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Values and Interests*

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  02 September 2013

Vernon Van Dyke
Vernon Van Dyke
Affiliation:
University of Iowa
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Extract

Most political scientists concern themselves in one way or another with values and interests. References to values are ubiquitous in the literature, and one need only cite such terms as interest groups, the public interest, the common interest, and the national interest to recall the frequent reference to interests.

The two words have already been discussed a great deal. Even so, there is considerable confusion about their meaning and about the interrelationships of their meaning. Rather than serve as effective tools for incisive analyses, they frequently lead into intellectual traps; and rather than serve as clear symbols for communication, they frequently lead to misunderstanding. These difficulties have been especially great in the field of foreign affairs, where so much has been made of the concept the national interest.

Type
Research Article
Information
American Political Science Review , Volume 56 , Issue 3 , September 1962 , pp. 567 - 576
Copyright
Copyright © American Political Science Association 1962

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References

1 Cf. Albert, Ethel M., Kluckhohn, Clyde et al. , A Selected Bibliography on Values, Ethics, and Esthetics in the Behavioral Sciences and Philosophy, 1920–1958 (Glencoe, 1959)Google Scholar; and Schubert, Glendon, The Public Interest, A Critique of the Theory of a Political Concept (Glencoe, 1960)Google Scholar. See also Jacob, Philip E. and Flink, Jame J., “Values and Their Function in Decision-Making,” American Behavioral Scientist, Vol. 5, Supplement (May, 1962), pp. 5–38Google Scholar; this thoughtful and stimulating study became available after I had completed the present article.

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4 Ibid., p. 51

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14 Ibid., p. 9.

15 Ibid.

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18 Ibid., p. 6.

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25 Ibid., pp. 34–35, 510–15.