Lakoff George. The Political Mind: A Cognitive Scientist's Guide to Your Brain and Its Politics

Penguin Books, 2009. — xxi, 292 pp. — ISBN: 978-0-670-01927-4; ISBN: 978-0-14-311568-7.One of the world's best-known linguists and cognitive scientists, George Lakoff has a knack for making science make sense for general readers. In his new book, Lakoff spells out what cognitive science has discovered about reason, and reveals that human reason is far more interesting than we thought it was. Reason is physical, mostly unconscious, metaphorical, emotion-laden, and tied to empathy-and there are biological explanations behind our moral and political thought processes. His call for a New Enlightenment is a bold and striking challenge to the cherished beliefs not only of philosophers, but of pundits, pollsters, and political leaders. The Political Mind is a passionate, erudite, and groundbreaking book that will appeal to anyone interested in how the mind works and how we function socially and politically.Introduction: Brain Change and Social Change
How the Brain Shapes the Political Mind
Anna Nicole on the Brain
The Political Unconscious
The Brain's Role in Family Values
The Brain's Role in Political Ideologies
Political Challenges for the Twenty-first-Century Mind
A New Consciousness
Traumatic Ideas: The War on Terror
Framing Reality: Privateering
Fear of Framing
Confronting Stereotypes: Sons of the Welfare Queen
Aim Above the Bad Apples
Cognitive Policy
Contested Concepts Everywhere
The Technical Is the Political
Exploring the Political Brain
The Problem of Self-interest
The Metaphors Defining Rational Action
Why Hawks Win
The Brain's Language
Language in the New Enlightenment
Afterword: What If It Works?