180 likes | 319 Views
Studying politics is essential for building a comprehensive body of knowledge about the political world. It involves explaining, describing, predicting, and controlling political phenomena. The sources of our political knowledge include direct observation, reasoning, and authority. For instance, we rely on historical evidence, such as the actions of the Founding Fathers or the moon landing, to reinforce our understanding of political events. By examining replicated events and engaging in logical reasoning, we can truly grasp the dynamics of politics and its impact on society.
E N D
Why Do we Study Politics? what's this all about?
What does it mean to Know Something? • Explain, Describe, Predict and Control • What are the sources of knowledge? • direct observation • reason • authority
direct observations • observe a sequence of events and see if it recurs in more than one instance. • law of gravity explains a lot, we have seen it happen often • Replicated events
Reason • Even if we haven’t seen a particular thing happen before (observation) it is logical that things will happen in a certain way
Authority • How do we know that Madison and the boys did their thing in 1787? • How do you know that we landed on the moon in 1968?
Which are the most reliable? • observation • reason • authority
Why do we study politics • build body of knoweldge about the poltical world • explain, describe, predict, control
explain describe predict control Why do we study politics?