4.50 €
Keywords: emancipation; diversity; inclusion; human rights; pluralism
The essay analyses the idea of emancipation and diversity, also presenting their mutual symbolic connections. The axis of analysis is the juxtaposition of understanding of emancipation with the continuum of diversity. This allows us to broaden the universalistic interpretative potential of the idea of emancipation and to relate it to individuals and groups that are marginalised and politically excluded.
More...
Keywords: political myth; collective identity; republican tradition; political rhetoric
The article’s thesis is that the political myth finds its proper meaning in the republican dictionary. The myth founds a specific political community and its way of self-understanding. It becomes a story about the origins and sources, and thus – a story that shapes the collective identity. Political myths contain symbolic representations of power, justifying present or postulated relations in the realm of politics. Usually, myth is viewed as the opposite of reason. This way of thinking has a very long history. Already the Greeks contrasted logos and mythos. The most famous creator of political myths – Plato – considered the myth a rhetorical tool complementing the rational argument. A similar albeit radicalised approach was continued in the Enlightenment, dismissing myth as the primary consciousness that should give way to true knowledge on the path of progress. In the nineteenth century, interest in the myth returned. However, it was often accompanied by various opinions – from highly negative to positive, becaus eemotions were recognised as an essential element in a political message. At the same time, however, another tradition of political mythology developed, which made reference to the republican dictionary and was related to the narrative approach to identity. The myth pointed to the uniqueness of the political community. It revealed the individual character of the community, and its special features were associated with authority and political tradition.
More...
Keywords: Émile Durkheim; Jürgen Habermas; Leszek Kołakowski; religion; secularisation; postsecular society; linguistification of the sacred; Max Weber
The ‘linguistification of the sacred’ belongs to the most overlooked concepts in the whole body of theory by Jürgen Habermas. First introduced in his seminal work Theory of Communicative Action, it reappears in Habermas’s later writings, especially after the so-called ‘post-secular turn’ in his thought. The article aims to trace this concept’s development and shed some light on the shifting functions it seems to perform in Habermas’s theorising. Furthermore, it juxtaposes Habermas’s later understanding of ‘linguistification of the sacred’ with the account of religion and the sacred developed by Polish philosopher Leszek Kołakowski.
More...
Keywords: myths; symbols; politics; magical thinking; ideology; legitimacy; idealism
American political mythology is viewed here from a functional perspective – as one of the elements legitimising the political system. In compound societies, the primary function of political mythology and accompanying political rituals, as components of symbolic politics, is to contribute to constructing the political community. The power of political mythology stems from the human preponderance to engage in magical thinking as a product of certain socio-economic circumstances. The text presents a typology of political myths in relation to the character of democracy, shows their relevance to critical political institutions and practices, and explains the role they play in legitimising the American political system.
More...
Keywords: city upon a hill; New Troy; American Aeneas; Northern States; Southern States; Gnosticism; Southern Agrarians
The figure of a ‘City upon a Hill’ (New Jerusalem) occupies a distinctive position in the system of symbolic images characterising the American republic. It provides a crucial interpretative key for the American political project. The vast literature on this subject leads many scholars to a misperception: they tend to project the Puritan mindset, typical for New England, upon the entire English colonisation in America and, while doing so, overlook the diversity of the American political tradition as well as the fundamental role played by regions in shaping a complex identity of the burgeoning American society. This paper presents an alternative and lesser-known concept of America as a New Troy and captain John Smith as an American Aeneas, which emerged in the Southern colonies soon after the establishment of Jamestown. The figure of New Troy contains a semantic field which implicates the interpretation of American political tradition in the alternative or even antithetic terms to that of New Jerusalem. The teleocratic, highly moralistic and, according to some scholars, even gnostic concept of the ‘republic of saints’ was contrasted by Southerners with the conservative vision of a nomocratic political order, sanctioned by tradition and dedicated to the preservation of the status quo. This paper argues that by discussing and contrasting both visions, we can better understand the cultural roots of specific fundamental differences in the mindsets of Americans living in different regions of the United States, both from a historical and contemporary perspective.
More...
Keywords: Thomas Hobbes; Leviathan; frontispiece; soul-fishing; political religion
The figure of Leviathan makes the title of the most important political treatise written by Thomas Hobbes. Why then this figure seems to be absent in the famous introductory picture to the philosopher’s work? This essay aims to extricate various meanings of Leviathan hidden in the right flank of this book’s frontispiece.
More...
Keywords: politics; philosophy; Plato; idea; metaphor
The question of a rational attitude to the world of politics has been with us since the ancient beginnings of philosophy and makes us reflect today. Is the philosopher’s view of the political reality more penetrating, and is his judgment more balanced than the views of ordinary people? It is worth looking at one of the first answers to this question – a metaphorical answer which, due to the complex and labile nature of the political matter, not so much solves the issue but instead gives food for thought and invites thinking. Starting from the image of the cave outlined by Plato in Book 7 of his Politeia, this text tries to shed some light on the role and fate of the philosopher engaged in political thinking.
More...
Keywords: freedom; truth; science; theory; practice; politics; economics
The paper undertakes the problem of the relationship between academic freedom and the pursuit of cognition of truth. The question of the freedom of science appears for the first time in the writings of Aristotle, who associates the freedom of cognition with its ‘non-utility’, i.e. the absence of goals that treat cognition instrumentally, and with the freedom of the researcher from the influence of non-scientific factors (e.g. pressure of power, economic interests). In Aristotle’s opinion, practical and productive sciences are more necessary but less worthy. In Plato’s understanding, the freedom of science is closely related to the freedom from the obligation to deal with politics. The author analyses to what extent these concepts of academic freedom are valid and realised today. This is done in relation to the way the four classical faculties function and the ‘fifth faculty’, i.e. the natural sciences. The current relationship between science and politics is also examined in more detail.
More...