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"The term "ideology" can cover almost any set of ideas, but its power to bewitch political activists results from its strange logic: part philosophy, part science, part spiritual revelation, all tied together in leading to a remarkable paradox--that the modern Western world, beneath its liberal appearance, is actually the most systematically oppressive system of despotism the world has ever seen. Alien Powers: The Pure Theory of Ideology takes this complex intellectual construction apart, analyzing its logical, rhetorical, and psychological devices and thus opening it up to critical analysis.Ideologists assert that our lives are governed by a hidden system. Minogue traces this notion to Karl Marx who taught intellectuals the philosophical, scientific, moral, and religious moves of the ideological game. The believer would find in these ideas an endless source of new liberating discoveries about the meaning of life, and also the grand satisfaction of struggling to overcome oppression. Minogue notes that while the patterns of ideological thought were consistent, there was little agreement on who the oppressor actually was. Marx said it was the bourgeoisie, but others found the oppressor to be males, governments, imperialists, the white race, or the worldwide Jewish conspiracy.Ideological excitement created turmoil in the twentieth century, but the defeat of the more violent and vicious ideologies--Nazism after 1945 and Communism after 1989--left the passion for social perfection as vibrant as ever. Activist intellectuals still seek to "see through" the life we lead. The positive goals of utopia may for the moment have faded, but the ideological hatred of modernity has remained, and much of our intellectual life has degenerated into a muddled and dogmatic skepticism. For Minogue, the complex task of "demystifying" the "demystifiers" requires that we should discover how ideology works. It must join together each of its complex strands of thought in order to understand the remarkable power of the whole."--Provided by publisher.

Intro -- Kenneth Minogue, The Liberal Mind -- Front Matter -- Title Page -- Copyright Details -- Table of Contents, p. v -- Preface to the Liberty Fund Edition, p. vii -- Preface, p. xiii -- The Liberal Mind -- One . Introduction -- 1. Suffering Situations, p. 1 -- 2. Is Liberalism an Ideology?, p. 12 -- Two . The Anatomy of Liberalism -- 1. A Philosophy of Desiring, p. 17 -- 2. The Commands of Reason, p. 22 -- 3. The Uses of Calculation, p. 31 -- 4. The Puritan Contribution, p. 40 -- 5. The Structure of Generic Man, p. 46 -- Three . Ethics and Politics -- 1. Moral Experience, p. 61 -- 2. The Illusion of Ultimate Agreement, p. 70 -- 3. Politics and Technique, p. 79 -- Four . Moral and Political Evasions -- 1. The Doctrine of Needs, p. 91 -- 2. The Lure of the Positive Approach, p. 99 -- 3. How to Make Trends and Influence People, p. 108 -- 4. Scientific Moralism, p. 115 -- Five . Society and Variations -- 1. Society and Aspiration, p. 123 -- 2. The Uses of Society, p. 131 -- 3. Education and Society, p. 137 -- Six . Freedom -- 1. Freedom as a Manner of Living, p. 145 -- 2. Freedom and Spontaneity, p. 155 -- 3. Public Provision and Moral Protection, p. 159 -- Seven . Conclusion -- 1. The Moral Character of Liberalism, p. 166 -- 2. The Balance of Liberalism, p. 175 -- Index, p. 181.

One of the grim comedies of the twentieth century was that miserable victims of communist regimes would climb walls, swim rivers, dodge bullets, and find other desperate ways to achieve liberty in the West at the same time that progressive intellectuals would sentimentally proclaim that these very regimes were the wave of the future. A similar tragicomedy is playing out in our century: as the victims of despotism and backwardness from Third World nations pour into Western states, academics and intellectuals present Western life as a nightmare of inequality and oppression.In The

Der Verfasser zeigt, dass das Gleichgewicht zwischen Interessen und Idealen, das in der westlichen Politik über lange Zeit Bestand hatte, sich gegenwärtig deutlich in Richtung der Ideale verschiebt. Getragen wird diese aktuelle Entwicklung vom Glauben an die soziale Gerechtigkeit als Ideal. Eine Dimension des Konflikts zwischen Interessen und Idealen ist die Spannung zwischen Freiheit und Gerechtigkeit. Eine andere ist die zwischen zivilgesellschaftlicher Gerechtigkeit auf der einen Seite und Gesellschaften totaler Gerechtigkeit auf der anderen. Das Ideal der sozialen Gerechtigkeit führt mit Sicherheit in Richtung auf das Ideal einer völlig gerechten Gesellschaft, freilich mit einer augenfälligen Einschränkung: Zivilgesellschaftliche Gerechtigkeit ist prinzipiell egalitär, Systeme totaler Gerechtigkeit dagegen können ohne strenge soziale Hierarchien nicht funktionieren. (ICF2)

The author's concern in this article is to explore what he takes to be the essence of freedom and to locate it in the context of civilization. Described thus, the idea is insanely ambitious, and all he can do is sketch a position. He shall identify freedom with individualism, discuss first its emergence and then its established character in the eighteenth century, and finally say something about its paradoxical place in the world today. Individuality is a universal characteristic of objects, but individualism is the practice that accords to some personal acts, beliefs, and utterances a legitimacy that may conflict with the dictates of custom or authority. Today, this practice is usually formulated as "self-interest," which makes it clear that individualism may liberate some individual wants from customary controls. As self-interest, individualism is often wrongly identified with the moral vice of selfishness and gets a bad press. Adapted from the source document.

"The doctrine of social justice is a rather curious name for the project of equalising the access of all citizens to whatever is valuable. It is a curious name because justice traditionally means that individuals have rights to something they are entitled to, and this is commonly defined in terms of custom and law, though justice may also be used as a moral judgement based on a less definite kind of value. Social justice however argues injustice on the mere fact of inequality. To be human is to deserve to enjoy whatever anyone else enjoys. The element of desert has dropped out, though some qualifications based on economic functionality may often be recognised. A great deal of modern political philosophy consists in variations on this theme."(.)

This chapter traces Oakeshott's inquiry on human knowledge in relation to the impacts of rationalism on human knowing which the philosopher characterized as a type of mental infection & belief about knowledge that has progressively infected European life & politics since the early seventeenth century. Rationalism's separation of intellect & will corrupts through a politics of perfection, transforming everything into doctrine. Rationalism has reduced education, morality & religion to skill training rather than to creativity, the pursuit of happiness rather than reflection, & corruption stemming from ideas detached from the flow of activity. Oakeshott & the rationalist differ further in the location of discontents of their civilization: an Oakeshottian perspective on discontents claims they form the transitory character of human life is in contrast to the rationalist claims that discontent is a response to the present arrangements of society leading to change. Rationalist projects' detachment from experience suppresses human understanding of the accumulated tradition of things, & misleads through overblown expectations of future benefits. 3 References. J. Harwell

Michael Oakeshott (1901-1990) achieved arguably the most sophisticated philosophical understanding of politics in recent times. His characteristic skepticism extended to the possibility of creating a genuine science of politics. This chapter sketches the development of his conception of political understanding. It begins with his early elaboration of the modal character of all knowledge, discusses his criticism of rationalism & reflections on the appropriate curriculum for studying politics in a university. It concludes by examining the theoretical basis of his rejection of the idea that politics could be analyzed as a field governed by natural laws. 23 References. Adapted from the source document.

To when should the emergence of nationalism be dated? How should its distinctive ideological features be characterized? What consequences follow for ethnic conflicts today? Kedourie, Oakeshott & Gellner as markers in the rival views that followed. Adapted from the source document.