Brothers Hyrum Lewis (BYU – Idaho) and Verlan Lewis (Utah Valley University)’s new The Myth of Left and Right attacks the “essentialist” view that “left” and “right” are coherent political philosophies in favor of a “social” view that “left” and “right” are incoherent bundles of issue positions. In this interview, Bryan Caplan and Robin Hanson find much common ground with the Lewis brothers, but still find some residual merit in the essentialist view. Hanson analogizes ideology to gender identity: Some features of gender are social, but are all of them?! Caplan maintains that the social theory is 85% true, but the authors stick with 100%. Also: Should there be affirmative action for right-wing academics?
Texas Podcast Network is brought to you by The University of Texas at Austin. Podcasts are produced by faculty members and staffers at UT Austin who work with University Communications to craft content that adheres to journalistic best practices. The University of Texas at Austin offers these podcasts at no charge. Podcasts appearing on the network and this webpage represent the views of the hosts, not of The University of Texas at Austin.