The State, Compartmentalization and the Turn to Local Community: A Critique of the Political Thought of Alasdair MacIntyre

Alasdair MacIntyre condemns modern politics, specifically liberalism and the institutions of the liberal state, as irredeemably fallen. His core argument is that the liberal state encourages a disempowering ‘compartmentalization’ of people’s everyday roles and activities that undermines the intersubjective conditions of human flourishing. MacIntyre’s alternative is an Aristotelian politics centred on the notion of “practice.” Defined by justice and solidarity, this politics can only be realized, he claims, within local communities which oppose and resist the dictates of the administrative state and capitalist market. Here it is argued that MacIntyre’s notion of “practice” represents a compelling ethical-political ideal. However, the belief that this ideal is best realized within local communities is rejected. In privileging local community, MacIntyre relies on a reductive view of modern states and overlooks the institutional conditions of a just polity. Against this, it is argued that a politics of human flourishing cannot succeed without an emancipatory transformation of large-scale, trans-communal institutions, in particular the state.

Unwritten law in Hobbesian political thought

In Hobbesian terminology, ‘unwritten laws’ are natural laws enforced within a polity, by a non-sovereign judge, without some previous public promulgation. This article discusses the idea in the light of successive Hobbesian accounts of ‘law’ and ‘obligation’. Between De Cive and Leviathan, Hobbes dropped the idea that natural law is strictly speaking law, but he continued to believe unwritten laws must form a part of any legal system. He was unable to explain how such a law could claim a legal status. His loyalty to the notion, in spite of all the trouble that it caused, is a sign of his belief that moral knowledge is readily accessible to all.

Introduction: the legacy of Greek political thought

This Introduction offers context for the individual papers by examining the intersections and productive tensions between political thought and classical reception studies. While Plato and Aristotle have long been privileged interlocutors for political philosophers, classical reception studies has pluralised both this ancient canon and given rise to a more complex understanding of the modern heirs of ancient political thought. Similarly, the insights of studying the history of political texts and ideas across a longer tradition calls into question the fixity of concepts such as democracy, empire and political freedom. Indeed, we query the very notion of tradition by emphasising how the past has been repeatedly constructed and reconstructed in divergent modern political discourses and conversely how modern political theories and realities have been shaped and reshaped by an idea of antiquity. The Introduction closes with a brief survey of the collected papers.

O pensamento político em Eurípides / Euripides” political thought

No sempre reconhecido realismo euripidiano se inclui um envolvimento político. É notável o elogio a Atenas, seja a seu passado ilustre, seja a seu papel no mundo grego. Entretanto a guerra a que Atenas se atira e que faz enfraquecer a Grécia é condenada, pois a defesa de Atenas, concretizada na defesa de seu regime político, a democracia, não inclui a defesa do imperialismo ateniense. Assim, acima de Eurípides patriota se ergue o Eurípides humanista, preocupado com as responsabilidades do ser humano, não apenas do cidadão. Eurípides’ acknowledge realism includes a political involvement. The eulogy of Athens is remarkable both regarding her illustrious past and her role in the greek world. The war in which Athens is engaged and which weakens Greece, however, is condemned, for Athens’ defense, made real in the defense of her political regime, democracy, does not include the defense of Athenian imperialism. Thus, Euripides the patriot is excelled by Euripides the humanist, who is more concerned with the responsibilities of the human being, than with those of the citizen’s.

El paradigma posfundacional interpelado : Política, democracia e institucionalización para pensar Suramérica hoy

Aquí analizamos los principales postulados del pensamiento político posfundacional, por considerar su enorme productividad para analizar el mundo contemporáneo y, particularmente, el presente de la región suramericana. Postulando la imposibilidad de un fundamento último y la necesariedad de la contingencia, damos cuenta de las nociones de lo político, de representación política (como mecanismo de constitución de identidades), y de democracia, para después debatir el estatus de la hegemonía, el carácter específico del populismo y el lugar que le cabe en la teoría a lo irrepresentable. Finalmente, introducimos la idea del momento institucional de la representación, para así intentar actualizar el paradigma posfundacional interpelado por la situación actual suramericana

El paradigma posfundacional interpelado : Política, democracia e institucionalización para pensar Suramérica hoy

Aquí analizamos los principales postulados del pensamiento político posfundacional, por considerar su enorme productividad para analizar el mundo contemporáneo y, particularmente, el presente de la región suramericana. Postulando la imposibilidad de un fundamento último y la necesariedad de la contingencia, damos cuenta de las nociones de lo político, de representación política (como mecanismo de constitución de identidades), y de democracia, para después debatir el estatus de la hegemonía, el carácter específico del populismo y el lugar que le cabe en la teoría a lo irrepresentable. Finalmente, introducimos la idea del momento institucional de la representación, para así intentar actualizar el paradigma posfundacional interpelado por la situación actual suramericana

El paradigma posfundacional interpelado : Política, democracia e institucionalización para pensar Suramérica hoy

Aquí analizamos los principales postulados del pensamiento político posfundacional, por considerar su enorme productividad para analizar el mundo contemporáneo y, particularmente, el presente de la región suramericana. Postulando la imposibilidad de un fundamento último y la necesariedad de la contingencia, damos cuenta de las nociones de lo político, de representación política (como mecanismo de constitución de identidades), y de democracia, para después debatir el estatus de la hegemonía, el carácter específico del populismo y el lugar que le cabe en la teoría a lo irrepresentable. Finalmente, introducimos la idea del momento institucional de la representación, para así intentar actualizar el paradigma posfundacional interpelado por la situación actual suramericana

Islamic Political Thought: Reviving a Rationalist Tradition

This work develops the foundations of an Islamic argument for secular, liberal democracy from within the Islamic discursive tradition. First, it challenges the presentation of contemporary Islamic political thought as a unified, continuous development of the classical canon by showing the influence of the now marginalized medieval rationalists in the development of Islamic political thought. The classical rationalist concern with divine justice forced the founders of Sunni orthodoxy to state their epistemologies and their positions on ethical ontology. The orthodox positions, and their related methods of legal-juristic reasoning, are shown to be incapable of accommodating the modern Islamic positions on political representation, slavery, and just war. This leads to the second argument of the work, that the modern Islamic discourse is better understood as a reflection of the central concern with justice and its rationalist epistemology and ethical ontology we find in the writings of classical rationalists. This argument is made by examining the works of three classical rationalists, a theologian, a philosopher, and a historian. Their political positions, shaped by their rationalism and concern with justice, challenged their orthodox contemporaries, and provide substantive critiques of the classical political accommodations, methods of politico-legal reasoning, and hence, of modern Islamist political projects. The final chapter reveals how far the mainstream of Islamic political thought has deviated from the classical discourses, since the 19th century, by adopting the language and ideals of the European Enlightenment. This shift is presented as a triumph of classical rationalism over literalism, whose epistemological foundations and ontological implications have yet to be acknowledged and appreciated.

Baruch Spinoza and Western democracy; an interpretation of his philosophical, religious, and political thought.

Mode of access: Internet.

Bernanos, his political thought and prophecy /

Includes bibliographical references.