De la metafísica a la anarquía. El pensamiento político de Reiner Schürmann

El artículo pretende abordar el modo en el que la obra de Reiner Schürmann, a través de un original interpretación del pensamiento de Martin Heidegger, consigue desarrollar un tipo de filosofía política anárquica. Se intentará analizar, en la dispersa obra del filósofo holandés, la idea de anarquía como condición existencial, prestando especial atención al nexo entre el concepto de muerte de la metafísica y la posibilidad de una praxis política anárquica. El artículo se compone de tres partes: en la primera se examinará la noción de Ser y de “a priori práctico” en el trabajo de Schürmann. En la segunda se verá la diferencia entre el nihilismo del autor y el de Vattimo, y en la tercera, se profundizará en las consecuencias más propiamente políticas del pensamiento de Schürmann.

The Formation of a Liberal Thinker: Georg Jellinek and his Early Writings (1872 – 1878)

Georg Jellinek is known as one of the most prominent representative of German legal positivism. This article aims at identifying and discussing the more theoretical- political connotation of Jellinek’s thought with a particular focus on his liberal inspiration. According to the perspective of the history of political thought, this article shows how some intellectual premises to Jellinek’s liberalism take shape and emerge from a series of young Jellinek’s writings on history of philosophy and history of ideas.

Resistance is futile: the borg, the hive, and corporate hegemony

The Borg, a collective of humanoid cyborgs linked together in a hive-mind and modeled on the earthly superorganisms of ant colonies and beehives, has been the most feared alien race in the Star Trek universe. The formidable success of the Borg in assimilating their foes corresponds to the astounding success of superorganisms in our own biosphere. Yet the Borg also serves as a metaphor for another collective of biological entities known as the corporation. In the Anthropocene epoch, corporations have become the most powerful force on the planet; their influence on the social world and the environment exceeds any government and may determine the continued sustainability of human life. Corporations have been described as people and as machines, but neither metaphor accurately describes their essence or contributes to an understanding that might resist their power. This paper reframes our understanding of the corporation by examining the metaphors that are used to describe it, and by suggesting an entirely new metaphor viewing the Borg and the corporation through the lens of sociobiology. I will argue that the corporation is a new form of superorganism that has become the dominant species on the planet and that the immense, intractable power of a globalized, corporate hive-mind has become the principal obstacle to addressing the planetary emergency of climate change. Reframing our metaphoric understanding of corporations as biological entities in the planetary biosphere may enable us to imagine ways to resist their increasing dominance and create a sustainable future. 

Islamismo e terrore: un grande Jihad contro il senso comune (essay)

What implies the conversion to fundamentalist Islam? What are the repercussions and implications of ‘political Islam’ in specific contexts? The relation between Islam, democracy and violence is often represented in a reductive or simplistic way. In order to contribute to a reasoned debate on these pressing questions, this essay covers some key dynamics stemming from long-term ethnographic observation regarding the conversion to neo Salafism among Arab Bedouin citizens in southern Israel, placing them in the context of contemporary developments of Islamic political thought. The ethnographic sensitivity, combined with the voices of some eminent Islamic intellectuals, allows to go beyond both the rhetoric of cultural complexity and the common-sense view that Islamic terrorism would be a kind of ‘anti imperialism of the losers’, arguments employed often to contest emerging neo-orientalist discourses. In this sense, the essay states the need to shed light on coordinates and interpretative categories that are not placed in an essentially different but in often unexpected ways.

La imagen de Barbación en las "Res Gestae" de Amiano Marcelino1

Este artículo analiza uno de los personajes secundarios más relevantes de las Res Gestae (RG) de Amiano Marcelino, el magister peditum Barbación. El historiador presenta a Barbación como un ser infame: colaborador en la muerte de Galo, cobarde, arrogante y desleal con Juliano durante la campaña militar del 357, delator de falsedades ante Constancio, merecedor de una muerte indigna. Sin embargo, un estudio de conjunto de los pasajes de Res Gestae, tomando como apoyo metodológico las técnicas de argumentación aplicadas al retrato y el concepto de ‘argumentación implícita’ de Sabbah 1978 y los métodos de caracterización de personajes de Pauw 1977, corrige esta visión comúnmente aceptada y demuestra la parcialidad del historiador. Así mismo se pone de manifiesto que el personaje, como otros actantes secundarios en las RG, es una réplica del carácter de Constancio II.

Estudio de la pintura del paisaje campestre del Cantón Cuenca, siglo XX

La pintura de paisaje surge como corriente pictórica a finales del siglo XIX como un producto de una suma de intereses tanto académicos como científicos que desembocan en el interés por la naturaleza. Se enmarca dentro de un pensamiento político que sitúa a nuestro país en las expectativas de una nueva estructura socio cultural que pone énfasis en la libertad y en los derechos humanos, el derecho a la propiedad privada y sobre todo abre sus horizontes a la integración social y cultural, se ve la necesidad de comunicar e inspirarse en la propia tierra. En ésta investigación se pretende inquirir en los diferentes procesos que experimentan los artistas al contacto con la naturaleza; que se interiorizan a través de las distintas experiencias que tienen con las técnicas de proceso artístico, dentro de las cuales se capturan la luz, el espacio, la cromática, la vivencia que capta el espectador de las obras y las expectativas que tiene del artista. Este proceso puede o no ser artístico: algunas veces guiado por el academicismo, otras veces por encargo, con expectativas que muchas veces tienen fines políticos (poniendo en desmedro del valor académico, el tema). Obras que se traducen en una exigencia de la técnica, ya que se trata de captar la naturaleza, que de por sí es perfecta, en un prolijo uso casi perfeccionista de la misma, sin llegar a comprender que los individuos como las huellas dactilares, son diferentes en su interior; por lo que captarán la esencia de la naturaleza de acuerdo a las numerosas experiencias que hayan tenido con ella. La idea de pintar paisaje ya no está relacionada solamente con la observación sino con la perspectiva de representar el entorno de acuerdo a la manera muy particular y especial de cada artista.

„Ob Wahrheit oder nicht, ich glaube die Geschichte“. Unbequeme Bildung zu demokratischer Mündigkeit

Vor dem Hintergrund der Flüchtlingsthematik illustriert die Autorin als Auftakt, wie sehr sich die Demokratie in westlichen Gesellschaften, die schon immer Frauen ausschloss, dem Abgrund nähert. Bildung, ob sie es will oder nicht, bildet indirekt oder direkt immer auch politisch-soziale Bedingungen und Verhältnisse ab, bildet in diese hinein, kann nicht unpolitisch sein. Demokratie und Politik finden nicht im Menschen statt, sondern entstehen zwischen den Menschen. Wie kann Bildung nun zum Demokratie lernen oder - um es mit Gayatri Chakravorty Spivak auszudrücken - Demokratie verlernen beitragen? Indem sich jede Bildung immer wieder prozessual einer Selbstprüfung aussetzt, um den Anspruch auf "Erziehung" mündiger BürgerInnen nicht durch die eigene Praxis zu verhindern, lautet die Antwort in diesem kritisch-feministischen und essayistischen Beitrag. Zudem brauche es Bildungsorte, wo es möglich ist, ein BürgerInnensein durch Erfahrung und politische Ideengeschichte zu lernen. (DIPF/Orig.)

Los caminos de Carmen Lyra

La contribución intelectual y política de la pensadora Carmen Lyra, militante comunista, maestra y escritora costarricense, puede identificarse como una dádiva que aportó luz en la construcción de una sociedad costarricense más justa. Exilada política, murió en México, el país que la recibió, rogando volver para fallecer en su Patria, petición humanitaria que le fue negada por la jerarquía política de la Suiza Centroamericana. Hoy, su pensamiento y su praxis han sido despojados por el imaginario oficial del contenido político que movió su pluma y su vida. Palabras claves: Carmen Lyra, María Isabel Carvajal, comunismo costarricense, pensamiento político femenino costarricense Abstract The intellectual and political deeds of Costa Rican thinker Carmen Lyra, communist, writer and teacher, can be understood as an inheritance that shed light for the building of a more justice Costa Rican society. She was exiled to Mexico and died there begging Costa Rican authorities to allow her return to the Homeland for her final days. This humanitarian request was refused by the rulers of the so-called Central American Switzerland. Today, Carmen Lyra ́s thought and deeds are being swept away of its political content that moved her writing and her entire life by the official ideology. Key words: Carmen Lyra, María Isabel Carvajal, Costa Rican Communism, Costa Rican female political thought

What toleration means to contemporary liberalism?

Toleration is a key concept of liberalism, both from the historical and conceptual points of view. On the other hand, as people’s freedom to live according to their moral and religious ideas has long become a basic value for liberal societies and their political constitutions, it is reasonable to understand that there is nothing to be tolerated nor by citizens neither by the State. However, a part of the scope and meaning of the fundamental rights and freedoms is subject to what John Rawls calls reasonable disagreements and this is a field where toleration understood in the classic way is compatible with equality: not to intervene against that which is being disapproved understood has a raison d'être. Since the 1980s, toleration has been present in the debates on how to deal with pluralism in a constitutional democracy. This has to be connected to the rise of identity politics: political and intellectual movements such as multiculturalism or comunitarism that questioned whether social order based on neutral criteria was either possible or desirable or both things at the same time. Outstanding liberal philosophers were among those demanding political priority for comunitarian values and those who showed interest for toleration as a key concept to articulate pluralism. Key distinctions between them can be explained as the result of the different approaches they take when facing classical theories on toleration: whereas John Locke’s is a major influence on Rawls, John Stuart Mill’s is on the others, while Gray, Walzer and Rorty follow Isaiah Berlin’s reading of Mill.

Liberalism and economic growth: a theoretical exploration

This article explores how the liberal tradition of political thought has dealt with the prospect of limits to economic growth and how it should approach this issue in the future. Using Andrew Moravcsik’s explanatory liberal theory, it finds that the commitment of governments to growth stems primarily from the aggregation of societal preferences for the social goods that growth produces. The arguments of liberal thinkers who have grappled with the issue of growth are then examined to gain a deeper theoretical understanding of the relationship between liberal democracy and growth. These include John Stuart Mill, for whom a non-growing economy was essential for overcoming the tension between liberty and equality; Ronald Dworkin who argues that growth is a derivative means to further more fundamental ends; and Marcel Wissenburg who suggests that it is legitimate for liberal democracies to limit the preference for growth if it risks undermining liberal norms and institutions. Using
these theoretical insights, it is argued that environmental degradation, which is partly driven by growth, now threatens the fundamental liberal commitments of many liberals, including some forms of
state neutralism, utilitarianism, inalienable individual rights and above all human autonomy. Therefore, liberal democratic states not only can, but must move towards a post-growth economy to secure these objectives into the future.

Prospects for a post-growth liberal society

This paper explores how the liberal tradition of political thought has dealt with the prospect of limits to economic growth and how it should approach this issue in the future. Using Andrew Moravcsik’s explanatory liberal theory, it finds that the commitment of governments to growth stems primarily from the aggregation of societal preferences. The arguments of liberal thinkers who have grappled with the issue of growth are then examined to gain a deeper theoretical understanding of the relationship between liberal democracy and growth. These include John Stuart Mill, for whom a non-growing economy was essential for overcoming the tension between liberty and equality; Ronald Dworkin who argues that growth is a derivative means to further more fundamental ends; and Marcel Wissenburg who suggests that it is legitimate for liberal democracies to limit the preference for growth if it risks undermining liberal norms and institutions. Using these theoretical insights, it is argued that environmental degradation, which is partly driven by growth, now threatens fundamental liberal commitments to state neutralism, utilitarianism, inalienable individual rights and above all human autonomy. Therefore, liberal democratic states not only can, but must move towards a post-growth economy to secure these objectives into the future.

Two functions of Aristotle's common advantage

This paper identifies two distinct functions of the common advantage in Aristotle’s political thought and argues that distinguishing these functions allows for a reconciliation of the individualist and holist aspects of the Aristotelian account of the polis. I demonstrate that the Aristotelian common advantage functions both as (i) a motivating reason for individuals to enter the polis and (ii) a normative reason — the political good of justice — that provides a criterion for an assessment of the correctness of constitutions (politeiai). The two functions of the common advantage are, I suggest, reconcilable insofar as the Aristotelian polis is best understood as a unity of order rather than a mere aggregation of individual citizens or an organic whole.

Estado, sociedad civil y hegemonía en el pensamiento político de Gramsci

En el presente artículo analizamos el concepto de hegemonía de Gramsci y su relación con los conceptos políticos fundamentales de su pensamiento. Nos confrontamos con las interpretaciones que sitúan la hegemonía exclusivamente en el ámbito de la sociedad civil y mostramos la complejidad teórica de concepto gramsciano de Estado, que integra dialécticamente la sociedad civil con la sociedad política. Con ello se pone de manifiesto el modo en que se articulan coerción y consenso en el pensamiento político de Gramsci, así como la necesidad de dominar las estructuras políticas del Estado para consolidar la hegemonía conquistada en la sociedad civil.

Estado, sociedad civil y hegemonía en el pensamiento político de Gramsci

En el presente artículo analizamos el concepto de hegemonía de Gramsci y su relación con los conceptos políticos fundamentales de su pensamiento. Nos confrontamos con las interpretaciones que sitúan la hegemonía exclusivamente en el ámbito de la sociedad civil y mostramos la complejidad teórica de concepto gramsciano de Estado, que integra dialécticamente la sociedad civil con la sociedad política. Con ello se pone de manifiesto el modo en que se articulan coerción y consenso en el pensamiento político de Gramsci, así como la necesidad de dominar las estructuras políticas del Estado para consolidar la hegemonía conquistada en la sociedad civil.