Beyond Kantianism - Response to Critiques

I am flattered and privileged to have received four such astute critiques of my work from an international cast. I will reflect at length about many of their points in future work but to respond fully would require a very long article and so I will highlight some of the more salient issues. The authors share misgivings about my commitment to a realist version of governmentality theory so I will try to articulate a bit more clearly how it is different from two major alternative perspectives highlighted by the authors: what I term a `discursive` governmentality perspective (Stenson 2005), and the neo-Marxist regulationist school of political economy. However, deeper normative questions are raised, for example by Wendy Larner, about what it means to be progressive or critical within the broad terrain of liberalism (which can include neo-liberals and neo-conservatives) in the wake of the collapse of communism and much of the power of western labour movements, the rise of the new emancipatory and environmental social movements and varieties of religious fundamentalism. As social scientists and university intellectuals we usually argue that our work differs from journalistic reportage or ideological polemics that gather supportive evidence through selective fact gathering. This is because we dig beneath the flux of events and surface appearances and debates to uncover the deeper structures of thought and social relations that shape our experiences and the flow of events. And we also engage with contrary evidence that troubles our truth claims. This is the work of theory. I accept that theory plays a vital role but argue for a more grounded approach rooted in empirical research using a variety of methods and data sources. Hence I adopt a more cautious approach to conceptions of the `deeper structures` we uncover. At best we can only know them through provisional heuristic modelling and it is best not to reify them.

Kantisme i sentit comú en Francesc X. Llorens i Barba

L'objectiu de l'article és analitzar quin sentit té el kantisme a la filosofia de Llorens i Barba. S'ha afirmat sovint que potser Llorens es va distanciar de Kant al final de la seva vida. Aquesta qüestió ens pot ocultar quelcom més important: el veritable significat dels elements d'ètica kantiana dins de la filosofia de Llorens. Mostrarem que la influència de Kant és clara, però que cal tenir present que deriva igualment de la principal font de Llorens, el filòsof escocès William Hamilton. Per assolir aquesta conclusió analitzarem la presència de la noció de sentit comú en Kant i considerarem de quina manera l'ètica complementa la metafísica en Kant, Hamilton i Llorens.

El retorn de la biografia: una relectura de Kant

No hi ha dubte que les biografies-i des d"una perspectiva historiogràfica el gènere biogràfic- estan d"actualitat. Des que Dilthey va escriure la seva biografia sobre Schleiermacher, aquest estudi va passar a ser durant molts anys el model sobre com s"havia d"escriure una biografia.1 De fet, ha transcorregut més d"un segle des de llavors, i amb independència de l"actualitat d"aquell estudi, és cert que avui assistim a un retorn de la biografia-i nogensmenys de les autobiografies i de les memòries- que eren historiogràficament menyspreades només fa unes dècades, quan dominaven arreu les grans construccions ideològiques com ara el marxisme i l"estructuralisme.

Nietzsche and Neo-Kantian historiography: points of contact

In the German academies of Nietzsche's period of writing, the Kantian tradition was largely displaced in favor of two independent schools that have since been labeled "Neo-Kantianism." This paper presents four key theses about philosophy of history from four Neo-Kantian thinkers, how they follow from their adaptation of the Kantian tradition, and how Nietzsche critically engaged the very same issues in the formation of his own historical theory. Although there is little direct influence between orthodox Neo-Kantianism and Nietzsche, their comparison on these points will illuminate their unique adaptations of the Kantian tradition.

Idealismo epistemológico y realismo metafísico en Charle S. Peirce

En este ensayo reconcilio la epistemología idealista de Peirce con su realismo metafísico, al proponer una idea de realidad permanentemente corregida por los resultados de la indagación. Esto implica prescindir del acuerdo último y aceptar uno actual y falible.