Topic
Agency (philosophy)
About: Agency (philosophy) is a research topic. Over the lifetime, 10461 publications have been published within this topic receiving 350831 citations. The topic is also known as: Thought & Human agency.
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TL;DR: This introductory chapter takes the challenge of 'methodological cosmopolitanism', namely the problem of defining the appropriate unit of analysis, an important step further and develops this 'cosmopolitan turn' in four steps.
Abstract: The theme of this special issue is the necessity of a cosmopolitan turn in social and political theory. The question at the heart of this introductory chapter takes the challenge of ‘methodological cosmopolitanism’, already addressed in a Special Issue on Cosmopolitan Sociology in this journal (Beck and Sznaider 2006), an important step further: How can social and political theory be opened up, theoretically as well as methodologically and normatively, to a historically new, entangled Modernity which threatens its own foundations? How can it account for the fundamental fragility, the mutability of societal dynamics (of unintended side-effects, domination and power), shaped by the globalization of capital and risks at the beginning of the twenty-first century? What theoretical and methodological problems arise and how can they be addressed in empirical research? In the following, we will develop this ‘cosmopolitan turn’ in four steps: firstly, we present the major conceptual tools for a theory of cosmopolitan modernities; secondly, we de-construct Western modernity by using examples taken from research on individualization and risk; thirdly, we address the key problem of methodological cosmopolitanism, namely the problem of defining the appropriate unit of analysis; and finally, we discuss normative questions, perspectives, and dilemmas of a theory of cosmopolitan modernities, in particular problems of political agency and prospects of political realization.
348 citations
Book•
01 Jan 1991
TL;DR: In this article, the authors give a close and comprehensive analysis of the main themes of Aristotle's ethics, focusing on happiness, virtue, voluntary agency, practical reason, incontinence, pleasure, and the place of theoria in the best life.
Abstract: In this book, Sarah Broadie gives a close and comprehensive analysis of the main themes of Aristotle's ethics. She concentrates on his discussions of happiness, virtue, voluntary agency, practical reason, incontinence, pleasure, and the place of theoria in the best life. The book makes a major contribution towards the understanding of Aristotle's ethics.
345 citations
TL;DR: In this paper, a description of the way actions are represented, how these representations are built, and how their content can be accessed by the agent and by other agents is given.
Abstract: In this review, a description is offered of the way actions are represented, how these representations are built, and how their content can be accessed by the agent and by other agents. Such a description will appear critical for understanding how an action is attributed to its proper origin, or, in other words, how a subject can make a conscious judgement about who the agent of that action is (an agency judgement). This question is central to the problem of self-consciousness: Action is one of the main channels used for communication between individuals, so that determining the agent of an action contributes to differentiating the self from others.
344 citations
TL;DR: SST is adapted for the study of technology programmes, integrating elements from material interactionism and ANT, arguing that the position-practice network can be a socio-technical one in which technologies in conjunction with humans can be studied as 'actants'.
344 citations
TL;DR: This article explored the relevance and limits of Bourdieu's notions of field of power, agency, positioned and position taking, drawing on Gramsci's notion of hegemony in explaining the dominant role played by universities from the United States.
Abstract: This paper maps the global dimension of higher education and associated research, including the differentiation of national systems and institutions, while reflecting critically on theoretical tools for working this terrain. Arguably the most sustained theorisation of higher education is by Bourdieu: the paper explores the relevance and limits of Bourdieu’s notions of field of power, agency, positioned and position?taking; drawing on Gramsci’s notion of hegemony in explaining the dominant role played by universities from the United States. Noting there is greater ontological openness in global than national educational settings, and that Bourdieu’s reading of structure/agency becomes trapped on the structure side, the paper discusses Sen on self?determining identity and Appadurai on global imagining, flows and ‘scapes’. The dynamics of Bourdieu’s competitive field of higher education continue to play out globally, but located within a larger and more disjunctive relational setting, and a setting that is less closed, than he suggests.
342 citations