On Thu, Jun 7, 2012 at 10:34 AM, David Shemano <[email protected]> wrote: > Why is it a tautology? So you disagree, for example, with Thomas Frank, who > argues that may voters do not vote in their self interest? >
It is a meaningless tautology because of course, you can always define "self-interest" to be whatever it is that motivates voters to act in a particular way. The word "self-interest" has its rhetorical uses as with Thomas Frank's famous thesis. I believe Frank uses a specific income-based definition of self-interest as do many economists. Richard Dawkins uses a somewhat different definition and intellectual opportunists everywhere pick and choose a definition that serves their purpose at any given time. I am not interested in playing such silly word games. -raghu. _______________________________________________ pen-l mailing list [email protected] https://lists.csuchico.edu/mailman/listinfo/pen-l
