THE RETURN TO THE CRITIQUE OF THE POLITICAL ECONOMY PROJECT IN THE DIALECTICS OF THE CONCRETE BY KAREL KOSÍK

Author(s): Pedro Leão Da Costa Neto / Language(s): English Issue: 2/2016

Karel Kosík’s book Dialectics of the Concrete. A Study on Problems of Man and World, elaborated under the impact of the de-Stalinization process, is one of the im-portant attempts to rethink Marxist philosophy; it was an attempt to overcome the theo-retical stagnation caused by the Stalinist period. It considers the state of Marxist theory, its relations to the past theoretical tradition, as well as it attempts to develop a critical and creative dialogue with different contemporary theoretical conceptions, then hege-monic. Through his reading of Marx and his A Contribution to the Critique of Political Economy project, Kosík searches for ways of discussing different relationships between philosophy and economics in the contemporary world, and, in particular, he analyzes different theoretical or ideological forms of the reified characteristics of the pseudocon-crete world of care (starost), homo oeconomicus and economic factor.

Liberalizm polityczny – od rozumu do prawdy w polityce

Author(s): Dorota Sepczyńska / Language(s): Polish Issue: 48/2016

In this article I try to prove that John Rawls, in his lectures published in Political Liberalism and later works, recommended the independence of one’s world-view and politics, and that at the same time he allowed the existence of non-conflicting factual truths in politics. His reflections on the problem of truth in the political realm are closely related to his reflections on reason, not only the public one. Thus, the aim of this article is to present and analyze Rawls’ understanding of reason and the place and function of truth in politics.

Seminar on Geoffrey Hodgson’s - Conceptualizing Capitalism

Author(s): Author Not Specified / Language(s): English Issue: 3/2016

WHY GENDER MAINSTREAMING IS NOT ENOUGH? A CRITIQUE TO SYLVIA WALBY’S THE FUTURE OF FEMINISM

Author(s): Oana Crușmac / Language(s): English Issue: 1/2015

The present paper represents a detailed analysis of the proposals made by Sylvia Walby in “The Future of Feminism”. The structure of the article follows two main directions, according to Walby’s discourse, respectively feminism outside the state and feminism inside the state/transnational institutions. The first direction will focus on feminist theories and will canvass their present forms and also the postfeminist trends. The second direction will examine feminist projects which have entered into the transnational and state policies – gender mainstreaming, affirmative action, equality of treatment, reconfiguration of the human rights. Another important section will be dedicated to inequalities within the family and how can gender policies correct them and why Walby omits this aspect from her analysis. The nature of gender inequalities shall be presented both from the point of view of distributive theories as well as the standpoint of the theory of oppression as a source of inequality, according to its formulation made by Iris Marion Young.

Charakterystyczne rysy filozofii polityki Mieczysława A. Krąpca

Author(s): Danuta Radziszewska-Szczepaniak / Language(s): Polish Issue: XXI/2015

Prof. Mieczysław A. Krąpiec (1921–2008) — one of the most eminent Polish philosophers, the main creator of the Lublin School of Philosophy. His conception of politics is presented in such publications as: ‘Toward a Human Politics’ (also issued under the title ‘Man and Politics’), ‘Sovereignty — Whose?’, ‘Person and Natural Law’, ‘Human Freedom and Its Limits’. Therein, he indicates that what gives meaning to and constitutes the ultimate purpose of one’s engagement in politics is the focus on the human being. The scope of this article is defined by four issues determining the uniqueness of Krąpiec’s political philosophy. First, his classical conception of philosophy, due to which Krąpiec does not confine himself to studying political phenomena, but embarks on a quest for the underlying determinants of the complex political reality. Second, his notion of the human being as a creature oriented at their own personal development and therefore inevitably connected to the community. In this respect Krąpiec is critical of Hobbesian anthropology which ignores the potentiality-actuality dichotomy of human nature and considers man a perfect, autonomous and autotelic being. Third, his conceptualization of the common good as personal development of each and every member of a political community. It is this development that the state, with all its organizational elements, including the material means as well as the legal and institutional structure, should serve. And fourth, his respect for the close relationship between politics and the sphere of moral functioning of the human being, which constitutes the basis for an analysis of Machiavelli’s mistake.

Critical Phenomenology: Borderline Between Grey, Opaque and Non-Transparent Zones – Permanent Transitional Times

Author(s): Miško Šuvaković / Language(s): English Issue: 14/2017

In what follows, I will point to theorisations of diagramatic modular models of the human, social and cultural practices that relate to antagonistic and certainly turbulent processing of production and reproduction, political economy, real life, and forms of life in the field of contemporary non-transparent or gray sociality. My main thesis is that the transition has not been completed and that we are now in the midst of transition changes throughout the world – that contemporary media and art fictionalizes or defictionalizes our human condition. My intent in this article is to point to the modular complexity of contemporary phenomena in relation to the criteria of the politics of time (dialectic historicisation) and politics of space (geographic difference). In relation to every contemporaneity that has occurred or is occurring at different times and in different places, contemporary art and culture required different conceptualisations of ‘modernisation’ and different conceptualisations of a critical response to the transition of global/local practices from the margins of society to its hegemonic centre, both internationally and locally. In an epistemological/methodological sense I intend to develop critical phenomenology. Critical phenomenology is a project of the politicization/radicalization of conservative phenomenological thinking.

Relacja jednostka-państwo w wybranych nowożytnych teoriach własności

Author(s): Wojciech Włoch / Language(s): Polish Issue: 58/2013

The aim of the article is to show through an analysis of selected modern theories of property how the philosophical (natural-law) justification of property influences an individual’s legal and constitutional position according to a particular doctrine. The objects of the aforementioned analysis are theories by Hobbes, Locke, Rousseau and Kant, whereas the result is an isolation of two types of absolutist theories and two types of liberal theories. Absolutist theories strictly connect the institution of property with the state, they are differentiated mainly by the goal served by the state and the law (peace in Hobbes’s theory, “common interest” in Rousseau’s), as well as the authority (a sovereign or general will). The concept of power is similar in both theories: the authority is not limited by the rights of individuals. Liberal theories articulate the opinion on the priority of the right to property in relation to the institutions of the state and law (their fundamental role is to guarantee rights). Locke’s liberalism is “flexible”, i.e. it does not determine a priori principles regarding the conventional forms of obtaining property, whereas Kant’s liberalism may be defined as “rigid”, since it formulates certain a priori principles of legitimate acquisition of property. Both the empirical liberalism of Locke and the normative liberalism of Kant express the concept of limited authority together with the postulate of primacy of subjective rights.

Demokrasi Bilimden Beslenebilir mi?

Author(s): Metin Uçar / Language(s): Turkish Issue: 2/2014

The meanings of concepts are not positive or negative by themselves. It is human beings or society that gives them their positive or negative meanings. However, the concepts of both democracy and science are used today as if they have positive meanings by themselves. When questioning the relationship between these concepts, it is mostly believed that these two concepts are positively entwined. This paper aims to seek an exact answer to this question, what is the affirmative relation between democracy and science. Moreover, this paper points out how, if possible, democracy can be fed on science. For this reason, National Socialism’s view of science which has serious problems with the idea that democracy is taken as an example. The approach of National Socialism with regards to science as a main marker of social issues but rejects democracy gives an opportunity to discuss this issue.

FEYERABENDOVA KRITIKA LIBERALNOG TOTALITARIZMA

Author(s): Zoran Kurelić / Language(s): Croatian Issue: 03/1991

The author demonstrates how Feyerbend's thinking inspired by Mill's liberalism, subjects itself to criticism as it recognizes some totalitarian features in it. From a critic of the philosophy of science Feyerabend became a critic of science itself and, during one period a critic of all Western nationality.

On the Blinding Clarity of Property Rights: Seven Fragments of Reductionism in the Theory of Property

Author(s): Aleksandar Stojanović / Language(s): English Issue: 2/2018

This paper presents a historical commentary on arguments in theory of property that reinforce the vision of strong and clear property rights dominant in developmental policy today. Building upon the article from Duncan Kennedy in 2013 that analyses this vision, this paper tackles additional issues in emergence of the vision. In doing that the paper relies on broadly genealogical approach to focus on a binary opposition that has been present in the theory of property almost since its historical establishment in Western thought. This methodology allows us to conceptualize the problem in more substantive terms than Kennedy does and show how radical shift is necessary to overcome the problems that the vision entails.

Politička filozofija Roberta Nozicka: kontroverzni libertarijanizam

Author(s): Petar Šturanović / Language(s): Croatian Issue: 02/150/2018

The author analyzes Nozick’s political philosophy of minimal state, to present its significance and disadvantages objectively. The author focuses on Nozick’s view of the emergence of the state by the act of the invisible hand of the dominant protective association, from the ultraminimal state to the minimal state. The central part of the paper is Nozick’s theory of justice, where the author points out its specific weaknesses and inconsistencies. In the context of a theoretical debate with John Rawls on the central issue of distributive justice, the focus is on criticizing the modelled concept of justice. The author also problematizes Nozick’s perception of certain segments of Marxist theory, to find ideological exclusivity. Finally, the author comments on Nozick’s abandonment of libertarian worldviews, giving an objective perspective on his political philosophy.

(Ne)održivost koncepta univerzalnog statusa građanstva: perspektiva multikulturalizma

Author(s): Ivana Vuleta / Language(s): Serbian Issue: 20/2018

This paper deals with the concept of the universal citizenship created in the context of the 18th century Civil Revolutions in america and France. Civil Revolutions defined the frameworks of a modern national state, with the universal status of citizenship as a main instrument of the unification of ci tizens. The problem that this paper puts into the center of research is the resistance of the universal status of citizenship to change, according to the changed circumstances of today. The concept of the universal citizenship firmly adheres to the content of the time in which it was created, and multi culturalism is one of the perspectives that make that content unsustainable. Multiculturalism requires that the concept of the universal citizenship in clude identities that are, as a rule, reserved for the sphere of privacy. The aim of this paper is to clarify what happens when we take some concepts, such as the universal citizenship status, for real, without thinking about the con sequences to which such interpretations can lead us. From the standpoint of the multicultural demands, modern national states very often behave like national hegemons just to save the universal citizenship by adopting ”omni potent powerless” syndrome in response to multicultural demands.

Naprawianie świata. O powikłanych związkach wiedzy i praktyki

Author(s): Kazimierz W. Frieske / Language(s): Polish Issue: 22/2018

A simple, journalist scheme indicates that knowledge qualified to be scientific directly and fundamentally changes – thanks to its technological applications – the social world. The author presents arguments indicating that things are not that simple for several reasons. Firstly, historians of science argue that many fundamental technologies were created without a clear reference to scientific knowledge, and the knowledge accumulated by technologists often arises outside the areas of scientific theory. Secondly, we also know that what is technically possible is not necessarily socially possible – not least because of costs, cultural constraints or social practices that we are not willing to give up. Thirdly, it is increasingly clear that the increase in scientific is primarily the result of the decision to allocate more and more resources to applied research. This means, however, that the pursuit of knowledge results not so much from the pressure to seek scientific truth, but from the values that we consider important. Fourthly, this leads to a reorientation in science, which allows contesting the thesis about the objectivity of scientific cognition in various ways: due to methodological disputes conducted by philosophers of science, the so-called ‘scientific method’ does not guarantee the objectivity of scientific cognition. Consequently, the Enlightenment vision of science, which collapsed under the pressure of post-modernism, ceases to be the basic frame of reference on which we try to improve our collective life. We need this frame only when we cannot imagine this life without appealing to authorities that allow the resolution of essentially undecidable disputes.

Nierówności, wykluczenia, patologie. Socjologia zaangażowana wobec kryzysu społecznego

Author(s): Marta Danecka / Language(s): Polish Issue: 22/2018

The aim of the article is to present the concept of sociology of the social crisis inspired by Maria Jarosz’s works. The elements of the institutional theory, systems theory, sociology of social problems, identity and conflict, which are presented in this article, served to study the symptoms of crisis (social inequalities, exclusion, social and institutional pathologies). The concept of sociology of the social crisis is based on the study of a divided society, affected by dysfunctions in the sphere of social life and in the institutional dimension. Intentional fuelling of social conflicts is a manipulation to maintain power. ‘Engaged sociology’, i.e. the one that studies social relations through a researcher’s personal involvement in the phenomena described, is used to study the social crisis. Identifying the sources of crisis fulfils the postulate of the usefulness of sociological research.

Między troską a sprawiedliwością – Virginii Held poglądy na wspólnotę polityczną

Author(s): Andrzej Waleszczyński / Language(s): Polish Issue: 3/2019

In this article, an analysis was made of what’s new in the debate on the condition of the contemporary political community brought up by the discussion about the relationship between care and justice. The author introduces the category of care in philosophy and its understanding and with particular emphasis on the views of Virginia Held. He analyzes the importance of a relationship of care as the foundation for the proper functioning of the socio-political community and criticism of the idea of a social contract undertaken by representatives of the ethics of care. Critically, he presents the consequences of the assumptions of the civic community accepted by Held.

FRANCIS GALTON’S EUGENICS: RETHINKING THE DEVELOPMENT OF A SCIENTIFIC DOCTRINE

Author(s): David Redvaldsen / Language(s): English Issue: 37/2018

A number of articles and books published since 1979 have successfully shown that eugenics in Britain was compatible with various political views, including progressive ones. Th is contribution to the debate, however, argues that eugenics as originated by the scientist and explorer Francis Galton in 1865 was intended as an ameliorative doctrine of creating better human beings and a better society. It was based on Charles Darwin’s theory of evolution and Galton’s own studies of heredity. Both men believed that societies generally advance towards greater benevolence and altruism. Galton additionally thought that this process could be speeded up through selective breeding. He assumed most improvements in civilization were the result of superior minds. Moreover, eugenics could replace natural and sexual selection, which often had cruel consequences for the least “fi t” members of a species. Eugenics, as Galton conceived it, was therefore an alternative to social Darwinism, not a synonym for it. In the fi rst decade of the twentieth century, towards the end of his life, Galton began institutionalizing eugenics. Th is article analyzes these eff orts through the use of Max Weber’s theory called “charisma and its transformation.” What became the Galton Laboratory at University College London was clearly meant as a continuation of Galton’s work on eugenics. It was led by his chosen successor Karl Pearson. Galton’s public lectures on race improvement, however, also inspired the founding of a Eugenics Education Society in 1907. Th is society had no initial connection with Galton and Pearson disapproved of it. Member contributions to the Eugenics Education Society’s journal and other media outlets turned the doctrine into a variant of social Darwinism. Because the Eugenics Education Society was better at propagating its message than the Galton Laboratory, eugenics gained a reactionary reputation. By reconstituting Galton’s original eugenics, we understand better why it also appealed to progressives.

Julius Caesar and the Art of Rhetoric

Author(s): Naphtali Rivkin / Language(s): English Issue: 4/2014

Approaching politics through literary analysis, Julius Caesar and the Art of Rhetoric aims to answer the question, “what makes a successful politician?” Through a systematic line-by-line scrutiny of Shakespeare’s quintessential political play, Julius Caesar, Rivkin isolates “the art of rhetoric” as the single historic constant indispensible in the ever-changing equation of political success. Beyond the play, Julius Caesar, Rivkin explores rhetoricians and political philosophers like Aristotle, Quintilian, and Ramus who may have contributed to Shakespeare’s Early Modern world-view. But Shakespeare seems to transcend his influences, and demonstrates his near prescience in a political story that is as historical as it is ahead of its time. Shakespeare touches on the timeless essence of politics, which, if understood, could inform successful political leaders and systems of tomorrow.

CHANTAL MOUFFE’UN AGONİSTİK DEMOKRASİ KURAMINA ELEŞTİREL BİR BAKIŞ

Author(s): Adem ÇELİK / Language(s): Turkish Issue: 20/2019

Mouffe criticizes liberal democracy's models of aggregative and deliberative democracy for basing it on economic and ethical concepts and failing to grasp the antagonisms that establish politics. Instead of these models, she suggests a model called agonistic or radical democracy. She claims that this model will tame antagonisms and turn it into agonism. For this, she makes the ethical-political principles of liberal democracy such as freedom and equality a prerequisite for agonistic contention. Although she considers pluralism as the constituent element of modern democracy, she limits pluralism to those who adopt liberal democratic principles.

Hearing Voices of Care: For a More Just Democracy?

Author(s): Alessandro Serpe / Language(s): English Issue: 1/2019

The purpose of this paper is not to provide an overall picture of care ethics, but, rather, to reflect upon the concept of care, which has gained significance in particular scientific con-texts. Undoubtedly, the importance of the subject of care represents a challenge on the level of fundamental philosophical positions and a diversified look into the occurring forms of the psychological and social suffering, dependency, and vulnerability. I will shed light on tenets that are considered central to the care ethics and that have led to the setting up of the relationship between care and democracy. By introducing the basic aspects of Carol Gilli-gan’s and Joan Tronto’s theories, I will emphasize their vocation to be politically relevant. A discussion on the relationship between care and justice on the one hand, and needs and rights on the other, will follow. Can hearing voices of care make democracy more just? How can care ethics provide a concrete support for democracy? On the political level, care ethics builds on the assumptions of the necessary relatedness and equality between individ-uals who are decisive in the light of the welfare state perspective. Upon closer examination, one may see that the setting up of these relationships is not new to the liberal perspective. Liberalism is historically rooted in the fundamental interconnection between freedom and equality. Virtues such as care and meekness can be formulated in the language of politics, but they still remain unpolitical. On the one hand, engaging in a critical reflection upon such virtues might be an indispensable measuring instrument for distinguishing a good de-mocracy from a bad one. On the other hand, care ethics does not prove to be a real alterna-tive to the ethics of justice. In this regard, care ethics seems to show its feet of clay.

The Idea of Positive Law: Immanuel Kant’s Transcendental Argument

Author(s): Tomasz Bekrycht / Language(s): English Issue: 1/2019

In their philosophical projects that address the concept of law, Immanuel Kant, Johann G. Fichte, and Georg W. F. Hegel all employ transcendental argumentation to demonstrate the sovereignty of community and the existence of power. They do this in the attempt to conceptually ground the idea of freedom and reconcile it with the notion of coercion within the framework of the idea of positive law. This article focuses solely on the Kantian pro-ject, since the approaches of Fichte and Hegel take on a more speculative turn in addition to their transcendental form.