![Истина и актуалност: бележки към философския проект на Димитър Вацов](/api/image/getissuecoverimage?id=picture_2019_52404.jpg)
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For thousands of years, people have been discussing Freedom Day and night. They think about it, define it in the same way and image, make illusions and nourish hopes, put it in laws and customs, give it an aura of supremacy, divinity, natural, ancestral and moral law. Moreover, I die for her, I suffer for her, I fight for her, I rot for her. But what is freedom, in fact and right? How and by what means can it be known, understood, accessed and, above all, accepted? What is its field of definition and reference? What are its forms of manifestation?
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The idea of a nation-state was conceived in Europe and the ideals of freedom, equality and fraternity (solidarity) are the result of the French Revolution. Today Europe is trying to unite its nation-states on these ideals. The European Union is a unique and original project because it is an attempt to build a union through political and economic institutions between different peoples and nations without having to diminish their power and sovereignty. How can a nation state retain its sovereignty and power in the European Union or in the global context? Market mechanisms have no limits because no borders for capital exist. The mechanisms of social systems still end at the existing, but long-ago outgrown (because of special interests) borders. The European Union wants to make a union but it also wants to retain the nation-state. With this assumption I will attempt to perceive the status of ideas and the experience of (social) solidarity within the EU.
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The author in her article focuses on the views of M. Walzer, encompassed specifically in his works „Spheres of Justice“ – „The Defence of Equality and Pluralism“, and „The Just and Unjust Wars“. The focus is given to equality, pluralism, and justice which represent the main issues considered by the contemporary communitarianism.
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The article examines some of the most common and crucial difficulties involved in the use of the concept of “social capital” for research purposes. Some of the limitations of the concept are subsequently exemplified in the ways in which it has been employed to explain the unwillingness of a large part of the Polish society to participate in the public life. Social scientists have often accounted for this by emphasizing the low level of social capital in Poland, i.e. absence of certain skills necessary for active engagement in public life and/or lack of trust (trust in public institutions as well as towards other people in general). The article argues that such explanations are either obscuring important factors which contributed to this state of affairs or might gloss over the resources of social capital which are present in the Polish society.
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Linking the idea of justice with human dignity through the 'politics of capabilities' is a recent theoretical project advanced by Amartya Sen and Martha Nussbaum and inspired by the shortcomings of Rawls's understanding of justice. Rawls's view on the redistribution of resources or primary goods has nothing to say about someone's capabilities to use these goods, so the idea of capabilities becomes central since it is focused on the way of life a person has a reason to value. The article discusses Sen and Nussbaum's development of the capabilities approach and their criticism of Rawls's fundamental premises about justice. Although the capabilities approach attempts to rectify injustices that Rawls failed to address properly, there are limitations of that approach as well. At the end, it is shown that capabilities are valued in relation to their contribution to the system of production – having more capabilities enhances someone's socio-economic position within the given structure – but this does not question the existing power relations and the very structure that perpetuate inequalities. Hence, the author agrees with the line of criticism that invokes the issue of power relations provided by Vicente Navarro, yet extending this criticism to Rawls's theory of justice for not fundamentally questioning the power relations inherent in the institutions reproducing social injustices.
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The paper traces the genesis of the notion of civilisation and civility and of the interpretation of the differences between them. Relying primarily on theories by Adam Smith, John Millar, and other thinkers, the author presents in the central part of the paper a theoretical and normative distinction between the notions of ‘civility’ and ‘barbarity’. The latter part of the paper discusses the relation between military and civil virtues and identifies the production of fear and crisis of public goods in contemporary societies.
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At its outset, the Romantic ideal of authenticity promised to liberate the Western individual from their conformity and standardization. But what, in theory, seemed to be a promise of individual emancipation, in practice, proved to be a large mechanism of alienation and social leveling. In this paper, which draws its theoretical insight from Critical Theory, I will try to offer a brief sketch of this paradoxical turn of authenticity. By extending some of Adorno’s consideration on the “jargon of authenticity”, I will outline how the contemporary obsession of authenticity subverts a truthful communication and neutralizes the critical potential of nonconformity.
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The new and vibrant field of the epistemology of democracy, or the inquiry about the epistemic justification of democracy as a social system of procedures, institutions, and practices, as a cross-disciplinary endeavour, necessarily encounters both epistemologists and political philosophers. Despite possible complaints that this kind of discussion is either insufficiently epistemological or insufficiently political, my approach explicitly aims to harmonize the political and epistemic justification of democracy. In this article, I tackle some fundamental issues concerning the nature of the epistemic justification of democracy and the best theoretical framework for harmonizing political and epistemic values. I also inquire whether the proposed division of epistemic labour and the inclusion of experts can indeed improve the epistemic quality of decision-making without jeopardizing political justification. More specifically, I argue in favour of three theses. First, not only democratic procedures but also the outcomes of democracy, as a social system, need to be epistemically virtuous. Second, democracy’s epistemic virtues are more than just a tool for achieving political goals. Third, an appropriate division of epistemic labour has to overcome the limitations of both individual and collective intelligence.
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This article is a part of a research project entitled Law as Potency, that, broadly put, investigates the relation between law and ontology. I argue, starting from St. Paul, that an ontological perspective can be understood as the possibility of justice, in a sense of a liberation of the human being. Thus, this paper offers an analysis of the concepts of potency and universality. Even though the term ‘universalism’ is not explicitly mentioned, it is present in St. Paul’s thinking and brought onto its practical consequences. In addition, Spinoza’s reading of St. Paul opens up a possibility to challenge this concept to a concept of modern teleology. Therefore, I discuss the consequences of this confrontation in regard to law, politics and economics. This leads to an articulation of another modernity, where, perhaps, the universal appears as the affirmation of difference.
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Трубадурска маска означава фигуру коју Ниче активира да би се сучелио са властитим временом. Трансформативни капацитети њене несавремености испитивани су из перспективе савремене политичке кризе демократије, коју је бугарски политиколог Иван Крастев препознао као израз све веће кризе поверења у демократски поредак. За разлику од тезе Крастева, овај рад показује да процес апсолутизација поверења одликује путања од религијске вере до антидемократског, ропског потчињавања. Максимализовано поверење води ка тоталитарном поданику, који је неизбежно нем, лишен језика и моћи говора, толико различит од Аристотеловог политичког бића обдареног логосом. Услов демократског субјекта је језички компетентан говорник чије полазиште није у поверењу, него у неповерењу. Утолико корен савременог неповерења није антидемократски, како је тврдио Иван Крастев, него је изразито демократски оријентисан и представља директну последицу отпора тоталитарном култу вође.
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With the outbreak of the Coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic, the international community is forced to face the global health crisis again. Even though, throughout the course of history, the human race has seldom succeeded in getting rid of infectious diseases and global health inequalities completely. Faced with this tragic situation and extreme inequality, some philosophers have put forward some exciting plans, and it is undoubtedly regrettable that Rawls, one of the most outstanding contemporary political philosophers and ethicists, has not addressed this issue in his The Law of Peoples. However, if Rawls wants its philosophical blueprint for the future world – the law of peoples as a “realistic utopia” to be feasible, he has to face the challenges of global health and make a reasonable response. Otherwise, the magnificent building of this “realistic utopia” will collapse. Therefore, the author tries to develop Rawls’ international justice theory by introducing the idea of the right to health into the law of peoples, so as to hopefully provide a feasible philosophical plan to solve the global health problems.
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Kis János: Alkotmányos demokrácia. Kalligram, Budapest, 2019., 576 oldal, 5990 Ft
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The high rate of increase of ruling politicians' wealth has been empirically proven many times. However, in the literature it is almost always assumed that politicians grew rich faster due to political rent-seeking or corruption. The aim of this article is to discuss the assumption whether corruption and rent-seeking is indeed the only possible cause, and to present empirical findings undermining the assumption. The results of the analysis of levels and rate of growth of Polish politicians' wealth clearly show that the other explanation is the selection of people exercising authority. Based on statistical analysis of 2024 asset declarations of 689 councillors from Polish voivodeship assemblies from two terms in the period of 2010–2018, the paper demonstrates that the different rates of changes of the value of assets of coalition and opposition councillors are at least partly the effect of the selection bias.
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