interest to those of us who are supporters of Sarah Palin,
[Dr. Sowell] briefly mentions the smears against Gov. Palin and how it relates to the concepts discussed in “A Conflict of Visions”. . . . It is a very enlightening interview, and I encourage people to watch the whole thing. However, if you just want to hear Sowell briefly talk about the smears against Gov. Palin and how these conflicting visions relate, you can fast forward to the 30 minute mark. (I suggest starting 28 minutes in for the lead-in to the discussion.)