A Country for Old Men: The Pitfalls of Conservative Political Analysis During Crises

Author(s): Anatoly Reshetnikov / Language(s): English Issue: 4/2020

I would like to start this reply to the latest forecast by the Institute of World Economy and International Relations (IMEMO) with a small literary digression. Besides its poetic beauty, Y. B. Yeats’ ‘Sailing to Byzantium’ became one of the poet’s most lauded works for managing to express his acute reflexivity about the problem of aging. Observing the world around him, Yeats’ character understood with astounding clarity that it no longer belonged to him. Moved by this realization, he decided to set off to a different realm, a metaphysical world of immortal culture and spirituality, poetically represented as Byzantium. This critical reflexivity about the fragility and finitude of one’s earthly life indeed secured Yeats a place among his fellow literary classics in ‘the artifice of eternity’.

A CRITIQUE OF THE PHILOSOPHY OF THE SUBJECT TOWARDS RELATIONAL INDIVIDUALISM

Author(s): Eskendir Sintayehu Kassaye / Language(s): English Issue: 11/2022

The bifurcation between holism and individualism is essential to understand the contemporary debate in political theory. In this article I argued that both traditional and modern societies have elements of holism and individualism. I also argued that individualism is not radically opposed to holism because it is impossible to imagine a human society without authority, tradition, and taboos. Moreover, the pre-theoretical norms and values of holist societies have rational foundation within a certain context. Thus, it is possible to imagine an individualist society which is grounded in a holist social ontology. I argued that collectivist and tribal societies are not totally opposed to individual liberty since one of the morally relevant advantages of rationality is to foster cordial relations with others. I argued that Habermas’s intersubjective communicative scheme is appropriate to account for the pre-theoretical norms and values of holist societies.

A demokrácia arisztokráciája?

Paul Elmer More a „természetes arisztokrácia” szükségességéről

Author(s): Gergely Egedy / Language(s): Hungarian Publication Year: 0

A demokráciakritika változatai Jacques Rancière politikafilozófiájában

Author(s): Lajos András Kiss / Language(s): Hungarian Issue: 4/2021

Jacques Rancière is one of the most significant political philosophers of our epoch whose original ideas and system of concepts used by him generated great debates in the humanities in the last decades. However, the French philosopher has numerous enthusiastic followers, possibly more of those who are irritated by his quiet unusual interpretations of politics and democracy. By Rancière’s glance, politics does not mean primarily the fight for the institutionalised rule, but a continuous struggle for the right of expression and visibility. According to him, the real core of the political struggle is not the consensus but the visualization of the dissensus in a “sensible form”. In a true democracy, debates always focus on the questions of distribution and redistribution of the “sensible links” (localities, competences and functions). Police (in its special Rancièreian meaning as ‘rule of the police’) is usually interested in the status quo; politics (la politique) intends to break with the established order. Consequently, politics is an always restarted experiment to compare the incomparable.

A Discourse on Machiavelli’s New Rome

Author(s): Davorin Žagar / Language(s): English Issue: 04/2021

In the first part of the paper the author presents the key theses of Vickie Sullivan’s reading of Machiavelli. Sullivan argues that, in order to prevent corruption, Machiavelli innovatively reworks elements of Christian teaching for entirely temporal purposes and offers a specific, modern solution, ‘new Rome’, in the form of an irreligious, fearful republic which early and effectively punishes the ambitious few seeking to establish tyranny. In the internal realm of the city, the Florentine reduces class desires of the plebs and the greats under the common goal of acquisition. A bellicose, tumultuous republic satisfies the desires of all the social actors, resulting in a lasting political order. In the second part the author critically engages with Sullivan’s interpretation, drawing on Claude Lefort’s interpretation of Machiavelli. Surprisingly, Lefort’s groundbreaking work on Machiavelli has been absent in Straussian readings of the Florentine. By highlighting the authentically democratic nature of Machiavelli’s project, in contrast with Sullivan’s reading, an entirely different ‘new Rome’ arises on the horizon.

A Discussion of Aristotelianism and Machiavellianism in William Golding’s Lord of the Flies as a Children’s Dystopic Novel

Author(s): Nilay Erdem Ayyıldız / Language(s): English Issue: 2/2019

The present article analyses the representation of the political regimes in William Golding’s children’s dystopic novel, “Lord of the Flies”. Therefore, it, first of all, underlines the dystopian nature of the novel along with the features of plot, setting, characters and content to facilitate the reader to grasp the warning against totalitarianism throughout the novel. The study finds Aristotelian and Machiavellian philosophies of politics as highly convenient approaches to examine the political endeavours of the boys in the novel. As the key intention is to interrogate to what extent they fail or succeed in following the Aristotelianism and Machiavellianism, the paper presents a detailed comparative analysis of two separate philosophies to reveal their weaknesses and strengths in controlling people. The article then affirms that the order, set up through Aristotelianism, necessitates the repression of the evil, which is considerably tough for a ruler while the evil empowers Machiavellian totalitarians who turn citizens’ lives into a nightmare.

A disztópiák Alkonyatjától a disztópiák alkonyáig?

Author(s): Péter Gombos / Language(s): Hungarian Issue: 02/2019

In my study I would like to present the status of juvenile dystopias in literature proceeding from the past and having assumptions about its possible future. First and foremost my intention is to show how they became dominant in juvenile literature and what factors contributed to the sweep of this genre (starting from the appearance of anti-authoritarian literature and the disappearance of taboo topics). I would like to highlight the role of anti-utopias in the 21st century, especially that of “the Twilight of dystopias”, The Hunger Games, the series that helped counter-utopia become a dominant genre. Here I cannot avoid talking about the importance of The Giver in the process. I am also trying to find the reasons of this almost unbelievable popularity, mostly with the help of American findings, taking into consideration the phenomenon of “white dystopias”. Last but not least, with the help of several studies and analyses, I make an attempt to predict the future of the genre.

A Foray Into the System of Anthropological Sciences

Author(s): Cristian Bocancea / Language(s): English Issue: 22/2018

In philosophy, theology or modern social sciences, we can always identify an anthropological axiom, that refers to the genesis, the evolution of the human species as well as the ”human nature”. Starting with the modern period, this type of thinking found itself organized as part of some positive sciences, that can be seen as an actual ”system of anthropological sciences”, put together by British, American, French and German scientists. The English have developed what we call ”social anthropology”. In the United States, several academic disciplines have thrived as part of the ”general anthropology”: archeology, physical anthropology, linguistic anthropology, cultural anthropology and applied anthropology. The French are mostly known for their work in the field of ethnography and ethnology. As for the Germans, they focused on studying popular culture (Volkskunde).

A Glimpse into a True Democracy. An Interview with Luce Irigaray

Author(s): Luce Irigaray ,Aleksander Kopka / Language(s): English Issue: 3/2020

An Interview with Luce Irigaray. Interview conducted by Aleksander Kopka

A gonosz arcai a szcientológiában

Author(s): Izabella Demeter / Language(s): Hungarian Issue: 07/2012

„A Szcientológia egy vallás, amelyet L. Ron Hubbard fejlesztett ki, és amely az ember való- di szellemi természetének és önmagához, családjához, csoportokhoz, az Emberiséghez, minden életformához, a fizikai univerzumhoz, a szellemi univerzumhoz és a Legfelsõbb Lényhez való viszonyának teljes és biztos megértéséhez kínál pontos útvonalat”1 – válaszolja a Mi a szcientológia? kérdésre a nemzetközi hivatalos honlap tájékoztató része. Napjaink egyik leggyorsabb ütemben terjeszkedõ egyházáról lévén szó, jelen írásban nem vállalkozom a kérdésre adott feleletek átfogó összegzésére – maga az egyház több ezer kötetet jelentetett meg, az ellene felszólalók is majdnem ugyanennyit –, ehelyett a vallás kialakulása és meghirdetett alapelvei kerülnek e gondolatmenet fókuszába, Alain Badiou Etikájának2 lencséjén át szemlélve.

A gravitáció mint szellem

Author(s): Bálint Forgács / Language(s): Hungarian Issue: 1-2/2021

Noam Chomsky: Miféle teremtmények vagyunk? Ford. Kisantal Tamás Kossuth Kiadó, Budapest, 2018., 216 oldal, 3490 Ft

A hit eredendő hibája és ennek társadalmi kihatásai

Author(s): Mátyás Brendel / Language(s): Hungarian Issue: 05/2014

A Kantian Critique of Grotius

Author(s): Macarena Marey / Language(s): English Issue: 95/2019

During the last few years, it has become usual to turn to some seventeenth century readings of the traditional idea of an original common possession of the earth for philosophical aid to explain and support the rights of persons in situations of extreme need, including refugees. Hugo Grotius’s conception of this idea is one of the most cited ones. In this paper, I hold that a Grotian reading of the idea of an original common possession of the earth is not a fruitful principle if we want to elaborate a solid defence of the rights of the ones in need. I reconstruct and analyse the role this idea has in Grotius’s theory of private property and present objections to it from a Kantian perspective.

A kapitalocén – avagy mibe kerül az olcsó természet?

Author(s): Attila Szigeti / Language(s): Hungarian Issue: 25/2019

In the last decades the Capitalocene discourse was emerging in the Marxist ecological thinking. This approach offers a sociohistorical explanation to the current ecological crisis by questioning the historical narrative of the Anthropocene discourse. Authors of Capitalocene are arguing that climate change and ecological crisis was not caused by the collective and homogenous humanity (predetermined by the human nature). According them capitalism’s accumulative and expropriative socioeconomic relations are responsible for climate crisis.This paper analysis how Capitalocene-arguments are applying the Marxist critique of capitalism, especially the labour theory of value and its contemporary expansions and corrections in the understanding of the current ecological crisis. The first two subchapters are summarizing World-Ecology theory of Jason W. Moore, than I interpret the debate of Moore with the Metabolic Rift school (John Bellamy Foster, Paul Burkett, Andreas Malm and others), and finally I analyse the possible normative ecopolitics from the theoretical perspective of Capitalocene.In the last decades the so-called Capitalocene discourse was emerging in the Marxist ecological thinking. This approach offers a sociohistorical explanation of the current ecological crisis by questioning the historical narrative of the Anthropocene discourse. Authors of Capitalocene are arguing that climate change and ecological crisis were not caused by the collective and homogenous humanity (predetermined by the human nature) in general. According them capitalism’s accumulative and expropriative socioeconomic relations are responsible for climate crisis.This paper analysis how Capitalocene-arguments are applying the Marxist critique of capitalism, especially the labour theory of value and its contemporary expansions and corrections in the understanding of the current ecological crisis. The first two subsections are summarizing World-Ecology theory of Jason W. Moore, than the paper interprets the debate of Moore with the Metabolic Rift school (John Bellamy Foster, Paul Burkett, Andreas Malm and others), and finally it analyses the possible normative ecopolitics from the theoretical perspective of Capitalocene.

A klasszikus eszméje: A kortárs politikaelmélet egyik forrásáról

Author(s): Szilvia Horváth / Language(s): Hungarian Issue: 2/2021

In the course of the history of political thought, there is a return to classical sources from time to time – and this is true of contemporary political theory as well. The case can be labeled as neo-classical political philosophy when the classical is the primary form of theorization and not just a simple illustration. The classical has a specific meaning here, and thus, deserves our attention. The meaning, function, and possibilities, as well as limitations, explore the method- like specificities of the classical. Although neo-classical political theory turns to a (certain) past, it is nonetheless a way of contemporary thinking, which, being open to both past and present, encompasses various directions of thought. My argument in the following analysis is that the main function of the classical is to open up new possibilities and opportunities; thus, a sort of theoretical invention. Besides invention, the meanings of the classical disclose more traditional meanings, or rather, emotions, like familiarity, and a sense of certainty that stand close to the eternal in the thinkers’ imagination. The self-reflective task of the classical is to balance these two directions to maintain the conditions for neo-classical theorization in the future, and eventually, to support the conditions for open-ended and free thought.

A liberális demokrácia védelmében?

Author(s): Zsolt Kapelner / Language(s): Hungarian Issue: 01/2020

Kis János: Alkotmányos demokrácia. Kalligram, Budapest, 2019., 576 oldal, 5990 Ft

A marxi kritikai társadalomelmélet

Kialakulása, fejlődése, teljesítményei és érvényessége a globális kapitalizmus korában

Author(s): Péter Szigeti / Language(s): Hungarian Publication Year: 0

A megvalósult utópiák földjén

Author(s): Dénes Tamás / Language(s): Hungarian Issue: 02/2019

The essay tries to interpret the effacement of the utopian thinking through drafting the features of the digital world. Utopia is being defined as epoch-marking, a mark that can indicate best the orientation towards the future of any era. The Enlightenment, Postmodernity, and the information societies can all be examined by this criteria. The central thesis of the essay claims that utopias seem to have disappeared today because we’ve already entered the world of utopias, of non-spaces. In order to explain this, the author analyzes the space and time related experiences of the information society. In this regard time simplyfies itself to instantaneousness, places become “non-spaces” – using the terms of the antropologist Marc Augé. Through this transformation, as a horizon is being eliminated, and even if not, the future can be conceived without the human factor.

A modern political education. Nonviolent perspectives

Author(s): Claudia SECCI / Language(s): English Issue: 13/2016

The article deals with a nonviolent perspective of political education and with some theories that may conjugate these two domains: Nonviolent Culture and Political Education. Methodologically an approach rooted in the theoretical and bibliographical research has been privileged. The discourse investigates the causes of the actual political disaffection, and follows the purpose to highlight the irrevocable role of a structured nonviolent perspective (like Gandhi’s one), in the rehabilitation of politics. Nonviolence does not remove Marxist elements of legitimation in their entirety – as Gramsci’s theory will highlight – provided that they correspond the “conquest of violence” that needs to succeed first and foremost in the “intimate” individual’s awareness. Moreover, the importance of contemporary ecological theories, which embed the nonviolent perspective in a general epistemological view, will be also discussed to reaffirm the crucial significance of the latter. Through this path, different authors, hailing from diverse backgrounds, such as philosophical, pedagogical and anthropological studies, show meaningful affinities and matching points, presenting, in some case, political education in terms of education and training of the “political emotions”. The reflection highlights the relevance of an expanded political participation and experimentation through praxis, as ways of an actual political education, in the belief that emphasizing the pedagogic dimension of political activity, means nothing less than searching for its deepest fundament.

A multikulturalizmusról és az ún. „kultúrák közötti párbeszédről”

Author(s): Attila Demeter M. / Language(s): Hungarian Issue: 09/2015

Using some concrete examples, in my study I try to analyze the political challenges which derive from the presence of immigrant (mostly Muslim)communities in European countries. My aim is not primarily to understand the specific religious identity of those communities, but to analyze our own political identity, in other words, the political identity of European societies. I seek an answer to the following question: which are the unquestionable political values or principles we have to insist upon during our dialogues with immigrant communities, and which are the ones which we could bargain about. The second and final part of my study is critical, and examines the causes of the failure of European multiculturalism. My point of view is that the success of the dialogue between European societies and immigrant communities is threatened, among other factors, by our unconditioned attachment to some values and principles which are seen to be inseparable elements of our democratic political culture(for example, the doctrine of human rights), but which deprive the dialogue between cultures not only of legitimacy,but also of any reason and meaning.