2/2/07
Explaining and understanding was the theme of today's lecture. Explaining is being in the system, process, or mechanism or something. Understanding is being emerged in a phenomena you are studying; the meaning and the how. From a radical approach you ultimately meet the object of your research halfway, though maintaing distance is a good method for researching (trying to stay out of the equation). You try to deconstruc the object of your study, to see your own biases. Radically you are the producer of what you study so that is why deconstructing your argument or perspective is crucial.
We went over 4 Great Debates (the family tree of IR):
1st Great Debate happened in teh 20s-30s, and the argument was realism v idalism. The league of nations was on the table at this time, and it seems that radicalism won out because that idea was never passed. The 2nd debate was...