scholarly journals Freedom and friendship in Axel Honneth’s freedom’s right

2017 ◽  
Vol 28 (3) ◽  
pp. 454-474
Author(s):  
Sebastian Muders ◽  
Philipp Schwind
Keyword(s):  
Modern Society ◽  
Specific Form ◽  
Individual Autonomy ◽  
Individual Freedom ◽  
Central Importance ◽  
Main Thesis ◽  
Personal Relations ◽  
Axel Honneth ◽  
Partner Relationships ◽  
Radical Cleavage

In Axel Honneth?s Freedom?s Right (FR) personal relations, among which Honneth includes not only family and partner relationships but friendship as well, enable the realization of one ?specific form of freedom, which is difficult to specify? (FR 233). This assertion constitutes one of the main thesis of Freedom?s Right. Accordingly, ?freedom in the sense of individual autonomy? should, among countless different ?conceptions of freedom? be understood as the only one that has the power to shape modern society, while all other values effective within modernity should be understood as ?aspects of the constitutive idea of individual autonomy? (FR 35). In this paper we argue that Honneth?s discussion of the value of friendship does not accomplish its aim for three reasons: first, Honneth is compelled by his argument to postulate one radical cleavage internal to the concept of friendship, by way of an exaggerated contrast between ancient and modern forms of friendship. Second, in his discussion Honneth marginalizes other existing axiologies of friendship, which attribute some other important instrumental, constitutive and final values to this term. Third, even a weaker thesis, one that treats the value of friendship as the precondition of individual freedom as a primus inter pares, seems to lose sight of the central importance that friendship has for us.? Honneth?s key thesis about the unique value of friendship in our society is thereby challenged.

scholarly journals Axel Honneth: The law of freedom – Institutionalization of freedom in modern societies – A reconstruction and some remarks

2012 ◽  
Vol 7 (2) ◽  
Author(s):  
Jacob Dahl Rendtorff
Keyword(s):  
Civil Society ◽  
Modern Society ◽  
Recent Book ◽  
Axel Honneth ◽  
The Family ◽  
Law And Morality ◽  
The Law ◽  
Philosophy Of Right

This paper reconstructs the argument of Axel Honneth’s recent book Das Recht der Freiheit as a theory of the institutionalization of freedom in modern society. In particular, it looks at Honneth’s argument for the realization of freedom in law and morality that is proposed as a contemporary re-interpretation of Hegel’s Philosophy of Right. Then I discuss Honneth’s argument for the reality of freedom in the ethical spheres of civil society, in particular in the family, the market and in democracy. Finally, the paper proposes some critical remarks to Honneth’s theory.

Human Dignity in Classical Chinese Philosophy: The Daoist Perspective

2013 ◽  
Vol 40 (3-4) ◽  
pp. 493-510
Author(s):  
Qianfan Zhang
Keyword(s):  
Human Dignity ◽  
Chinese Philosophy ◽  
Human Person ◽  
Modern Society ◽  
Well Being ◽  
The State ◽  
Individual Freedom ◽  
Traditional Morality ◽  
Classical Chinese ◽  
Spiritual Well Being

This article discusses the Daoist contribution to the idea of human dignity in the classical Chinese philosophy, particularly in aspects that had been ignored by the Confucians and the Moists. By criticizing the traditional morality and reviving the faith in a primitive, self-sufficient life, Laozi and Zhuangzi add an important dimension to the classical understanding of human dignity: individual freedom, particularly the freedom of living under minimum burden, direction, and oppression of the state. By comparing the Daoist conception of human dignity with those of the Confucians and Moists, the article concludes that all three classical schools, if rationally construed, should support the view that the establishment of a liberal constitutional scheme is necessary to preserve and protect minimum/basic dignity in both physical and spiritual well-being of every human person who lives in a modern society.

Critical theory

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Raymond Geuss ◽  
J. M. Bernstein
Keyword(s):  
Critical Theory ◽  
Good Life ◽  
Social Research ◽  
Modern Society ◽  
Human Action ◽  
Instrumental Rationality ◽  
Individual Autonomy ◽  
The Good Life ◽  
Contemporary Society ◽  
Conception Of The Good

The term ‘critical theory’ designates the approach to the study of society developed between 1930 and 1970 by the so-called ‘Frankfurt School’. A group of theorists associated with the Institute for Social Research, the School was founded in Frankfurt, Germany in 1923. The three most important philosophers belonging to it were Max Horkheimer, Theodor Wiesengrund Adorno and Herbert Marcuse. The project was renewed by the second- and third-generation critical theorists, most notably, Jürgen Habermas and Axel Honneth. Horkheimer, Adorno and Marcuse feared that modern Western societies were turning into closed, totalitarian systems in which all individual autonomy was eliminated. In their earliest writings from the 1930s they presented this tendency towards totalitarianism as one result of the capitalist mode of production. In later accounts they give more prominence to the role of science and technology in modern society, and to the concomitant, purely ‘instrumental’, conception of reason. This conception of reason denies that there can be any such thing as inherently rational ends or goals for human action and asserts that reason is concerned exclusively with the choice of effective instruments or means for attaining arbitrary ends. ‘Critical theory’ was to be a form of resistance to contemporary society; its basic method was to be that of ‘internal’ or ‘immanent’ criticism. Every society, it was claimed, must be seen as making a tacit claim to substantive (and not merely instrumental) rationality; that is, making the claim that it allows its members to lead a good life. This claim gives critical theory a standard for criticism which is internal to the society being criticized. Critical theory demonstrates in what ways contemporary society fails to live up to its own claims. The conception of the good life to which each society makes tacit appeal in legitimizing itself will usually not be fully propositionally explicit, so any critical theory will have to begin by extracting a tacit conception of the good life from the beliefs, cultural artefacts and forms of experience present in the society in question. One of the particular difficulties confronting a critical theory of contemporary society is the disappearance of traditional substantive conceptions of the good life that could serve as a basis for internal criticism, and their replacement with the view that modern society needs no legitimation beyond simple reference to its actual efficient functioning, to its ‘instrumental’ rationality. The ideology of ‘instrumental rationality’ thus itself becomes a major target for critical theory.

Critical theory

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Raymond Geuss
Keyword(s):  
Critical Theory ◽  
Good Life ◽  
Social Research ◽  
Modern Society ◽  
Human Action ◽  
Instrumental Rationality ◽  
Individual Autonomy ◽  
The Good Life ◽  
Contemporary Society ◽  
Conception Of The Good

The term ‘critical theory’ designates the approach to the study of society developed between 1930 and 1970 by the so-called ‘Frankfurt School’. A group of theorists associated with the Institute for Social Research, the School was founded in Frankfurt, Germany in 1923. The three most important philosophers belonging to it were Max Horkheimer, Theodor Wiesengrund Adorno and Herbert Marcuse. Horkheimer, Adorno and Marcuse feared that modern Western societies were turning into closed, totalitarian systems in which all individual autonomy was eliminated. In their earliest writings from the 1930s they presented this tendency towards totalitarianism as one result of the capitalist mode of production. In later accounts they give more prominence to the role of science and technology in modern society, and to the concomitant, purely ‘instrumental’, conception of reason. This conception of reason denies that there can be any such thing as inherently rational ends or goals for human action and asserts that reason is concerned exclusively with the choice of effective instruments or means for attaining arbitrary ends. ‘Critical theory’ was to be a form of resistance to contemporary society; its basic method was to be that of ‘internal’ or ‘immanent’ criticism. Every society, it was claimed, must be seen as making a tacit claim to substantive (and not merely instrumental) rationality; that is, making the claim that it allows its members to lead a good life. This claim gives critical theory a standard for criticism which is internal to the society being criticized. Critical theory demonstrates in what ways contemporary society fails to live up to its own claims. The conception of the good life to which each society makes tacit appeal in legitimizing itself will usually not be fully propositionally explicit, so any critical theory will have to begin by extracting a tacit conception of the good life from the beliefs, cultural artefacts and forms of experience present in the society in question. One of the particular difficulties confronting a critical theory of contemporary society is the disappearance of traditional substantive conceptions of the good life that could serve as a basis for internal criticism, and their replacement with the view that modern society needs no legitimation beyond simple reference to its actual efficient functioning, to its ‘instrumental’ rationality. The ideology of ‘instrumental rationality’ thus itself becomes a major target for critical theory.

scholarly journals Phi: Designing Wellington Zoo in Harmony with Nature

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
◽  
Logan S Brown
Keyword(s):  
Design Methodology ◽  
Golden Section ◽  
Modern Society ◽  
Natural Ecosystems ◽  
Ecological Value ◽  
Central Importance ◽  
Architectural Form ◽  
Law Of Nature ◽  
Design Mechanism ◽  
The Impact

<p>The harmonious balance of architecture and nature is undermined by their mutual struggle for control. Their corrosive relationship directly leads to the degradation and displacement of natural ecosystems through economic development, of which modern society is fundamentally reliant. To preserve Earth’s ecology and biodiversity for future generations, architecture needs to become symbiotic with nature. As Adolf Zeising speculated the ratio Phi (the Golden Section) to be the morphological law of nature, this thesis investigates whether its principles can help generate symbiotic architecture. This thesis investigates the historical perception of how Phi relates to nature, and applies its core principles to the development of Wellington Zoo’s ‘Welcome Plaza’. The investigation of Phi finds symbolism to be of central importance reflecting the ancient Pythagorean conception of Aether, later conceived as the medium of electromagnetic fields. The design basis of the Welcome Plaza utilises that which the ratio symbolises, being the Aether and its correlated electromagnetic qualities, rather than deriving its architectural form from the Phi ratio itself. The impact of the Welcome Plaza’s generated form, upon the ecological value of the site, determines the appropriateness of the principles of Phi as a design mechanism. This thesis determines whether the principles ascribed to Phi can be used as a design methodology to generate Wellington Zoo’s Welcome Plaza in a way that is harmonious with nature.</p>

scholarly journals Émile Durkheim and the Longing for Community Life

2019 ◽  
Vol 42 (1) ◽  
pp. 37-54
Author(s):  
Piotr Kostyło
Keyword(s):  
Moral Education ◽  
Modern Society ◽  
Individual Autonomy ◽  
Emile Durkheim ◽  
Community Life ◽  
Final Point ◽  
Professional Groups ◽  
Starting Point ◽  
The Family ◽  
The Impact

SummaryThis article analyzes the problems of community life as explored in Emile Durkheim’s texts, particularly his lectures published under the title Moral Education. The starting point is the tension, characteristic of modern society, between the need to express one’s self within the community and the need to assert individual autonomy. The thesis presented here is that Durkheim looks for the sources of contemporary community life through the impact of school and professional groups, instead of the traditional influence of the family and Church. The article examines Durkheim’s argumentation relevant to justifying the thesis. In the final point, two lines of criticism of the Durkheimian concept, the spiritual and the Marxist, are deemed moot, as is the line of comparison between Durkheim’s approach and Zbigniew Kwieciński’s concept of community life.

4. The case for secularism

2019 ◽  
pp. 47-57
Author(s):  
Andrew Copson
Keyword(s):  
Political History ◽  
Modern Society ◽  
Individual Freedom

The secular systems of different states have varied according to the nature of their own particular society and their religious, cultural, and political history. Even so, the same types of arguments have been used each time to advance secularism as the best religion–state arrangement to provide individual freedom, equality, peace, and democracy in a modern society. ‘The case for secularism’ considers these points in turn and concludes that the case for secularism is cumulative and deals with what is the best possible outcome, not the perfect outcome; it involves compromise and mutual accommodation. One thing all these arguments do is to assert the value of an impartial state that mediates the differences of its citizens.

Rebel and Tribe

2021 ◽  
pp. 133-162
Author(s):  
Jennie Germann Molz
Keyword(s):  
Social Skills ◽  
Social Relations ◽  
Modern Society ◽  
Professional Lives ◽  
Individual Freedom ◽  
The Road ◽  
Lifestyle Choice ◽  
On The Road ◽  
Late Modern ◽  
Insight Into

This chapter explores how worldschoolers cope with loneliness, homesickness, and unrootedness on the road by creating new kinds of community. As the children, especially teenagers, crave connection with their peers, parents reconcile their competing desires for individual freedom and a sense of belonging by seeking out what worldschoolers call a “tribe of rebels.” In contrast to the isolating effects of the “new individualism” that pervades late modern society, worldschoolers establish a “new togetherness” in communities that are mobile and mediated, temporary and intermittent, intentional, curated, and commodified. The chapter argues that even though these communities provide a source of communal belonging, they are essentially a lifestyle choice whose primary purpose is to support worldschoolers in their individualized pursuit of freedom. The “come-and-go” sociality that worldschoolers demonstrate in these communities also offers some insight into the kinds of social skills their children are learning, things like collaborating in diverse and temporary teams, maintaining nomadic friendships, and sustaining social relations through mediated channels. These are the kinds of competencies children will need to navigate their social and professional lives in a mobile future.

Paternalism and Individual Freedom

2020 ◽  
pp. 300-344
Author(s):  
Joseph Heath
Keyword(s):  
General Rule ◽  
Individual Autonomy ◽  
Individual Freedom ◽  
Liberal State ◽  
Individual Welfare ◽  
State Bureaucracy ◽  
Paternalistic Intervention

The growth of state bureaucracy is seen by many as a threat to individual freedom. This concern has been mitigated in part by the commitment of the liberal state to refrain from engaging in paternalistic intervention. This chapter revisits John Stuart Mill’s classic arguments against paternalism to assess recent challenges to the traditional liberal deference of individual autonomy. The discovery of systematic deviations from rationality has suggested to many that state officials may in certain cases be able to improve individual welfare by intervening in ways that override individuals’ own judgment. These proposals can be analyzed under three categories: those having to do with temporal distortions of preference, with biases in cognition, and with manipulation of choice through non-rational means. This suggests certain valid exceptions to the general rule laid down by Mill.

scholarly journals The central importance of information in cosmetic surgery and treatments

Open Medicine ◽  
2018 ◽  
Vol 13 (1) ◽  
pp. 153-157 ◽  
Author(s):  
Pierpaolo Di Lorenzo ◽  
Claudia Casella ◽  
Emanuele Capasso ◽  
Adelaide Conti ◽  
Piergiorgio Fedeli ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Cosmetic Surgery ◽  
Modern Society ◽  
Case Law ◽  
Medical Procedures ◽  
Central Importance ◽  
Current Case ◽  
Definition Of Health ◽  
Ease Of Access ◽  
Definition Of ◽  
Social And Cultural Factors

AbstractThe increase in the number of people who choose to have medical procedures done to improve their appearance may be due to changed social and cultural factors in modern society, as well to the ease of access and affordable costs of these cosmetic treatments.Today, two elements legitimate recourse to this type of treatment: the broad definition of health accepted by the law and the scientific community, and the provision of meticulous information to the entitled party previous to obtaining his or her consent. In Italy, while current case-law views treatments exclusively for cosmetic purposes as unnecessary, if not even superfluous, it nonetheless demands that providers inform clients about the actual improvement that can be expected, as well as the risks of worsening their current esthetic conditions.

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