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Video clip by Sean Beighton
Psychologist explores John Locke's influence on political thought
May 4, 2011
UW News Lab
On April 27, Sheldon Solomon arrived in Kane Hall. The longhaired professor was dressed in a tie-dye T-shirt, athletic shorts and tennis shoes. The man looked as though he had stumbled into the wrong building. However, as soon as Solomon began to speak he demanded the audience’s attention.
“It is true that I am stopped sometimes in the airport and people say, ‘I think I saw you in a film.’ More often they say: ‘Weren’t you that guy sleeping in a Dumpster behind a grocery store,’” said Solomon, addressing his less-than-formal attire.
Solomon, a psychology professor at Skidmore College, presented “John Locke’s Errors: Why Left and Right Are Both Beside The Point.” Solomon compares the differences between liberalism and conservatism to light and dark beer.
“Are you a Republican or are you a Democrat? Great taste or less filling, which way do you want to go?” said Solomon. He pushed the point that, in his opinion, neither political party provides an acceptable way to think about politics.
Throughout the presentation Solomon made use of his intense body language, drawing in the crowd with wide-ranging arm movement and intense eye contact. He had a unique way of drawing out the words on his note sheet with his hands, often spreading his hand over the paper and then pointing toward the viewers. The audience received his idiosyncrasies quite well, chuckling at Solomon’s simplistic way of explaining philosophers like Marx and Locke.
“So either we come into the world an empty husk and experience makes us who we are, or we come into the world basically good until the ravages of civilization make us otherwise,” said Solomon, commenting on one of Locke’s arguments.
Solomon disagreed with Locke’s idea that humans are born without any ideas or biological perception by saying: “Humans are not blank slates; in fact, we come into the world with biological propensities and like it or not we are selfish and hypocritical bastards in certain circumstances.”
The audience listened intently when he began to explain people’s interests. For example, Solomon presented a recent study on selfishness. The study offered pairs of people the chance to flip a coin or be pre-selected to participate in a fun activity while the partner they’re paired up with performed an awful activity.
The study showed that half the people who were given the choice chose the fun activity over taking a chance and flipping a coin.
“‘How can that poor bastard feel that way?’ Well they can’t help it! They were born that way and so were you,” said Solomon, referencing traits he believes humans can inherit.
The lesson of Solomon’s presentation was that Locke’s philosophy on the ideal government was flawed. His basis for the study was that Locke’s political theories are based on incorrect ideas about human nature; therefore, Locke cannot be correct.
“You can be really wrong and really great.”
The Ernest Becker Foundation and the University of Washington department of Communication sponsored Solomon’s presentation.
Sean Beighton is a student in the University of Washington Department of Communication News Laboratory.
