A Conflict of Visions: Ideological Origins of Political Struggles

First thing first Thomas Sowell is freeking brilliant This book could be titled Why Democrats Think Republicans are Stupid and Oppressive and Why Republicans Think Democrats are Arrogant and Evil Or maybe simply Conservatives are From Mars and Progressives are From Venus Sowell presents a compelling argument regarding the root causes for the political divide we find ourselves in, and explains why the two sides continue to talk past one another Sowell identifies two conflicting visions sets of m [...]

I finally made it through this one This is not an easy read it s like digging through a research paper There are lots of supporting quotations from various sources great for support, terrible for easy reading.BUT, this is THE best explanation I have ever found for political differences He explains that people tend to have certain visions of society constrained conservative and unconstrained progressive He explains that much of the tension between the two groups happens because they simply aren t [...]

This book gets high mark for its depth of research Locke, Rousseau, Paine, Burke, Godwin, Hayek, Galbraith, Godwin, Holmes, Blackstone, Smith, Mill, Dworkin, and many others are featured but ultimately the theory doesn t cohere.The premise is that there are two incompatible visions of society ways of looking at the world, each with their own hidden suppositions and internal logic Consequently, there is no common vocabulary and no grounds for reconciliation, forming the basis of much modern polit [...]

Vastly learned Very informative.

I read this after having read similar books with a similar premise namely, that there exist fundamental and irreconcilable differences between the worldviews of conservatives and liberals, and that all political conflicts are therefore primarily due to different worldviews talking past each other The books include Lakoff s Don t Think of an Elephant , Haidt s The Righteous Mind and Weston s The Politcal Brain , and I think my reading of this book was probably unfavourably shaded by these prior e [...]

Wow, reading this book was like riding my bike up a very steep hill It required great effort, concentration, and perseverance Yet I found it profoundly enlightening It was a description of the ideological origins of political struggles , based on two different visions of man and his limitations or lack thereof I am amazed at two things first, that Sowell could present both visions so even handedly, and second, that the unconstrained vision, which favors government intervention into economics and [...]

This is an excellent book that thoroughly discusses the nature of ideological values, morals, and beliefs Sowell uncovers the origins and ulterior meanings of human thought and action His writing is very clear, focused, and well researched I actually found out about my own views while reading this book.

Conflito de Vis es foi para mim um livro transformativo Antes dele, eu era uma pessoa que tentava me manter o mais longe poss vel de qualquer discuss o pol tica, sempre achando que a minha opini o sobre pol tica seria in til para qualquer discuss o, j que nada seria mudado Tudo isso mudou quando um professor me convidou para um grupo que passaria a discutir esse livro bimensalmente, cap tulo por cap tulo Talvez o que escreverei aqui n o seja apenas sobre o livro, mas tamb m sobre o grupo, j que [...]

The 2nd most thought provoking books I ve ever read This book was said to greatly affect the thoughts of Jonathan Haidt, author of The Righteous Mind, probably the most thought provoking book I ve read The basis of this book is uncovering why groups of people seem to have the same viewpoints on many seemingly unrelated social and political issues Sowell s thesis is that a persons vision of the nature of man leads him to beliefs on a number of issues People defined by the constrained vision see m [...]

One of the hardest to follow books I have ever gone through and I say this having read books with a neologism dictionary in the other hand than once but this is not necessarily that kind of issue Partly it s the construction on a lot of big historical and cultural data, but mostly i think it s the fact that the author expresses so many hiiiiigh level truths that as the book progresses he s forced to express himself in such long series of abstract words that I do believe he long surpasses the 5 [...]

I cannot give this book enough praise Sowell has provided an incredible framework for understanding the nature of political struggles due to competing worldviews and views on human nature This book joins my personal canon of current issues and politics He convincingly shows the logical extensions of two primary worldviews It would be an oversimplification to say that the constrained and unconstrained worldviews he identifies are synonymous with leftist and rightist This book offers a mind blowin [...]

Incredible book about how and why people see the world the way they do Sowell looked at liberals and conservatives, looked at their platforms and arguments, and asked the question why On the grand scale, why do the many various groups of people cultures political parties think the way they do How do people develop a belief and how do they change What really is at the root of our current conservative vs liberal debates And why can t we understand each other This book really helped me humanize the [...]

I may later come back to this and reconsider my rating I m close to 4, but the conclusions of the book are in some ways, nebulous This book can be heavy going at times and while the discussion between the constrained vision of life and the unconstrained and the also some views that don t completely conform to either view can be interesting and even absorbing it can also go slowly I didn t go into this book nearly as deeply or as completely I as I need or want to So, it s partly me right now and [...]

This book does an excellent job explaining the origins of political differences, as being based on vastly different premises about the limits of human knowledge Thomas Sowell explores the work of ideological theorists that span several centuries, and makes sense of the consistency of ideas that frequently come bundled together It is worth reading no matter your ideological beliefs.

I am absolutely awestruck by this work and expect to revisit it many times.This books, as is another book by Thomas Sowell, Basic Economics A Citizen s Guide to the Economy, is now my reference and a guide to understanding the socioeconomics.In A Conflict of Visions , Thomas Sowell attempts to explain how people s different views on human nature could place them in two divergent groups, groups that see human nature as constrained or unconstrained While admitting that no person could be said to [...]

This book provides a simple and appealing lens through which to view major dispositional differences among people on opposite sides of some long standing social, economic, and political debates And like many powerful lenses, once you ve taken a look, it s difficult to unlook I guess the danger is that once comprehended, these types of frameworks lead one to seek and find confirmation everywhere, transitioning from useful theory to unyielding cult Of course that doesn t mean that the basic theory [...]

Thomas Sowell s, A Conflict of Visions is a well written balanced look at what is at the heart of the seemingly intractable political divide that exists in the United States today For those like me that have witnessed the deep political rift between those on the political left and those on the political right and then asked, what philosophy or philosophical visions are at the root of it all, this book is worth reading Sowell draws upon a wealth of resources and sources to provide and explanation [...]

Adam C Zern offers his thoughts Quite honestly, this was the book I didn t know I was waiting for Thomas Sowell lucidly and convincingly makes the case that nearly all with some caveats political struggles come down to a basic conflict of the visions that is espoused by the participants He breaks them into two fundamental groups the constrained and unconstrained visions In our modern vernacular, in which the ideological scale left to right is basically useless, Mr Sowell presents the conflicts [...]

I can see why Sowell considers this among his best three works In A conflict of Visions, he presents a generalized philosophical model that frames every major economic and political viewpoint He references many prominent thinker on both sides of his model, which is based not on left vs right, nor authoritarian vs libertarian, but instead on constrained vs the unconstrained visions So many ideological discussions about politics, religion, trade, and social justice would be far enlightening if pa [...]

I finally finished this book it s amazing I have a friend who once said, Any book worth reading once should be worth reading again I don t buy that there are a lot of books i enjoy only once and wouldn t repeat But this book would be on a short list of books if I were limited, because you could read it over and over and still have a lot to learn it s dense there are a lot of ideas packed in it I would like to take a course with this as the text and explore modern politics with it.

Sowell does the seemingly impossible by giving an unbiased, accurate analysis of the constrained and unconstrained visions Because of that, I had no choice to give this book at least four stars His manner of approaching both sides gets us liberals understanding the conservative views logic rather than seeing said views as simply ignorant though they still often are Sowell did plenty of research prior to writing this book It will remain a valuable resource for a long time Bravo.

I don t know what Sowell was trying to accomplish with this book I found some of his arguments for this division contradictory, he also stated not everyone could be classified in these two categories so what exactly is the point really I do not know I mean sure, it offered a good contrast of Adam Smith and William Godwin, but there isn t really a take home message as both visions failed to fully achieve a better society.

I ve always admired Sowell s work in economics but may enjoy his political thought even A great summary and comparison of two fundamental visions that guide ideologies It contrasts political theorists such as Burke, Locke, Hayek, Adam Smith with Dewey, Condorcet, Godwin, Rousseau and Rawls Sowell presents complex material in a brilliantly clear manner.

Powerful analysis.

Always a great read Very perceptive in the constrained and unconstrained visions humans employ, as well as their consequences for thought, action, and society.

FODA

First of all, Thomas Sowell is brilliant Everything of his that I have read is thought provoking and enlarging This is no beach read, but it is clear, succinct, objective, and enormously helpful in systematizing the two principal competing political ideologies that have thrived over the centuries I often ask myself how two intelligent, well meaning individuals can arrive at such vastly different conclusions over any number of issues ranging from education, security, immigration, and economics to [...]

Thomas Sowell has an uncanny knack of describing concepts that you have a vague idea exist, but would be unable to eloquently describe yourself Though the idea of a conflict of visions is part of other works of his that I have read, A Conflict of Visions is the most detailed account of his on the battle of visions that I have read to this point.Sowell discusses the differences between what he calls the constrained vision and the unconstrained vision of humanity Those with the constrained vision [...]

Sowell describes a conflict of two visions in politics, economics and social science The assumption of the conservative, constraint vision is that a human being is a limited in his abilities and knowledge Knowledge is a collective endeavor, society as a whole knows than any individual alone Knowledge could be articulated and also codified in traditions, culture, age old wisdom and laws The focus of the constraint vision is on the means, rather than the ends Since no one has the knowledge to pre [...]

So, this should be required reading for everyone before they get to post a political opinion to Facebook Let s make that a thing Can we make that a thing Hey, Facebook, you with me It would improve the quality of people s feeds by about 2500%.Yeah, okay.This book took me forever to get through Light and easy reading, it is not Sowell is an economist and academic and philosopher and, well, he writes like one Although I ve heard his Introduction to Economics is one of the most accessible, understa [...]