Showing papers in "Critical Horizons in 2000"
TL;DR: In this article, an alternative "status" model of recognition politics is offered that encourages struggles to overcome status subordination and fosters parity of participation, which enables a coherent Left vision that could redress injustices of culture and political economy simultaneously.
Abstract: Misrecognition, taken seriously as unjust social subordination, cannot be remedied by eliminating prejudice alone In this rejoinder to Richard Rorty, it is argued that a politics of recognition and a politics of redistribution can and should be combined However, an identity politics that displaces redistribution and reifies group differences is deeply flawed Here, instead, an alternative ‘status’ model of recognition politics is offered that encourages struggles to overcome status subordination and fosters parity of participation Integrating this politics of recognition with redistribution enables a coherent Left vision that could redress injustices of culture and of political economy simultaneously
39 citations
TL;DR: It is not clear that "cultural recognition" should be a central goal of leftist politics as discussed by the authors, since the idea that cultures have value simply by virtue of being cultures seems absurd, so it might be better to talk simply about eliminating prejudice and stigmatisation.
Abstract: It is not clear that "cultural recognition" should be a central goal of leftist politics. The idea that cultures have value simply by virtue of being cultures seems absurd, so it might be better to talk simply about eliminating prejudice and stigmatisation.
36 citations
TL;DR: In this article, the task of finding normative foundations for social philosophy is formulated in terms of negotiating the tension between contextualism and objectivism, and six contemporary responses to this challenge are examined.
Abstract: One of the principal challenges facing contemporary social philosophy is how to find foundations that are normatively robust yet congruent with its self-understanding. Social philosophy is a critical project within modernity, an interpretative horizon that stresses the influences of history and context on knowledge and experience. However, if it is to engage in intercultural dialogue and normatively robust social critique, social philosophy requires non-arbitrary, universal normative standards. The task of normative foundations can thus be formulated in terms of negotiating the tension between ‘contextualism’ and ‘objectivism’. Six contemporary responses to this challenge are examined. Their respective limitations call for renewed reflection on justificatory strategies, in particular for a conception of ‘objectivity’ based in a normative theory of social learning processes.
15 citations
TL;DR: The authors argued that freedom of communication provides the most appropriate normative discourse in which to re-articulate the case for the European policy practice of "regulated pluralism" outside Europe.
Abstract: This article assesses some major democratic norms commonly invoked in relation to means of communication or ‘media’, especially in the context of ‘media policy’. The paper argues that freedom of communication provides the most appropriate normative discourse in which to re-articulate the case for the European policy practice of ‘regulated pluralism’ outside Europe. Recent developments in Australia provide a brief case-study of this thesis.
14 citations
TL;DR: In this article, it is argued that Habermas' critique of German Idealism is misguided and that his rejection of the philosophy of the subject is unjustified, and that Critical Theory needs to recognise the importance of subjectivity for all social philosophy if its theoretical aims are to be achieved.
Abstract: In this paper it is argued that Habermas' critique of German Idealism is misguided and that his rejection of the philosophy of the subject is unjustified. Critical Theory needs to recognise the importance of subjectivity for all social philosophy if its theoretical aims are to be achieved. In order to demonstrate the relevance of subjectivity to Critical Theory the essay draws on analytic philosophy of mind and on the work of Manfred Frank and Dieter Henrich.
10 citations
TL;DR: The popularity of films like Titanic betokens a massive shift in the nature of aesthetic spectatorship in our time as discussed by the authors, which is evident not only in mass culture with amusement thrill rides and the return of what has been called the "cinema of attractions", but also in avant-garde culture, as shown by the Sensation exhibition of Young British Artists which caused such a stir in London and New York.
Abstract: The popularity of films like Titanic betokens a massive shift in the nature of aesthetic spectatorship in our time. The contemplative, distanced viewer who is able to judge from afar the spectacle before him or her, has been replaced by a more proximate, involved "kinaesthetic" subject whose body is stimulated as much as his or her eye. This is evident not only in mass culture with amusement thrill rides and the return of what has been called the "cinema of attractions"; this new spectator can also be discerned in avant-garde culture, as shown by the Sensation exhibition of Young British Artists which caused such a stir in London and New York. This spectator is especially attracted to simulacral scenes of destruction and catastrophe, in which he or she is virtually immersed. If aesthetic judgement is to be a model for its political counterpart, as has been argued by theorists like Lyotard and Arendt, it cannot do so on the basis of this aesthetics of violent immersion.
10 citations
TL;DR: The Merchant of Venice and Othello as mentioned in this paper are two plays about the outsider's failed assimilation into cosmopolitan life, where the figure of the absolute stranger is a representative illusion and these two plays are dramas about the modern world.
Abstract: While Shakespeare's historical and political imagination mainly centres on the traditional character of the stranger or exile, The Merchant of Venice and Othello stand out as dramas about a new figure, the absolute stranger. The absolute stranger belongs to a new situation Shakespeare found in cosmopolitan Venice. Through Shylock and Othello, Shakespeare encounters the drama of the outsider's failed assimilation into cosmopolitan life. For Shakespeare, the figure of the absolute stranger is a representative illusion, and these two plays are dramas about the modern world.
9 citations
TL;DR: While much that is admirable in romanticism stems from Kant's philosophy, a better account of how sexuality can be an ethical possibility exceeds the cramped parameters that he imposes may be found in this article.
Abstract: While much that is admirable in romanticism stems from Kant's philosophy, a better account of how sexuality can be an ethical possibility exceeds the cramped parameters that he imposes. His conception of marriage and its dependence upon a contractual exchange of rights may well be irremediable because of its formal emptinesses. His idea of human love as good will and an interest in the welfare of the beloved is defensible as far as it goes. But it does not go far enough to explain the morality of love, either in sexuality or in marriage.
7 citations
TL;DR: The authors explores the paradox of the Frankfurt School's Critical Theory where the notion of "critical theory" became identified with aesthetics and asks whether the disappearance of the political dimension of critical theory was necessary.
Abstract: This paper explores the paradox of the Frankfurt School's Critical Theory where the notion of "critical theory" became identified with aesthetics and asks whether the disappearance of the political dimension of critical theory was necessary. This disappearance of the political also presents some uncomfortable affinities between it and postmodernism. But in the more sober world after 1989, post-communism poses more relevant questions than post-modernism for an assessment of the history of the Frankfurt School. The political project of the old Frankfurt School has to be revivified - or at least given a decent burial.
6 citations
TL;DR: The authors argue that culture and identity emerge from a process of internal negotiation which requires only coherence and not homogeneity, and that members of cultures need not share all their features in order to be genuine members.
Abstract: This paper argues that we should think of culture and identity as separate concepts, involving distinct objects of enquiry. Whilst identity based theories tend to tell fragmented stories about culture and become overly concerned with difference and particular subjectivities, this paper claims that cultures emerge from a process of internal negotiation which requires only coherence and not homogeneity. In other words, members of cultures need not share all their features in order to be genuine members.
5 citations
TL;DR: The authors consider the extent to which discourse ethics can adequately respond to Habermas' own call for normative justification for the expectation of tolerance and conclude that discourse ethics is able to lend its services to the flagging fortunes of the idea of toleration by offering insights into the possibilities opened up to a life which accepts this principle.
Abstract: The following paper considers the extent to which discourse ethics can adequately respond to Habermas' own call for normative justification for the expectation of tolerance It concludes that discourse ethics is able to lend its services to the flagging fortunes of the idea of toleration, not by seeking to underscore this idea with rationally compelling argumentation, but by offering insights into the possibilities opened up to a life which accepts this principle
TL;DR: The authors demonstrate the way in which Habermas' moral theory of discourse inadvertently harbours a moral-imaginary horizon, a pre-political kernel which undercuts its capacity to serve as a universalist ethic.
Abstract: The central claim of this essay is that Habermas' pro gram of discourse ethics fails to establish the necessary immanent connection between the universality of discourse ethics and the quasi-transcendentalism, which is supposed to provide its ground. Habermas' attempt to avoid the spectre of subjectivism leads him to develop an understanding of universalism that hinges on a critical error, the confusion of subjectivity with ethical sub stance. Using Castoriadis' theory of the imagination to illuminate this failure, I demonstrate the way in which Habermas' moral theory of discourse inadvertently harbours a moral-imaginary horizon, a pre-political kernel which undercuts its capacity to serve as a universalist ethic.
TL;DR: In this article, an encounter between these thinkers is carried out in order to elucidate key themes in Derrida's The Other Heading, and the reading aims at developing and contextu-alising Derrda's relation to radical democratic thought so that his political strategies can be made more explicit.
Abstract: What is the significance of and logic behind Jacques Derrida's recent "political" writings? While Derrida's work refuses to obey any singular movement or register, he does, nonetheless, make recurrent attempts to negotiate between a politics of identity and difference. A similar undertaking can be found in the radical democratic writings of Ernesto Laclau and Chantal Mouffe. An encounter between these thinkers is here carried out in order to elucidate key themes in Derrida's The Other Heading. The reading aims at developing and contextu-alising Derrida's relation to radical democratic thought so that his political strategies can be made more explicit.
TL;DR: Heller's previous works explore the contingency of the modern condition and how social actors establish or choose themselves as ethical beings within this contingency as mentioned in this paper, which is the result of which is ethical indifference.
Abstract: Many of Agnes HellerOs previous works explore the contingency of the modern condition and how social actors establish or choose themselves as ethical beings within this contingency. Both The Postmodern Political Condition and Can Modernity Survive? concentrate on images of contingency whilst General Ethics and A Philosophy of Morals explore the nature of an ethics framed around the question of what a decent person is. The contingency of modernity has entailed, for Heller, that it is increasingly difficult to continue to make ethical and moral judgements, which includes the ability to distinguish good from evil. The thematisation of good and evil was possible in an age of grand narratives; the loss of grand narratives has meant that the thematisation of good and evil becomes increasingly difficult, the result of which is ethical indifference.
TL;DR: The authors argued that Kant's explanation of the purposiveness-without-a-purpose of beauty (in the third Critique) can help to make sense of Nancy's theory of the inoperative community.
Abstract: This essay argues that Kant's explanation of the purposiveness-without-a-purpose of beauty (in the third Critique) can help to make sense of Nancy's theory of the inoperative community.