scholarly journals Castoriadis' Concept of Institution and Democracy

2008 ◽  
Vol 3 (2) ◽  
Author(s):  
Jacob Dahl Rendtorff
Keyword(s):  
Political Philosophy ◽  
Democratic Institutions ◽  
Short Introduction ◽  
Social Legitimacy ◽  
Central Elements ◽  
Collective Meaning

In this article I discuss the relation between institution and democracy in Castoriadis’ philosophy. The paper proposes an outline of the development of Castoriadis’ political philosophy with focus on institutionalization, imagination and self-limitation of democratic institutions as central elements in Castoridis’ thought. We begin with a short introduction to the concept of institution and institutionalization. Then we discuss the elements of Castoridis’ critique of bureaucracy as a way to distinguish between totalitarian society and democracy. This is the basis for understanding the relation between the imaginary, freedom and autonomy as basic elements of democracy. Finally the paper discusses Castoridis’ new notion of democracy as a kind of self-limitation and creation of collective meaning as the basis for social legitimacy. (find out more)

Confucian Perfectionism

2013 ◽  
Author(s):  
Joseph Chan
Keyword(s):  
Political Philosophy ◽  
Civil Liberties ◽  
Moral Rights ◽  
Democratic Institutions ◽  
Political Equality ◽  
Philosophical Foundations ◽  
Liberal Conception ◽  
Liberal Democratic ◽  
Conception Of The Good ◽  
The Right

Since the very beginning, Confucianism has been troubled by a serious gap between its political ideals and the reality of societal circumstances. Contemporary Confucians must develop a viable method of governance that can retain the spirit of the Confucian ideal while tackling problems arising from nonideal modern situations. The best way to meet this challenge, this book argues, is to adopt liberal democratic institutions that are shaped by the Confucian conception of the good rather than the liberal conception of the right. The book examines and reconstructs both Confucian political thought and liberal democratic institutions, blending them to form a new Confucian political philosophy. The book decouples liberal democratic institutions from their popular liberal philosophical foundations in fundamental moral rights, such as popular sovereignty, political equality, and individual sovereignty. Instead, it grounds them on Confucian principles and redefines their roles and functions, thus mixing Confucianism with liberal democratic institutions in a way that strengthens both. The book then explores the implications of this new yet traditional political philosophy for fundamental issues in modern politics, including authority, democracy, human rights, civil liberties, and social justice. The book critically reconfigures the Confucian political philosophy of the classical period for the contemporary era.

scholarly journals Cosmopolitism, Global Justice, and International Law

2005 ◽  
Vol 18 (4) ◽  
pp. 679-684
Author(s):  
ROLAND PIERIK ◽  
WOUTER WERNER
Keyword(s):  
Political Philosophy ◽  
International Law ◽  
Global Justice ◽  
Environmental Law ◽  
Moral Foundations ◽  
Global Poverty ◽  
Special Issue ◽  
Global Inequality ◽  
Sovereign Equality ◽  
Central Elements

Along with the exploding attention to globalization, issues of global justice have become central elements in political philosophy. After decades in which debates were dominated by a state-centric paradigm, current debates in political philosophy also address issues of global inequality, global poverty, and the moral foundations of international law. As recent events have demonstrated, these issues also play an important role in the practice of international law. In fields such as peace and security, economic integration, environmental law, and human rights, international lawyers are constantly confronted with questions of global justice and international legitimacy. This special issue contains four papers which address an important element of this emerging debate on cosmopolitan global justice, with much relevance for international law: the principle of sovereign equality, global economic inequality, and environmental law.

Social Theory and the Critique of Capitalism in a Communication Society

2011 ◽  
Vol 19 (1) ◽  
pp. 150-175 ◽  
Author(s):  
Patrick O'Mahony
Keyword(s):  
Political Philosophy ◽  
Social Change ◽  
Social Theory ◽  
Social Relations ◽  
Social Structures ◽  
Democratic Institutions ◽  
Sociological Approach ◽  
The Third ◽  
Normative Reconstruction ◽  
Theoretical Developments

The essay attempts to re-contextualise the normative import of capitalism in the light of modern social theoretical developments. It firstly explores the significance in this regard of the procedural turn in both social theory and political philosophy. While important, this turn has come at the price of a loss of focus on the substantive plane of how unjust social relations – such as those often arising from capitalist structures – diminish the moral capacities of democratic institutions to shape social change. The essay goes on to show in the second section how Axel Honneth (2004, 2007), offering a partial corrective, combines a procedural emphasis on communication with a substantive account of embedded normative structures, opening the way to a differentiated sociological approach that remains normative but not one-sidedly transcendent and deontological. Taking a lead from these reflections, the third section presents a social theoretical architecture concerned both with social structures and processes and with normative grounding, balancing a perspective drawn from sociological constructivism with normative reconstruction. Finally, in the concluding section, the foregoing is brought to bear on the study of capitalism in a manner that is intended to open up new avenues for its critical theoretical exploration.

scholarly journals Los flagelos de la paz: paradojas de la experiencia colombiana / The scourges of peace: Paradoxes of the Colombian experience

2019 ◽  
Vol 8 (1) ◽  
pp. 21-29
Author(s):  
Patricia Martínez Coral
Keyword(s):  
Political Philosophy ◽  
Armed Conflict ◽  
Armed Forces ◽  
The Political ◽  
La Paz ◽  
Central Elements ◽  
The Government

ABSTRACTThis article describes how the discursive intensity of peace has implemented in Colombia the agreement signed between the government and the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC-EP), for the end of the armed conflict, despite the popular rejection that it received in the plebiscite convened for the text's endorsement, with delicate implications for the country's governability. In this sense, the reconstruction of the Colombian context is analyzed through central elements of political philosophy about the dynamics of cohesion and the breakdown of the political order.RESUMENEl presente artículo expone cómo la intensidad discursiva de la paz ha instrumentado en Colombia, la imposición del acuerdo suscrito entre el gobierno y las Fuerzas Armadas Revolucionarias de Colombia FARC-EP-, para la desmovilización y reincorporación de este grupo a la vida civil, pese al rechazo popular que recibió en la jornada de plebiscito, convocada para la refrendación del texto, con delicadas implicaciones para la gobernabilidad del país. En tal sentido, la reconstrucción de este contexto se somete a un análisis fundamentado en elementos centrales de la filosofía política, acerca de las dinámicas de cohesión y ruptura del orden político.

La démocratie chez Hérodote: une étude du Débat sur les régimes

1991 ◽  
Vol 24 (3) ◽  
pp. 541-555 ◽  
Author(s):  
Richard Myers
Keyword(s):  
Political Philosophy ◽  
Majority Vote ◽  
The Other ◽  
Democratic Institutions ◽  
Made In

AbstractThis article is a study of the first recorded text of political philosophy, the Debate on the Regimes in Book III of the untitled work by Herodotus. The central methodological postulate of this study is that the Debate must be approached as one approaches the other stories in the work: the reader has to reflect on the arguments made here in light of the dramatic context in which they are made. In particular, the author suggests that the Debate is essentially a story about democracy since the discussion takes place within the framework of what are clearly democratic institutions: there is a sort of assembly where resolutions are debated and decision are taken by majority vote. The drama surrounding the Debate thus conveys to us Herodotus' own thoughts about the character of democracy.

scholarly journals A crítica de Michael Sandel à concepção de pessoa em John Rawls

2015 ◽  
Vol 6 (11) ◽  
pp. 21-33
Author(s):  
Viturino Ribeiro da Silva
Keyword(s):  
Political Philosophy ◽  
John Rawls ◽  
Public Justification ◽  
Democratic Institutions ◽  
The Public ◽  
Political Conception ◽  
Michael Sandel

Neste artigo pretendo apresentar a crítica de Michael Sandel à concepção de pessoa na filosofia política de John Rawls. Para tanto, é preciso descrever, em linhas gerais, a descrição rawlsiana das partes na posição original. Esta descrição, segundo Sandel, pressupõe uma concepção metafísica de pessoa na medida em que apresenta o “eu anterior a seus fins”, ou seja, um “eu distinto dos fins que possui”, mas que detém a posse de tais fins. Sandel argumenta que o “eu”, pensado desta forma, constitui-se como um “eu radicalmente desprovido de corpo”, pois não está inserido em sua situação. E, como solução, Sandel sugere que o eu seja um entendido enquanto “eu situado” nas práticas sociais existentes e, por isso, constituído de seus fins e não, simplesmente, distinto deles. Sandel argumenta a favor da noção de “autoconhecimento” como elemento de reconhecimento dos vínculos constitutivos do “eu” dentro da comunidade. Com base nestas criticas, Rawls responde que a sua abordagem está restrita á concepção política de pessoa e, não necessariamente, possui implicação metafísica. Ele sugere que a sua justificação para a concepção política de pessoa encontra-se fundamentada na cultura pública democrática que enfatiza o pluralismo razoável como um fato da vida moderna, mas, ainda assim, Rawls terá que responder aos questionamentos de Sandel quanto à explicação que ele dá como justificação pública para as instituições democráticas, dentro das quais, as concepções políticas de pessoa e de justiça se desenvolvem.Summary: This paper deals with Michael Sandel’s criticism to the conception of person in John Rawls’ political philosophy. I will make a presentation of Rawls’ position initial and then to analyse the reply of Sandel by focusing on the question concerning the metaphysical conception of person. Then I will present Rawls’ answer to the question as a political conception of person and the limits of such proposal concerning the public justification of democratic institutions. Keywords: Michael Sandel.  John Rawls. Justiça. Person (Self). Community. 

The History of Political Thought: A Very Short Introduction

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Richard Whatmore
Keyword(s):  
Political Philosophy ◽  
Political Science ◽  
Political Thought ◽  
Leo Strauss ◽  
History Of Political Thought ◽  
Short Introduction ◽  
The Core ◽  
The Past ◽  
History Of ◽  
Cambridge School

‘A History of Political Thought: A Very Short Introduction’ explores the core concerns and questions in the history of political thought, considering the field as a branch of political philosophy and political science. The approaches of core theorists, such as Reinhart Koselleck, Leo Strauss, Michel Foucault, and the so-called Cambridge School of Quentin Skinner and John Pocock are important to this topic. There is ongoing relevance for current politics which can be seen by assessing the current relationship between political history, theory, and action. There are some areas of political thinking that tend to draw on history because of the comparisons and contrasts that the past can offer to contemporary dilemmas.

Sovereignty

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
J.D. Ford
Keyword(s):  
Political Philosophy ◽  
Thomas Hobbes ◽  
The State ◽  
Actual Practice ◽  
Legal Systems ◽  
Democratic Institutions ◽  
The People ◽  
Jean Bodin ◽  
Peace And Security ◽  
The Individual

In legal and political philosophy sovereignty is the attribute by which a person or institution exercises ultimate authority over every other person or institution in its domain. Traditionally, the existence of a final arbiter or legislator is said to be essential if people are to live together in peace and security. The example brought most readily to mind by the word ’sovereign’ is the individual monarch, and the theory of sovereignty was at one time closely linked with the defence of monarchy. But leading theorists of sovereignty, like Jean Bodin and Thomas Hobbes, recognize that authority can be exercised by sovereign bodies of people; and later writers, like Rousseau and Austin, locate sovereignty in the people, to whom the officials of more democratic institutions are ultimately accountable. Traditionally, too, it is deduced from the nature of the state or law that the sovereign’s authority must be absolute, not limited by conditions; perpetual, not merely delegated for a time; and indivisible, not distributed between different persons or institutions. It is further deduced that the sovereign must be independent from external domination as well as internally supreme. All these inferences have been subjected to criticism, not least because they can be difficult to reconcile with the actual practice of states and legal systems.

scholarly journals Los retos de las democracias desnacionalizadas: apuntes para el debate

2020 ◽  
pp. 350-379
Author(s):  
Auxkin Galarraga Ezponda
Keyword(s):  
Hate Speech ◽  
Democratic Institutions ◽  
General Introduction ◽  
Liberal Democracies ◽  
Social Legitimacy ◽  
Nation States ◽  
The Social ◽  
The Future ◽  
Democratic Societies ◽  
Structural Inequalities

El artículo es una introducción general al debate planteado en el dossier. Ofrece una visión panorámica y general sobre algunos de los retos más importantes a los que se enfrentan las democracias liberales, en un periodo caracterizado por los procesos de desnacionalización que han remodelado de forma significativa las capacidades y posibilidades de respuesta a los mismos por parte de los Estados- Nación. Se señalan tres problemas principales que en la actualidad tensionan internamente el devenir de las sociedades democráticas: i) las desigualdades estructurales de las sociedades del conocimiento; ii) la desconfianza institucional y la pérdida de la legitimidad social de las instituciones democráticas; iii) la deriva autoritaria de los Estados democráticos y la expansión del discurso del odio. Cada uno de estos problemas, que en este artículo se exponen de forma breve e introductoria, obtiene un tratamiento en mayor profundidad en el resto de los artículos de los que se compone el dossier. Por ello, el artículo finaliza con una invitación a degustar las sabias reflexiones de los autores invitados al mismo. The article is a general introduction to the debate raised in the dossier. It offers a panoramic and general vision of some of the most important challenges facing liberal democracies, in a period characterized by the denationalization processes that have significantly remodeled the capacities and possibilities of response to them by the Nation-states. Three main problems that currently stress internally the future of democratic societies are pointed out: i) the structural inequalities of knowledge societies; ii) institutional distrust and loss of the social legitimacy of democratic institutions; iii) the authoritarian drift of democratic states and the spread of hate speech. Each of these problems, which in this article are briefly presented, obtains a more in-depth treatment in the rest of the articles of which the dossier is composed. Therefore, the article ends with an invitation to read the wise reflections of the authors invited to it.

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