POL101Y1 Lecture Notes - Kim Jong-Un, Francis Fukuyama, Liberal Democracy
11 Sep 2013
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Document Summary
The point of social science is to try to make sense of the world we live in. By simplifying, by focusing on what matters and ignoring what doesn"t. Francis fukuyama: berlin wall falls huge world importance. Summer 1989: berlin wall falls, end of communism, end of europe being ruled by tyranny. Hegel: german philosopher, history is understandable, structure to history. History of philosophy: human capacity for understanding the world. Not kings, queens, presidents, prime ministers, or celebrities: they steal ideas, big ideas. When you see a war, what you are seeing is people dying but what"s really happening out there is a clash of ideas: clash of ideas what people go to war for. Industry, economy, religious practice are material manifestation but what"s really going on is the idea that inform those practices. Really big ideas are those that organize human society. Liberal democratic state: rights, elections, toleration. German is going to lose to the french.
