George Lakoff

I was drawn to this book after having read "Metaphors We Live By" and "Where Mathematics Comes From: How the Embodied Mind Brings Mathematics into Being", both of which Lakoff co-wrote.

This is a 2008 book about the rapidly changing field of neuroscience, I've now read it in 2024, so I can't be sure if its details are up to date. However, Lakoff presents interesting models of how the brain works and its relevance to politics in the United States. There are lots of helpful examples explaining how his concepts work in real life and in politics. He is careful to tell when something is still a theory that may need to be modified as more research is done.

I can't claim to have read and re-read each chapter in detail, but Lakoff seems to sometimes use more than one term for the same concept, and its not always clear to me what he means by important terms like 'event' or 'frame' or 'semantic role'. When I look in the index for help with many terms used in the book, I fail to find at least half of them.

Still, this is an important book, and I'm glad I read it.… (more)

The gist of this book is that you should not use the language of those you are debating because it reinforces their frame/world view/idea. You want to tie your own ideas to your frame/world view/idea and use only that language. For instance for progressive ideas you would say taxes = investments, regulations = protections, protest is patriotic, etc. He notes that gay rights was successful in this with the messaging "Freedom to Marry" and "Love is Love". He also lays out how the Republican party has been training their members, and implementing this idea very consistently for decades.

He also explains how the right has a father figure world view, while progressives have a nurturant parent world view. The father figure/authoritarian male world view description helped me understand how people can rationalize their hypocritical positions on various issues more than any other explanation I have encountered thus far.… (more)