Three Telos Model: Difference between revisions
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The '''Three Telos Model''' or "Triangle Political Map" or "Political Trichotomy" is a explanatory model of political ideology. It's a way to describe political beliefs based on the core axiom of the philosophy called a [[W:Telos | telos]]. The Three Telos Model is based on the concept of a [[w:ternary plot | ternary plot]] where the different underlying philosophies can be mixed but must sum up to the totality of the of the persons ideological position. This is a departure from the standard cartesian spaces such as the two-dimensional [[political spectrum]].
It can be thought of as being [[W: M-theory#Dualities | dual]] to [https://psychology.wikia.org/wiki/Cultural_theory_of_risk Grid-Group Cultural Theory] in the sense that each can be transformed in some way so that it ends up looking just like the other theory. There are some similarities in approach to [[W:Theory of Basic Human Values | Schwartz's Theory of Basic Human Values]] and [[W:Rokeach Value Survey | Rokeach's Value Survey]]. ▼
The core concept is that there are three teloses or axiomatic end goals which are fundamentally incompatible with each other. Favoring any one telos comes at the expense of another. In this way the model is an attempt to show how differing balances of core values result in different ideological positions.
[[File:Politics map triangle1.png]]
▲It can be thought of as being [[W: M-theory#Dualities | dual]] to [https://psychology.wikia.org/wiki/Cultural_theory_of_risk Grid-Group Cultural Theory] in the sense that each can be transformed in some way so that it ends up looking just like the other theory. There are some similarities in approach to [[W:Theory of Basic Human Values | Schwartz's Theory of Basic Human Values]] and [[W:Rokeach Value Survey | Rokeach's Value Survey]]. The [https://8values.github.io/ 8values] test is also very similar since it uses 3 of the Teloses in a four dimensional cartesian space.
There are several slight variations of this. A sample of various implementations are in the following videos:
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===Semantics===
There is a lot of debate about what the best term to use for each of the three teloses is. It is also possible that there is no perfect word in English to describe each concept due to the nuance. The goal is that each is an
It is intended to apply any time a group of individuals come together and co-operate in a society. A trade-off should emerge naturally in all such situations between the freedom of the individual verses the welfare of the group verses the strength of the society as a whole. Different people will weight these three attributes differently, but all of them are part of every grouping.
The concept of freedom is quite well defined in the liberal tradition which arose from the enlightenment. Some academics prefer to define this component as individualism or autonomy. Other academics prefer to define it by its inverse of authoritarianism. <ref>Stenner, K. (2005). ''The Authoritarian Dynamic''. Cambridge University Press. 13-27.</ref> All three components have an inverse where the person does not subscribe to the Telos at all. This would correspond to a whole side of the triangle since there are more ways to not follow a telos than there are to follow one.
The more common term for Equality in modern times is Equity. This clarifies that the Equality Telos is the desire for equality of outcome between individuals. The term for the group holding the ideal of Equity is often preferred to be labelled as Egalitarian instead of Leftist. However, the term Egalitarian has a wider and more conflicting set of use cases in literature than "Leftist".
The Tradition axis is likely the most controversial in definition because it is the only one which implies a temporal nature to the model. This is not intended to be identified with status quo conservatives<ref name=3types>{{cite journal |first=Karen |last=Stenner |title=Three kinds of "conservatism" |journal=Psychological Inquiry (2-3), 142-159 |volume=20 |issue=1 |pages=142–159 |date=25 August 2009|doi=10.1080/10478400903028615 |s2cid=143878133 }}</ref>
. It is intended to be aligned with the
===Decomposition===
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|It is fair and reduces harm
|People have a need for self-determination
|Traditions provide order and something for individuals to unify around
|-
|Philosophical Foundation
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|[[W: Mercantilism |Mercantilism]] / [[W: Feudalism | Feudalism]]
|-
|Ideal Structure
|[[W:Egalitarianism#Social_egalitarianism | Flat]]
|[[W: Meritocracy |Meritocratic]] / [[W: Network science | Network]]
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|-
|Truth source
|[[W:Relativism | Relativism]], [[W:Subjectivism | Subjectivism]], Postmodern denial of truth
|[[W:Empiricism|Empiricism]], [[W: Scientific method |
|[[W:Rationalism | Rationalism]], [[W:Prophecy |Divine Knowledge]], [[W:Traditional knowledge|Traditional knowledge]]
|-
|World view
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|Sacred Concepts
|Assorted Utopian Visions
|Civil Liberties/Private Property
|Tradition/
|-
| [https://psychology.wikia.org/wiki/Cultural_theory_of_risk Grid-Group Culture]
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[[File:TelosTriangle.png|500px]]
==
The use of a Cartesian space has been the standard practice for mapping ideology but there is no clear reason why this topology is preferrable.<ref>https://antinomiaimediata.wordpress.com/2018/11/28/ideological-dimensions/</ref>. The Three Telos model is depicted as a 2 dimensional ternary plot where the three teloses Liberty, Equality, and Tradition must sum to a constant, K. Usually, this constant is represented as 1.0 or 100%. Because Liberty + Equality + Tradition = K for all people being graphed, any one variable is not independent of the others, so only two variables must be known to find a sample's point on the graph: for instance, Tradition must be equal to K − Liberty − Equality. Because the three numerical values cannot vary independently—there are only two degrees of freedom—it is possible to graph the combinations of all three variables in only two dimensions.
What is often called [[w:Horseshoe theory|horseshoe theory]] claims that the extreme authoritarian economic left (Communism) is adjacent or close to extreme authoritarian economic right (neo-reactionism/fascism). This would imply a horse shaped political spectrum embedding in a 2D space. This concept has little to no academic traction but it does illustrate the problem which arises from a simple 1D political spectrum. National Socialism has had such an effect on modern politics that any explanatory model which fails accommodate both the Nationalism and the Socialism is clearly lacking. The Three Telos Model does not encounter such an issue as there can be many types of authoritarianism (illiberalism) on the lower edge from Egalitarianism to Traditionalism.
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Political philosophers have argued that a good political ideology must also incorporate constraints between different desires<ref>http://www.acsu.buffalo.edu/~jcampbel/documents/JacobyAPSR2014.pdf</ref>. For instance, from the liberal economic position, Milton Friedman advocated for the necessity of putting one of two desired values ahead of the other by stating "A society that puts equality before freedom will get neither. A society that puts freedom before equality will get a high degree of both". The implication of this being that both Equality and Freedom are desirable but they have fundamental incompatibilities. Constraints such as these can be expressed by changing the topology of the ideological space to make having full Equality and Freedom impossible in the model.
It may still be useful to represent political ideologies that violate the constraints and are practically untenable. Even if the ideology is in some way suboptimal or inherently self-contradictory, people may still hold
==Historical Context==
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