A ‘Happy’ Coincidence: Cognitive Capitalism and Well-Being Enhancement in Schools

Author(s): James Reveley / Language(s): English / Publication Year: 0

‘Almost certainly we are witnessing a shift to...a market individualism of neoliberalism where the self is shaped as a utility maximiser, a free and contractual individual, who is self-constituted through the market choices and investment decisions that he/she makes....In the face of increasingly technical and functional forms of literacy and of schooling, we might inquire whether school in an age of consumerism promotes a relation to the self based on truth-telling or whether this relation has been replaced by another primary ethos: happiness, security, survival, success, ‘self-improvement,’ wealth.’ (Besley and Peters, 2007: 18)

A ’Rump’ Statehood and the Polish Liberalism

Author(s): Tomasz Żyro / Language(s): English / Issue: 1/2015

This article is revised version of speech that was given at Oxford University. It deals with the origins of polish liberalism. Author states that there are two sources of liberalism that look like globular clusters. The first one sprung from a tradition of ancient feudal liberties. And the second source: liberalism stemmed from an opposition both to a practice of absolutist state and to the political ideology of absolutism. Finally, article tracks down the intellectual history of Polish liberalism

A „másik” esztétikai jelenléte Hobbes szerződéselméletében

Author(s): Mihály Szilágyi-Gál / Language(s): Hungarian / Issue: 4/2019

In several of his works, Thomas Hobbes contrasts rhetorical and scientific speech. Although in Leviathan his position is changed, Hobbes continues to emphasize the inordinate, excessive nature of rhetorical speech in politics and distinguishes it from sovereign scientifically true and legally correct speech. According to my thesis, both models of persuasion, the rhetorical and the anti-rhetorical model, have an aesthetic character in Leviathan. This fact is evident in the doubling of the person who represents both his/her self and his/her fellow citizens as dependent subjects in their public/political roles. This self-representation as the inherent imaginary act of the political man echoes the rhetorical hierarchy of the difference between the private and the public.

A „politikai” és a „kivétel” kategóriája Claude Lefort politikafilozófiájában

Author(s): Lajos András Kiss / Language(s): Hungarian / Issue: 4/2019

The present paper focuses on a central issue of the political philosophy of Claude Lefort, namely the special forms of the formation and functioning of modern democracy. Lefort distinguishes clearly the ontic level of politics (parties of the parliament, government and other institutions, etc.) and the ontological level of the political (the symbolically constructed forms of rule). According to Lefort, the rule moves to an empty place, as a consequence of the modern democratic revolutions. From this moment, the rule belongs to those who speak on behalf of the people, but the people is actually formed from the mass of the residents, by their speeches. Therefore, the modern democracy lives under conditions of constant uncertainty, because of its continuous pressure of legitimacy. Sometimes, it can bring modern democracy close to the edge of a precipice; and a kind of totalitarianism seems to be a solution.

A populizmus és a népszuverenitás paradoxonja

Eszmetörténeti vázlat

Author(s): Botond Bakcsi / Language(s): Hungarian / Issue: 4/2019

In The Social Contract, Rousseau outlined very accurately the problem of the foundation of the social order, a problem that was rather revolutionary in its era from a theoretical point of view, and since then has had several significant implications in modern political thought: “before we examine the act by which a people elects a king, it would be good to examine the act by which the people is a people.” Examining this very act has not lost anything of its relevance, particularly if we imply that contemporary populism brings again into the foreground the question referring to the concept of the ‘people’, which has serious political implications and which could have even more ones worldwide in the future. An analysis of Donald Trump’s inaugural address may raise some fundamental issues relevant to the connection between populism and democracy. The concept of the ‘people’ generated by the performative speech act of “You the People” renders a particular interpretation to the idea of popular sovereignty. The present essay attempts to consider the topic of populism setting off from the paradox lying within the concept of popular sovereignty.

A SOCIOLOGICAL ANALYSIS OF POLITICS AND DEMOCRACY

Author(s): Albert Ogien / Language(s): English / Issue: 2/2016

This paper endorses a pluralist conception of politics, which articulates three proposals : 1) the order of politics is scattered throughout society ; 2) its institutionalization takes place in a multitude of ways which are not confined to those acknowledged by State administrations ; and 3) forms of political action manifest themselves under modes that often go far beyond the usual bounds set by official political. In such a perspective, politics is not conceived of as if it were totally detached from the daily life of the members of a society. It thus contends that in their political dealings citizens make use of an ordinary conception of politics and democracy which endows them with a specific idea of the common good and of the rights a State should guarantee to nationals. This contention is empirically put to test through two case studies of political claim staking: civil disobedience and gatherings (encampments, occupations). The article eventually suggest that democracy should be seen as a method for organizing ordinary social relations on the basis of a principle : respecting the plain autonomy and unconditional equality of any citizen.

A sokféleség két formája és a homogenizáció

Author(s): János Tóth I. / Language(s): Hungarian / Issue: 4/2019

Diversity is the unity of sameness and non-sameness (difference). In a basic situation, the more significant the difference, the greater the diversity. However, the organic systems based on relatively homogeneous groups, sub-units and structures are governed by special rules. The heterogenization of groups, that is, their dissolution decreases diversity. I propose to present this paradox effect of homogenization through examples taken from biology and social studies. The structural diversity of humanity is closely linked to the objective and subjective sameness and identity of individuals. There are three fundamental, political approaches to relate to human diversity: hierarchy, the approach that emphasizes difference; equality that emphasizes sameness, and equality that emphasizes difference. The first approach belongs to the outworn past, therefore the battle for defining the future takes place between the remaining two approaches. The aspect that these approaches are debating is whether it is the individual form of diversity (globalization, deconstruction) or its structural form (emancipation, sovereignty) that must be promoted.

A synesis mint politikai fogalom Aristotelésnél

Author(s): Attila Simon / Language(s): Hungarian / Issue: 2/2015

According to Book 6 of the Nicomachean Ethics, the primary task of phronēsis (practical wisdom) is to deliberate about the things that are good in general for each person. However, phronēsis concerns not only individuals but also the community: practical wisdom is a political virtue as well. In my paper, I argue that the intellectual excellence called sunesis (comprehension) by Aristotle opens up the social dimension of practical wisdom, and thus provides an important means for the political application of phronēsis (EN 6. 1142b34−1143a32). To support my argument I interpret two further passages where sunesis appears in a clearly political context: in relation to legislation (EN 10. 1181a18) and to political deliberation (Pol. 4. 1291a28).

A többség zsarnokságától a szelíd önkényuralomig

Author(s): Vasile Prahovean / Language(s): Hungarian / Issue: 4/2019

Tocqueville’s thought-world is decisively influenced by the conviction that modern democracy that is based on the will of the majority is rather appropriate for creating equality than freedom. Moreover, the mass democracy leads to oppression if the coercive force of the public opinion is extended over all the aspects of social life. Democracy in America discusses in two different contexts the problem of totalitarianism supported by the public opinion. The tyranny of majority is supplemented by the hypothesis of soft despotism, by recognizing that the horizontally extending oppression can be generated by a state power that is manipulating the democratic ideas. The administrative despotism reconciles the omnipotence of the public opinion with the centralizing tendencies and under the aegis of the benevolent state power will take control over private lives. The individuals isolated from each other are less capable of restraining its power, therefore it is essential that the exertion of individual rights and freedom has to be supplemented with collective values.

A. BADIOU ANKSTYVOJI SUBJEKTO TEORIJA IR KOVINGO SUBJEKTO IŠKILIMAS

Author(s): Kasparas Pocius / Language(s): Lithuanian / Issue: 94/2018

In the article, while differentiating between the resistance theories of Badiou, Deleuze, and Guattari, the attempt is made to emphasize Badiou’s critique of the theory of asubjective becoming and desire as well as his attempt to develop it into the dialectics between the insurgent students and what Deleuze and Guattari call the “missing people”. Badiou’s theory of the subject, based on the works of Hegel, Lenin and Mao, is regarded as a counterpoint to the theories of revolutionary desire. The revolutionary strategies of Lenin and Mao, based on Hegel’s philosophy, allow them to create the concepts of totality as the unity of the opposites, as the split One, as well as to determine the conflictual dialectical process that conditions the rise and existence of a revolutionary subject – party. While relating the dialectical concepts of the above mentioned authors with Badiou’s concepts of scission, torsion and periodization, Badiou’s logic of the subject is explained. It allows revolutionary forces to constantly resist the institutional practices of placement, destroy stability and immerse into the new cycles of struggle instead of undergoing the process of recuperation and return to the system. The above mentioned concepts meaningfully supplement the vocabulary of social movements and minor politics. Allowing them to spread beyond their comfort zones and to aim at what for them is still a “noumenon”: the sphere of everyday struggles for dignity and survival. We, not the “missing people”, have to be the protagonists of such struggles.

A. Platonov’un “Çukur” Eserinde Umudun Kayiplari

Author(s): Reyhan Çelik / Language(s): Turkish / Issue: 76/2013

With the revolution of October 1917 a new political process has begun in Russia. This process has not only changed the daily life of the Russian people, but also has exterminated the humanistic emotions of them. This subject has been the main question of the works of A.Platonov, who observed the sechanges on the people since the begining of the revolution. Although aforementioned difficulties expressed by some writers of that period, due to the tough stance in the works Platonov is considered to be against the regime. However, despite all the pressures he continues to express thoughts clearly. He is one of the most important writers of the twentieth century Russian literature with language, philosophy, as well as the revolution approaches; in his time he reflects the suffering of the people and challenges in society. He attracts attention both the stylistic features of literary art and thoughts of anti-regime. Some of the author’s works have been translated into Turkish. These works are “Dzhan”, “The Foundation Pit”, “Chevengur”. “The foundation Pit” which he has written up in 1930, however, published in 1987 in Russia. In his work “The foundation Pit”, he has drawn the profile of ‘new human’ which has occuerd to get her with the the socialist system. In this work are transferred painful losses, which given to achieve overall collectivization. Voşçev removed from his job because of the thoughtfulness, for the search to truth, will join the ranks of people working for the sake of this hope and in work is expressed what happened in this process. At the same time in work, against the Soviet regime’s utopian thought has created an anti-utopia. In this work the life philosophy of the villagers that live in the Soviet system and their journey to hope has been examined relative to the life philosophy of the period.

ABOUT DEMOCRACY, BETWEEN IDEAL AND REALITY

Author(s): Simona Buşoi / Language(s): English / Issue: 1/2018

Modern democracy preserves as a basic principle that in a democratic political system the demos is free and sovereign. Discontents, more or less accentuated, regarding political and economic crises, and government failures in representative democracies have led to a decrease in citizens' confidence in the politicians who represent them. As a result, there are attempts to find solutions by returning to a form of direct democracy. Because it is no longer possible to convene the People's Assembly as in Ancient Greece, the internet seems to have the potential to become a contemporary agora. In this paper we are discussing whether e-democracy forms can be viable solutions to the problems faced by representative democracies.

About reform in the work of Ștefan Zeletin

Author(s): Mihaela Rădoi / Language(s): English / Issue: 2/2016

Ştefan Zeletin (1882- 1934) – a philosopher, an economist and a sociologist – is one of the household names of Romanian interwar liberalism. He graduated from the Faculty of Philosophy and Classical Philology in Iaşi, and in 1914 he defended his doctoral thesis (and was granted magna cum laude) at the University of Berlin. After finalizing his studies, Zeletin taught at the University of Iaşi. Concerning his work, Ştefan Zeletin did not have the same attitude towards the two aspects of his thought: philosophy and sociology. He considered himself a philosopher who failed to complete his system of thought only because of the tough circumstances. Persuaded that there is an organic connection – yet to be discovered – between the economic life of a country, on one hand, and the political, legal and cultural institutions, on the other, (Claudian 1935) Ștefan Zeletin began his sociological writings, which marked the political and cultural life of those times. The sociological and political works, which had made him known in several settings, were viewed by Zeletin as an episode within his activity, which he would have wanted to be focused on purely philosophical works. The author explains the approach to the practical aspects of social reality by the fact that he was determined to attend various events, which he felt the need to understand. An event that marked him deeply was the War of 1916-1918, to which he took part as an infantry officer; this event drew him closer to the often-disappointing reality of the Romanian society in an ongoing process of construction. “Hence, I decided to make the ultimate sacrifice: to renounce, for now, to any philosophical activity, to get to know our society just like it is and to try to give back to it something that may be in its interest. This also helped me fulfil an ardent desire I had felt on the front where, the carbine on my shoulder, I saw our society collapse like a cardboard castle.” (Zeletin 1927 p. 276) This article aims at unravelling several aspects regarding the life, the work and the sociological view of the author.

ABOUT STUPIDITY AND MORALITY IN POLITICS ACCORDING TO ANDRÉ GLUCKSMANN

Author(s): Nicolae Iuga / Language(s): Romanian / Issue: 11/2017

Generally, the historical moment of separating the moral of politics is placed upon the appearance of Machiavelli's writings. There is, however, in the same century, a less famous French thinker, Jean Bodin (1530-1569), who performs the same operation as Machiavelli, a writer analyzed by André Glucksmann. After Bodin, the idea of sovereignty is what allows us to explain why the state is preserved as existence. The state is good because it exists, because it survives, and it does not exist because it would be good. So political philosophy frees itself from all servitude to Ethics. On the other hand, under the conditions of nuclear arming, politicians can not totally abstain from the moral norms called upon to regulate political relations. Thus Max Weber's idea is that the politician has to practice an ethic of responsibility, that is, to seek to provide as much as possible the consequences of his actions and to assume responsibility for his decisions.

About the usefulness and harmfulness of forgetting the German guilt

Author(s): Paweł Wójs / Language(s): English / Issue: 2/2019

The distinction between kinds of guilt has not lost its power to illuminate matters, and it remains a great tool to study the consequences of forgetting guilt of any kind. Karl Jaspers made the distinction between kinds of guilt mainly to ease the Germans coping with guilt, as all of them were blamed for the evil that happened under Adolf Hitler. Jaspers believed that in using this distinction the German nation could have come back to its origins, and thus purified, take its part in the possible future unity of the world and of all mankind. But soon after World War II ended, a confluence of political, social, psychological and philosophical factors contributed to a situation in which a large number of culprits were not brought to account: criminals were rarely rightly punished. In addition, many Germans believing in the ideology of National Socialism felt no guilt in terms of morality; they downplayed the political guilt; they negated the very existence of the metaphysical guilt. The process of forgetting guilt occurred.

Acorduri sentimentale. Instantanee filosoficești și logicești cu Ion Ungureanu

Author(s): Mihai Cimpoi / Language(s): Romanian / Issue: 2/2017

Acting Together: The Art of Collective Improvisation in Theatre and Politics

Author(s): Sonja Vilč / Language(s): English / Issue: 1/2017

The paper analyzes the concept of collective improvisation and draws out its potentials for social and political theory. Translating the ideas of collective improvisation from their original context in the theatre into the field of political thought, I argue that they offer a new understanding of political action by reevaluating the concepts of dissensus (Rancière) and community (Nancy), as well as the ways in which politics as a system needs to produce collectively binding decisions (Luhmann). I conclude that the ideas inherent in the practice of collective improvisation, as it has been developed within the tradition of modern theatre improvisation, subvert our intuitive ways of thinking about politics and thereby offer an alternative model of being and acting together.

Adam Schaff wobec ewolucji poglądów filozoficznych Leszka Kołakowskiego. O sporach programowych w polskim marksizmie

Author(s): Renata Merda / Language(s): Polish / Issue: 38/2017

In my article I intend to analyze L. Kołakowski’s departure from Marxism. I will conduct my reflections in the context of his relationship with Adam Schaff. It is precisely this that A. Schaff was the promoter of the dissertation of Master and Candidate (PhD) Leszek Kołakowski.Both these philosophers in the sixties of the twentieth century revisited their views on Marxism by entering into a current called revisionism. Leszek Kołakowski, however, criticized Marxism and became his leading critic, while Adam Schaff attempted to reform it by enriching the existing ideology of man’s philosophy. The views of both philosophers differed from the official version of Marxism. While Kolakowski had completely escaped from Marxism, Schaff tried to defend him. Schaff did not particularly approve the assessment of Marxism embodied in Mainstream Marxism of Kołakowski. It is not by chance, therefore, that both philosophers can be regarded as the most outstanding representatives of Marxism before 1968 in Poland.Their views were not always contradictory, but they were often similar because Schaff approached Kolakowski talking about ecumenical Marxism — and therefore their antagonism was primarily personal and less philosophical.

Adornova kritika Heideggera (II)

Author(s): Miroslav Prokopijević / Language(s): Serbian / Issue: 262/1980

Rasprava o prethodnim pitanjima tematski pripada jednim delom i onom o čemu će ovde biti reči. Jer, Heidegger pod tubitkom podrazumeva ono jedino između različitih bića u kojem se otvara pitanje bitka, te da ukoliko se ono otvara, tj. odnosi prema bitku, Heidegger takav tubitak naziva ek-sistencijom. Tubitak se bitno konstituira u egzistenciju na temelju svoje odlučnosti (Entschlossenheit). Neodluč(e)ni tubitak naziva Heidegger se (das Man). Oba modusa bitka, autentičnost i neautentičnost, temelje se u tome da se tubitak određuje kao prisebnost (Jemeinigkeit). To znači da ovo određenje proizilazi iz temelja (načina) bitka bića, a ne iz opšteg načina bitka. Zato će Heidegger na samom početku S + Z, gl. 9, zapisati: »Das Seiende, dessen Analyse zur Aufgabe steht, sind wir je selbst. Das Sein dieses Seienden ist je meines.« Bit tubitka leži u njegovoj egzistenciji (gl. 9). Od toga treba razlikovati da je bitak tubitka egzistencija, što Heidegger ne tvrdi. Kako je odlučnost autentična istina tubitka, to je tubitak u autentičnoj egzistenciji samo onda kada se ova konstituira kao prethodna odlučnost. Odlučnost je pokazani (odlikovani) (ausgezeichneter) modus otključenosti tubitka (Erschlossenheit des Daseins). Heidegger čak kaže da je tubitak zapravo njegova otključenost (Das Dasein ist seine Erschlossenheit, gl. 28, 177, 133), a ona se artikuliše kroz izvorne načine onoga tu: raspoloženje i razumevanje koji se određuju kroz govor.

Against the Crisis of time: Portraits of conservative thinkers

Author(s): Dušan Dostanić / Language(s): English / Issue: 2/2015

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