# Fundamental Beliefs Scoring Guide A comprehensive guide to scoring thinkers on the 14 fundamental belief dimensions (scale 1-5). --- ## 1. State Power **Question:** What is the legitimate role of the State? **Scale:** - **1 (Anarchist/Libertarian):** The State is illegitimate or evil. It should be abolished or minimized to near-zero. - **3 (Moderate):** The State has specific limited functions (defense, courts, property rights). - **5 (Totalitarian/Absolutist):** The State is the supreme authority and requires absolute obedience. **Examples:** - **Score 1:** Rothbard, Stirner, Kropotkin (anarchists) - **Score 2:** Hayek, Friedman, Rand (minarchists) - **Score 3:** Locke, Jefferson, classical liberals - **Score 4:** Bismarck, modern social democrats - **Score 5:** Stalin, Hitler, Hobbes ("Leviathan"), Mao **Scoring Notes:** - Distinguish between *ideal* state (what should be) vs *current* state (tactical acceptance) - Anarcho-capitalists and anarcho-communists both score 1, despite opposite economics - Technocrats who want strong state intervention score 4-5 - "Limited government" conservatives typically score 3-4, not 2 --- ## 2. Tradition **Question:** What is the role of tradition? **Scale:** - **1 (Iconoclast):** Traditions are shackles. We must burn the old ways to build the new. - **3 (Pragmatic):** Traditions have value but must adapt to changing circumstances. - **5 (Traditionalist):** Ancestral wisdom is sacred. Hierarchies and customs are necessary for human flourishing. **Examples:** - **Score 1:** French Revolutionaries, Mao (Cultural Revolution), Lenin, Marinetti (Futurism) - **Score 2:** Mill, Bentham (reform tradition) - **Score 3:** Moderate conservatives, pragmatists - **Score 4:** Oakeshott, T.S. Eliot - **Score 5:** Burke, de Maistre, traditional religious authorities **Scoring Notes:** - Religious conservatives score 5 (tradition as divine wisdom) - Revolutionary leftists score 1 (destroy old order) - Distinguish from *metaphysics* - you can respect tradition without believing in supernatural - Classical liberals often score 2-3 (value emergent traditions like common law, but willing to reform) --- ## 3. Order **Question:** How does complex order arise? **Scale:** - **1 (Emergence):** Human systems can grow spontaneously from the bottom up (markets, traditions, common law). - **3 (Mixed):** Both emergent and designed elements are necessary. - **5 (Design/Agency):** Order must be consciously planned and directed by a designer (God, The Party, The Architect). **Examples:** - **Score 1:** Hayek ("spontaneous order"), Adam Smith, Jane Jacobs - **Score 2:** Tocqueville, Oakeshott - **Score 3:** Mixed economy advocates - **Score 4:** Keynes, modern technocrats - **Score 5:** Le Corbusier, Stalin (planned economy), Robert Moses, Mao **Scoring Notes:** - This is about *epistemology of order*, not just economics - Urban planners who believe in top-down design score 5 - Religious believers who see God as cosmic designer score 5 - Market advocates who oppose central planning score 1-2 - Most modern politicians score 4-5 (technocratic mindset) --- ## 4. Human Nature **Question:** Is human nature fixed or changeable? **Scale:** - **1 (Fixed/Constrained):** Human nature is biological, flawed, or unchanging (Original Sin / Evolutionary Psychology). - **3 (Moderate):** Human nature has fixed elements but culture matters significantly. - **5 (Malleable/Unconstrained):** Humans are "blank slates." We can be perfected through education, culture, or engineering. **Examples:** - **Score 1:** Original Sin (Augustine), sociobiology, evolutionary psychology - **Score 2:** Most conservatives, realists - **Score 3:** Moderate social democrats - **Score 4:** Progressives who emphasize education - **Score 5:** Rousseau, Mao (Cultural Revolution), behaviorists, Soviet "New Man" project **Scoring Notes:** - **Key distinction:** This is Sowell's "constrained vs unconstrained vision" - Religious conservatives (Original Sin) score 1 - Revolutionary socialists (perfectible through re-education) score 5 - Blank slate theory (Locke, behaviorism) scores 5 - Evolutionary psychology advocates score 1 - Most centrists score 3 (nature + nurture) --- ## 5. Economy **Question:** How do you view wealth and exchange? **Scale:** - **1 (Positive Sum):** Wealth is created. Trade benefits both sides. Competitors can both win. - **3 (Mixed):** Some markets create value, but exploitation exists in many cases. - **5 (Zero Sum):** The world is a fixed pie. If you are rich, you must have exploited someone. Wealth is theft. **Examples:** - **Score 1:** Smith, Ricardo, Friedman (trade creates wealth) - **Score 2:** Classical liberals - **Score 3:** Keynesians, social democrats - **Score 4:** Democratic socialists - **Score 5:** Marx, Proudhon ("property is theft"), mercantilists **Scoring Notes:** - This predicts views on trade, immigration (economic dimension), taxation - Zero-sum thinking often accompanies nationalism (other nations' gain = our loss) - Positive-sum thinking supports free trade, open borders (economically) - Piketty scores ~4-5 (r > g implies wealth concentration is structural) - Medieval just price theory scores 4-5 (economic exchange as win-lose) --- ## 6. Theoretical Reason **Question:** How do we find Truth? **Scale:** - **1 (Empirical/Instinctual):** The world is too complex for theory. Trust experience, heuristic, or gut instinct. - **3 (Moderate):** Theory guided by evidence; induction and deduction both matter. - **5 (Rationalist/Logos):** We can deduce Truth through pure Logic, Theory, and Philosophy. **Examples:** - **Score 1:** Hume (skepticism), Oakeshott, Burke (prudence over theory) - **Score 2:** Empiricists, pragmatists - **Score 3:** Scientists (theory + experiment) - **Score 4:** Kant, analytical philosophers - **Score 5:** Descartes, Spinoza, Hegel, continental rationalists **Scoring Notes:** - Not the same as intelligence or education! - Burke scores 1 (distrust of abstract theory in politics) - Descartes scores 5 ("I think therefore I am" - pure reason) - Scientists typically score 3-4 (theory matters but must be tested) - Distinguish from *instrumental reason* (this is about finding truth, not engineering society) --- ## 7. Instrumental Reason **Question:** Can we engineer society? **Scale:** - **1 (Laissez-Faire):** No. Society is an ecosystem, not a machine. We should not interfere. - **3 (Moderate):** Targeted interventions can work, but grand social engineering is dangerous. - **5 (Technocratic/Systematic):** Yes. We can use science, bureaucracy, and data to optimize and engineer a perfect society. **Examples:** - **Score 1:** Hayek (anti-planning), Austrian school, spontaneous order advocates - **Score 2:** Classical liberals (minimal intervention) - **Score 3:** Moderate technocrats - **Score 4:** Keynes, modern EU bureaucrats, Singapore model - **Score 5:** Le Corbusier (radical urbanism), Soviet planners, early 20th century progressives **Scoring Notes:** - **High scores:** Both fascists and communists (use state to reshape society) - **Low scores:** Both anarchists and libertarians (oppose social engineering) - Distinguish from *State Power* - you can want minimal state but still be pragmatic (score 3) - Modern politicians almost all score 4-5 (technocratic consensus) - Opus Dei technocrats under Franco score 5 despite being right-wing --- ## 8. Moral Unit **Question:** Who is the primary agent of moral concern? **Scale:** - **1 (The Individual):** The individual is sovereign. Collective goals cannot justify sacrificing individual rights. - **3 (Moderate):** Balance between individual and collective (liberal democracies). - **5 (The Collective):** The Group (Class, Nation, Race, Humanity) is what matters. The individual is a cell in the organism. **Examples:** - **Score 1:** Rand, Stirner (radical individualism) - **Score 2:** Locke, Mill, liberal tradition - **Score 3:** Communitarians, social democrats - **Score 4:** Nationalists, socialists - **Score 5:** Fascists (nation), communists (class), theocrats (religious community), Hegel (state as ultimate) **Scoring Notes:** - Orthogonal to left/right: both fascists and communists score 5 - Libertarians score 1-2 - Traditional conservatives score 4-5 (family, church, nation over individual) - Catholic social teaching scores 4 (subsidiarity but community focus) - "The needs of the many outweigh the needs of the few" = high score --- ## 9. Justice **Question:** How do you define Justice? **Scale:** - **1 (Process/Rule of Law):** Justice is fair rules. If the game is fair, the outcome (winner/loser) is just, even if unequal. - **3 (Mixed):** Both process and outcomes matter. - **5 (Outcome/Equity):** Justice is a fair result. If the outcome is unequal, the system is unjust. **Examples:** - **Score 1:** Nozick ("justice in acquisition"), Hayek, procedural justice advocates - **Score 2:** Classical liberals (meritocracy) - **Score 3:** Rawls (fair process + safety net) - **Score 4:** Social democrats (significant redistribution) - **Score 5:** Egalitarians, equity advocates, Marxists (from each according to ability, to each according to need) **Scoring Notes:** - **Key predictor of left/right economic policy** - Process-focused = conservative/libertarian (fair competition is enough) - Outcome-focused = progressive/socialist (equal results required) - Sports analogy: Score 1 = "fair game," Score 5 = "everyone gets a trophy" - Affirmative action is outcome-focused (score 4-5) - Meritocracy is process-focused (score 1-2) if fair opportunity exists --- ## 10. Metaphysics **Question:** What is the fundamental nature of the universe? **Scale:** - **1 (Material/Secular):** The physical world is all there is. No God, no spirits, no transcendent realm. - **3 (Agnostic/Deist):** Perhaps something transcendent exists, but we can't know for sure / it doesn't intervene. - **5 (Supernatural/Divine):** A transcendent reality, God, or Spirit exists and dictates meaning. Religious truth is foundational. **Examples:** - **Score 1:** Marx, Dawkins, logical positivists, materialists - **Score 2:** Secular humanists - **Score 3:** Deists (Jefferson), agnostics, "spiritual but not religious" - **Score 4:** Moderate religious believers - **Score 5:** Augustine, Aquinas, Calvin, imams, monks, theocrats, Kierkegaard **Scoring Notes:** - This is *not* about personal religiosity - it's about whether supernatural truth claims are foundational to their worldview - Culturally Christian conservatives who aren't devout score 3-4 - Secular Jews score 1-2 (religion as culture, not supernatural truth) - Fundamentalists of all religions score 5 - Buddhist philosophers might score 3-4 (transcendent but not theistic) --- ## 11. Time **Question:** Where is the "Golden Age"? **Scale:** - **1 (The Past/Reactionary):** The best times are behind us. We are in decline. We must return to the roots. - **3 (Present/Cyclical):** No clear directionality. History is cyclical or we must preserve the present. - **5 (The Future/Progressive):** The best times are ahead. We are marching toward Utopia, Mars, or the Singularity. **Examples:** - **Score 1:** Burke, de Maistre, Spengler (decline), Cato the Elder, traditionalists - **Score 2:** Conservatives (preserve the good from the past) - **Score 3:** Stoics, cyclical history views, status quo defenders - **Score 4:** Moderate progressives - **Score 5:** Enlightenment progressives, Marxists (communist future), transhumanists, Condorcet **Scoring Notes:** - Reactionaries want to *undo* modernity (score 1) - Conservatives want to *preserve* what's good (score 2-3) - Progressives believe the future will be better (score 4-5) - Marxist teleology (history progressing toward communism) scores 5 - Tech optimists (Kurzweil, Musk) score 5 - "Make X Great Again" = score 1-2 --- ## 12. Strategy **Question:** How should we achieve our goals? **Scale:** - **1 (Voluntarism/Persuasion):** Peacefully. Through markets, debate, or leaving the system (Exit). Non-violence is a principle. - **3 (Pragmatic):** Violence is regrettable but sometimes necessary for self-defense. - **5 (Coercion/Violence):** By force. Through revolution, terror, or the violent imposition of the State. The end justifies the means. **Examples:** - **Score 1:** Gandhi, Tolstoy, pacifists, voluntarists - **Score 2:** MLK, Thoreau (civil disobedience) - **Score 3:** Most modern democracies (police power acceptable) - **Score 4:** Lenin (revolutionary vanguard), justified war advocates - **Score 5:** Robespierre (Terror), Mao, military dictators, "by any means necessary" **Scoring Notes:** - **Key predictor of authoritarianism** - Pacifists and radical voluntarists score 1 - Most people score 3 (state violence for defense is legitimate) - Revolutionaries who embrace violence score 5 - "The end justifies the means" = score 4-5 - This is orthogonal to left/right (both Stalin and Franco score 5) --- ## 13. Universalism **Question:** Who is the moral/political vision for? **Scale:** - **1 (Particularist):** The vision is for a specific people, nation, tribe, race, or in-group. Loyalty and obligation are bounded. "America First." - **3 (Moderate):** Universal principles but special obligations to compatriots. - **5 (Universalist):** The vision applies to all humanity equally. Universal rights, universal reason, universal salvation. **Examples:** - **Score 1:** Carl Schmitt (friend/enemy distinction), ethno-nationalists, tribalists - **Score 2:** Nationalists, realists (Morgenthau) - **Score 3:** Moderate nationalists with humanitarian concerns - **Score 4:** Liberal internationalists - **Score 5:** Kant (cosmopolitanism), Stoics (cosmopolis), Christian universalism, Enlightenment universalists **Scoring Notes:** - **Religious universalism:** Christianity and Islam traditionally score 5 (all souls matter) - **Nationalist particularism:** "Our people first" scores 1-2 - **Liberal universalism:** "Human rights are universal" scores 5 - Fasciststypically score 1 (nation or race is the moral unit) - Communists vary: Marx (class struggle is universal) scores 5, but Stalin (socialism in one country) scores 2 - EU federalists score 5, Brexiteers score 2 --- ## 14. Epistemology **Question:** How do we approach knowledge and truth? **Scale:** - **1 (Closed):** Truth is settled. The system is complete. Dissent is error or heresy. Dogmatism. - **3 (Moderate):** Some truths are certain, but many questions remain open. - **5 (Open):** Knowledge is provisional. We learn through criticism, debate, and error-correction. Fallibilism. **Examples:** - **Score 1:** Religious fundamentalists, Soviet ideologues, cult leaders - **Score 2:** Orthodox believers (religious or ideological) - **Score 3:** Pragmatists, moderate thinkers - **4-5:** Popper (falsificationism), Mill (marketplace of ideas), scientists, liberal academics **Scoring Notes:** - **Not about intelligence** - smart people can be dogmatic - Fundamentalists of any stripe score 1 (religious, Marxist, libertarian) - Scientists typically score 4-5 (provisional knowledge, peer review) - Inquisitors, book burners, cancel culture advocates score 1 - "The science is settled" rhetoric can score 1-2 even among scientists - Ideological capture (left or right) scores 1-2 --- ## General Scoring Tips 1. **Score the *ideal*, not the *tactical* position:** A libertarian who votes Republican scores 2 on State Power, not 4. 2. **Distinguish beliefs from circumstances:** A pacifist forced to fight in self-defense still scores 1 on Strategy. 3. **Base on *revealed preference* over *stated belief*:** If someone claims to value freedom but supports extensive state control, score the actual position. 4. **Historical context matters:** Medieval thinkers might score 5 on Metaphysics simply because alternatives weren't thinkable. 5. **Score the strongest form of their belief:** If someone vacillates, score their most characteristic or extreme position. 6. **Use biographies and primary sources:** Don't rely only on secondary interpretations. 7. **When uncertain, use 3:** The midpoint is acceptable for genuinely mixed or unclear cases. 8. **Consistency check:** Cross-reference with similar thinkers to ensure internal consistency. --- ## Common Scoring Patterns **Libertarians:** Low state power (1-2), low instrumental reason (1-2), individual moral unit (1-2), process justice (1), open epistemology (4-5) **Authoritarian Left:** High state power (5), malleable human nature (5), zero-sum economics (5), collective moral unit (5), outcome justice (5), coercive strategy (4-5) **Authoritarian Right:** High state power (5), traditionalist (5), fixed human nature (1-2), collective moral unit (5), religious (4-5), coercive strategy (4-5) **Classical Liberals:** Moderate state (3), emergence over design (1-2), positive-sum economics (1-2), individual focus (2), process justice (1-2) **Technocratic Centrists:** Moderate-high state (4), high instrumental reason (5), moderate on most other dimensions --- ## Edge Cases & Difficult Scorings **Anarchists (left vs right):** - Both score 1 on State Power - Differ on Economics: anarcho-capitalists score 1, anarcho-communists score 5 **Religious Libertarians:** - Score 1-2 on State Power but 5 on Metaphysics - Possible: want freedom precisely because God gave us free will **Technocratic Authoritarians (Singapore, modern China):** - Score 5 on State Power, 5 on Instrumental Reason - But might score 1-3 on Economy (market-friendly authoritarianism) **Traditionalists who aren't religious:** - Score 5 on Tradition but 1-3 on Metaphysics - Example: Confucian tradition without supernatural claims **"Libertarian Socialists" (Chomsky):** - Low State Power (2-3), but collective economics (4-5) - Anarcho-syndicalism: worker collectives without state --- This guide should help maintain consistency when scoring new thinkers or reviewing existing scores.