Essay Question #5: Ideologies and the Political Spectrum
“There is no religion in which everyday life is not considered a prison; there is no philosophy or ideology that does not think that we live in alienation.”
- Eugene Ionesco
The concept of ideology comes from the philosophical developments posed by a collection of Greeks including Plato, who would differentiate between the notions of facts and opinions in light of the political growth of the human race. His argument revolved around episteme (“logical knowledge”) and doxa (“opinion”). These developments in philosophy would prove to be important in the creation of our current notion of ideology, which is basically a set of beliefs and values held by humanity as the upmost truth. Although declaring ideology as a basic “set of rules” is not incorrect, there is far more to this system than a simplified definition would allow. This essay will provide details on each of the four major political ideologies as well as determining my own political leanings/choices as defined by the political compass website.
In Canada, we have numerous political ideals and ideologies that reflect our multi-faceted political spectrum. As the most popular ideology, social democracy remains the tried and true set of beliefs that we have willingly fought for as both an independent nation and an allied force with our democratic peer nations. The idea that everyone is equal, at least to some degree, is favoured by social democracy. Everyone should be able to vote, and society should also be able to develop their own opinions on how to change or evolve themselves to encompass the wide social differences that we are faced with throughout the country, and furthermore the rest of the globe. Although many wou ...