R. M. Hare
- Published in print:
- 2000
- Published Online:
- November 2003
- ISBN:
- 9780198250326
- eISBN:
- 9780191597602
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/0198250320.001.0001
- Subject:
- Philosophy, Moral Philosophy
This book is divided into three parts: in Part I, R. M. Hare offers a justification for the use of philosophy of language in the treatment of moral questions, together with an overview of his moral ...
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This book is divided into three parts: in Part I, R. M. Hare offers a justification for the use of philosophy of language in the treatment of moral questions, together with an overview of his moral philosophy of ‘universal prescriptivism’. The second part, and the core of the book, consists of five chapters originally presented as a lecture series under the title ‘A Taxonomy of Ethical Theories’. Hare identifies descriptivism and non‐descriptivism as the two main positions in modern moral philosophy. The former he divides into Naturalism and Intuitionism, and the latter into Emotivism and Rationalism. Hare argues that all forms of descriptivism tend to lead to Relativism because the truth conditions of moral statements are culturally variant. Of the positions discussed, only Hare's own position, a form of Rationalism, which he calls Universal Prescriptivism, meets all of the requirements that an adequate ethical theory should meet. Part III consists of Hare's previously published essay ‘Could Kant have been a Utilitarian?’ (Utilitas 5, 1993). Here, Hare puts forward the controversial thesis that Kant's moral philosophy is, in its basic principles, compatible with utilitarianism.Less
This book is divided into three parts: in Part I, R. M. Hare offers a justification for the use of philosophy of language in the treatment of moral questions, together with an overview of his moral philosophy of ‘universal prescriptivism’. The second part, and the core of the book, consists of five chapters originally presented as a lecture series under the title ‘A Taxonomy of Ethical Theories’. Hare identifies descriptivism and non‐descriptivism as the two main positions in modern moral philosophy. The former he divides into Naturalism and Intuitionism, and the latter into Emotivism and Rationalism. Hare argues that all forms of descriptivism tend to lead to Relativism because the truth conditions of moral statements are culturally variant. Of the positions discussed, only Hare's own position, a form of Rationalism, which he calls Universal Prescriptivism, meets all of the requirements that an adequate ethical theory should meet. Part III consists of Hare's previously published essay ‘Could Kant have been a Utilitarian?’ (Utilitas 5, 1993). Here, Hare puts forward the controversial thesis that Kant's moral philosophy is, in its basic principles, compatible with utilitarianism.
Martin Hollis
- Published in print:
- 1999
- Published Online:
- November 2003
- ISBN:
- 9780198296102
- eISBN:
- 9780191599583
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/019829610X.003.0002
- Subject:
- Political Science, Political Theory
Martin Hollis (in one of his last writings before his untimely death) opens up the first section, Is Universalism Ethnocentric?, with a fiery defence of Enlightenment universalism and an attack on ...
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Martin Hollis (in one of his last writings before his untimely death) opens up the first section, Is Universalism Ethnocentric?, with a fiery defence of Enlightenment universalism and an attack on the relativist who says ‘Liberalism for the liberals; cannibalism for the cannibals.’ Focusing especially on universal claims about human nature, civil society, and the best forms of government, Hollis argues for a substantive and not merely procedural liberalism as a ‘fighting creed with universalist pretensions’ that can justify ‘robust and sharp‐edged moral declarations’. As Hollis argues, universalism works for minorities too. This is because excluded minorities must show that they have been wrongly excluded; they need a standpoint that is ‘not cognitively arbitrary’ to exclude racists and sexists.Less
Martin Hollis (in one of his last writings before his untimely death) opens up the first section, Is Universalism Ethnocentric?, with a fiery defence of Enlightenment universalism and an attack on the relativist who says ‘Liberalism for the liberals; cannibalism for the cannibals.’ Focusing especially on universal claims about human nature, civil society, and the best forms of government, Hollis argues for a substantive and not merely procedural liberalism as a ‘fighting creed with universalist pretensions’ that can justify ‘robust and sharp‐edged moral declarations’. As Hollis argues, universalism works for minorities too. This is because excluded minorities must show that they have been wrongly excluded; they need a standpoint that is ‘not cognitively arbitrary’ to exclude racists and sexists.
James Underhill
- Published in print:
- 2009
- Published Online:
- September 2012
- ISBN:
- 9780748638420
- eISBN:
- 9780748671809
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Edinburgh University Press
- DOI:
- 10.3366/edinburgh/9780748638420.001.0001
- Subject:
- Linguistics, Theoretical Linguistics
This book investigates the vigorous and inspiring linguistic philosophy of Wilhelm von Humboldt. Many English-speaking authors speak of a ‘Humboldtian tradition’ and associate Humboldt's name with ...
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This book investigates the vigorous and inspiring linguistic philosophy of Wilhelm von Humboldt. Many English-speaking authors speak of a ‘Humboldtian tradition’ and associate Humboldt's name with research into linguistic relativism and the work of Whorf. But few scholars quote Humboldt's writings, and those who do, often prove only that they fail to perceive the great scope of his work and that they are incapable of seizing the essential principles of Humboldt's ethnolinguistic project. Hegel, Chomsky, Crystal and Habermas all try understand Humboldt through the prism of their own approach to language and ideas. The present work, tries to set the record straight, and to demonstrate why Humboldt's linguistic philosophy will take us much farther than the Sapir-Whorf hypothesis. Humboldt's work lays down a challenge to philosophy, which has difficulty in taking into account language as it is created and maintained in the world. At the same time, it represents no less of a challenge to approaches to language which seek to step over individual writing and speech, and speak of ‘language’ in abstraction, or seek the deeper structures of cognition. Humboldt takes us back to the origin of language, speech. His concept of language is supra-subjective. Individuals become individuals through language, through conversation in linguistic communities. At the same time Humboldt takes us back to languages in all their diversity. Finding something universal in that diversity, and something essentially specific in each facet of the universal faculty of language is the twin force of Humboldt's vast synthesis of empirical findings.Less
This book investigates the vigorous and inspiring linguistic philosophy of Wilhelm von Humboldt. Many English-speaking authors speak of a ‘Humboldtian tradition’ and associate Humboldt's name with research into linguistic relativism and the work of Whorf. But few scholars quote Humboldt's writings, and those who do, often prove only that they fail to perceive the great scope of his work and that they are incapable of seizing the essential principles of Humboldt's ethnolinguistic project. Hegel, Chomsky, Crystal and Habermas all try understand Humboldt through the prism of their own approach to language and ideas. The present work, tries to set the record straight, and to demonstrate why Humboldt's linguistic philosophy will take us much farther than the Sapir-Whorf hypothesis. Humboldt's work lays down a challenge to philosophy, which has difficulty in taking into account language as it is created and maintained in the world. At the same time, it represents no less of a challenge to approaches to language which seek to step over individual writing and speech, and speak of ‘language’ in abstraction, or seek the deeper structures of cognition. Humboldt takes us back to the origin of language, speech. His concept of language is supra-subjective. Individuals become individuals through language, through conversation in linguistic communities. At the same time Humboldt takes us back to languages in all their diversity. Finding something universal in that diversity, and something essentially specific in each facet of the universal faculty of language is the twin force of Humboldt's vast synthesis of empirical findings.
Alan Weir
- Published in print:
- 2010
- Published Online:
- January 2011
- ISBN:
- 9780199541492
- eISBN:
- 9780191594915
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199541492.003.0005
- Subject:
- Philosophy, Philosophy of Language, Logic/Philosophy of Mathematics
Relativism is distinguished from pluralism; mathematical theses which are true in some systems but not others are held to express different propositions which different truth values in each. ...
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Relativism is distinguished from pluralism; mathematical theses which are true in some systems but not others are held to express different propositions which different truth values in each. Comparisons are drawn with if-thenism, postulationism, and deductivism. A number of objections are tackled: that proofs need not be formal, that mathematicians believe theses without having proofs, that axiom systems can be inadequate and incomplete, that any consistent sentence counts as a mathematical truth, since it is provable from some system. In response, further comparisons are drawn with neo-logicism, and the role of abstraction principles such as Hume's principle discussed. The superiority of neo-formalism is urged, in the treatment for example of the ‘Julius Caesar problem’ and the problem of pairwise inconsistent abstraction principles. Finally Gödel's incompleteness theorem and the problem of true, but unprovable, Gödel sentences, is raised. A quick response by the neo-formalist is rejected, and the difficulty set aside until the last chapters.Less
Relativism is distinguished from pluralism; mathematical theses which are true in some systems but not others are held to express different propositions which different truth values in each. Comparisons are drawn with if-thenism, postulationism, and deductivism. A number of objections are tackled: that proofs need not be formal, that mathematicians believe theses without having proofs, that axiom systems can be inadequate and incomplete, that any consistent sentence counts as a mathematical truth, since it is provable from some system. In response, further comparisons are drawn with neo-logicism, and the role of abstraction principles such as Hume's principle discussed. The superiority of neo-formalism is urged, in the treatment for example of the ‘Julius Caesar problem’ and the problem of pairwise inconsistent abstraction principles. Finally Gödel's incompleteness theorem and the problem of true, but unprovable, Gödel sentences, is raised. A quick response by the neo-formalist is rejected, and the difficulty set aside until the last chapters.
Carlo Invernizzi Accetti
- Published in print:
- 2015
- Published Online:
- May 2016
- ISBN:
- 9780231170789
- eISBN:
- 9780231540377
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Columbia University Press
- DOI:
- 10.7312/columbia/9780231170789.003.0003
- Subject:
- Philosophy, Political Philosophy
This chapter provides an analytical discussion of some of the salient elements of the contemporary religious discourse of anti-relativism, focusing in particular on the use made of five key terms: ...
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This chapter provides an analytical discussion of some of the salient elements of the contemporary religious discourse of anti-relativism, focusing in particular on the use made of five key terms: relativism, truth, authority, freedom and totalitarianism.Less
This chapter provides an analytical discussion of some of the salient elements of the contemporary religious discourse of anti-relativism, focusing in particular on the use made of five key terms: relativism, truth, authority, freedom and totalitarianism.
Carlo Invernizzi Accetti
- Published in print:
- 2015
- Published Online:
- May 2016
- ISBN:
- 9780231170789
- eISBN:
- 9780231540377
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Columbia University Press
- DOI:
- 10.7312/columbia/9780231170789.003.0005
- Subject:
- Philosophy, Political Philosophy
This chapter advances the thesis that far from constituting a problem for democracy, moral relativism is actually the most solid intellectual foundation for it in the first place, through an analysis ...
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This chapter advances the thesis that far from constituting a problem for democracy, moral relativism is actually the most solid intellectual foundation for it in the first place, through an analysis and discussion of the work of Hans Kelsen.Less
This chapter advances the thesis that far from constituting a problem for democracy, moral relativism is actually the most solid intellectual foundation for it in the first place, through an analysis and discussion of the work of Hans Kelsen.
Gianni Vattimo and Robert T. Valgenti
- Published in print:
- 2016
- Published Online:
- September 2016
- ISBN:
- 9780231166966
- eISBN:
- 9780231536578
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Columbia University Press
- DOI:
- 10.7312/columbia/9780231166966.001.0001
- Subject:
- Philosophy, Metaphysics/Epistemology
We think it is wise to accept reality, rather than fight for something that does not exist or might never be. But in Of Reality, Gianni Vattimo condemns this complacency, with its implicit support of ...
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We think it is wise to accept reality, rather than fight for something that does not exist or might never be. But in Of Reality, Gianni Vattimo condemns this complacency, with its implicit support of the status quo. Instead he urges us to never stop questioning, contrasting, or overcoming reality, which is not natural, inevitable, or objective. Reality is a construct, reflecting, among other things, our greed, biases, and tendencies toward violence. It is no accident, Vattimo argues, that the call to embrace reality has emerged at a time when the inequalities of liberal capitalism are at their most extreme. Developed from his popular Gifford Lectures, this book advances a critical approach that recovers our interpretive powers and native skepticism toward normative claims. Though he recognizes his ideas invite charges of relativism, the philosopher counters with a discussion of truth, highlighting its longstanding ties to history and social circumstance. Truth is always contingent and provisional, and reason and reasonableness are bound to historical context. Truth is therefore never objective, and resistance to reality is our best hope to defeat the indifference that threatens the scope of freedom and democracy.Less
We think it is wise to accept reality, rather than fight for something that does not exist or might never be. But in Of Reality, Gianni Vattimo condemns this complacency, with its implicit support of the status quo. Instead he urges us to never stop questioning, contrasting, or overcoming reality, which is not natural, inevitable, or objective. Reality is a construct, reflecting, among other things, our greed, biases, and tendencies toward violence. It is no accident, Vattimo argues, that the call to embrace reality has emerged at a time when the inequalities of liberal capitalism are at their most extreme. Developed from his popular Gifford Lectures, this book advances a critical approach that recovers our interpretive powers and native skepticism toward normative claims. Though he recognizes his ideas invite charges of relativism, the philosopher counters with a discussion of truth, highlighting its longstanding ties to history and social circumstance. Truth is always contingent and provisional, and reason and reasonableness are bound to historical context. Truth is therefore never objective, and resistance to reality is our best hope to defeat the indifference that threatens the scope of freedom and democracy.
Roy D’ Andrade
- Published in print:
- 2017
- Published Online:
- May 2018
- ISBN:
- 9780226501543
- eISBN:
- 9780226501710
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- University of Chicago Press
- DOI:
- 10.7208/chicago/9780226501710.003.0005
- Subject:
- Anthropology, Anthropology, Theory and Practice
The essay presents a synopsis of quantitative studies of human values across cultural groups and poses a puzzle to be solved. A quantitative study of values reveals very few “East versus West” ...
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The essay presents a synopsis of quantitative studies of human values across cultural groups and poses a puzzle to be solved. A quantitative study of values reveals very few “East versus West” differences in value judgments and great deal of similarity not only in value dimensions (for example, individualism versus collectivism) but also in the rating of particular value items. The results of the study are challenging on a number of levels. On the empirical level, the quantitative results contradict decades of ethnographic research on cultural differences. On a methodological level, these results from survey questionnaires are different than the results from participant observation, leaving uncertainty in the choice of methods. On the theoretical level, if every group’s values are almost identical to every other group, what causes or sustains cultural differences? The finding of value similarity across cultures may seem implausible. But that is what these data show. The essay then considers ways that cultural differences in moral evaluations of behavior and estimations of what is right and wrong in everyday life are compatible with the existence of universal human values.Less
The essay presents a synopsis of quantitative studies of human values across cultural groups and poses a puzzle to be solved. A quantitative study of values reveals very few “East versus West” differences in value judgments and great deal of similarity not only in value dimensions (for example, individualism versus collectivism) but also in the rating of particular value items. The results of the study are challenging on a number of levels. On the empirical level, the quantitative results contradict decades of ethnographic research on cultural differences. On a methodological level, these results from survey questionnaires are different than the results from participant observation, leaving uncertainty in the choice of methods. On the theoretical level, if every group’s values are almost identical to every other group, what causes or sustains cultural differences? The finding of value similarity across cultures may seem implausible. But that is what these data show. The essay then considers ways that cultural differences in moral evaluations of behavior and estimations of what is right and wrong in everyday life are compatible with the existence of universal human values.
Peter Zachar
- Published in print:
- 2014
- Published Online:
- September 2014
- ISBN:
- 9780262027045
- eISBN:
- 9780262322270
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- The MIT Press
- DOI:
- 10.7551/mitpress/9780262027045.003.0008
- Subject:
- Psychology, Clinical Psychology
The nominalist assertion that “psychiatric disorder” is only a name for conditions that psychiatrists decide to treat is unacceptably relativistic. One of the best thought-out attempts to regiment ...
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The nominalist assertion that “psychiatric disorder” is only a name for conditions that psychiatrists decide to treat is unacceptably relativistic. One of the best thought-out attempts to regiment the concept of disorder in response to such relativism is Jerome Wakefield's harmful dysfunction model, which is an explicitly essentialist model. In contrast, the imperfect community model seeks to avoid both the relativism of the traditional nominalist account and the speculative, metaphysical inferences of the essentialist account. The imperfect community refers to the fact that the various symptom configurations that are classified by psychiatrists resemble each other in a number of ways, but there is no property or group of properties that all of them share in common as a class. This non-essentialist model is illustrated by exploring causally related symptom networks as alternatives to the essentialism promulgated by latent variable models.Less
The nominalist assertion that “psychiatric disorder” is only a name for conditions that psychiatrists decide to treat is unacceptably relativistic. One of the best thought-out attempts to regiment the concept of disorder in response to such relativism is Jerome Wakefield's harmful dysfunction model, which is an explicitly essentialist model. In contrast, the imperfect community model seeks to avoid both the relativism of the traditional nominalist account and the speculative, metaphysical inferences of the essentialist account. The imperfect community refers to the fact that the various symptom configurations that are classified by psychiatrists resemble each other in a number of ways, but there is no property or group of properties that all of them share in common as a class. This non-essentialist model is illustrated by exploring causally related symptom networks as alternatives to the essentialism promulgated by latent variable models.
Steven B. Smith
- Published in print:
- 2016
- Published Online:
- January 2017
- ISBN:
- 9780300198393
- eISBN:
- 9780300220988
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Yale University Press
- DOI:
- 10.12987/yale/9780300198393.003.0013
- Subject:
- Philosophy, History of Philosophy
The influence of the Counter-Enlightenment has not been entirely nihilistic and rejectionist. It has deeply influenced Isaiah Berlin, one of the chief apostles of liberal political theory in the ...
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The influence of the Counter-Enlightenment has not been entirely nihilistic and rejectionist. It has deeply influenced Isaiah Berlin, one of the chief apostles of liberal political theory in the twentieth century. Berlin hoped to infuse what he saw as the rationalism and universalism of the Enlightenment with the Counter-Enlightenment’s emphasis on individuality, self-expression, moral diversity or what he called “value pluralism.” These ideas were best expressed by German romantics like Herder but can also be found in writers like Vico, Montesquieu, and Hume. Berlin saw moral and political life as torn between competing and irreconcilable values that applied also to nations and cultures each of which contains morally distinctive ways of life. It was this awareness that not all values are compatible and that life is a matter of choice between competing goods that gives his liberalism both a tragic and a heroic dimension.Less
The influence of the Counter-Enlightenment has not been entirely nihilistic and rejectionist. It has deeply influenced Isaiah Berlin, one of the chief apostles of liberal political theory in the twentieth century. Berlin hoped to infuse what he saw as the rationalism and universalism of the Enlightenment with the Counter-Enlightenment’s emphasis on individuality, self-expression, moral diversity or what he called “value pluralism.” These ideas were best expressed by German romantics like Herder but can also be found in writers like Vico, Montesquieu, and Hume. Berlin saw moral and political life as torn between competing and irreconcilable values that applied also to nations and cultures each of which contains morally distinctive ways of life. It was this awareness that not all values are compatible and that life is a matter of choice between competing goods that gives his liberalism both a tragic and a heroic dimension.
Ben Cislaghi
- Published in print:
- 2018
- Published Online:
- September 2018
- ISBN:
- 9781474419796
- eISBN:
- 9781474445139
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Edinburgh University Press
- DOI:
- 10.3366/edinburgh/9781474419796.003.0002
- Subject:
- Political Science, Political Theory
Advocates for new approaches to development have increasingly called for people-led implementations. However, many models have failed, being both weak in the theory framing them, and in the practice ...
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Advocates for new approaches to development have increasingly called for people-led implementations. However, many models have failed, being both weak in the theory framing them, and in the practice that actualised them in the ground. This chapter weaves together theories to analyse critical flaws in how human rights and human development are enacted in the field. It advocates for human rights education interventions that engage people’s imaginative collaborative potential as they aspire toward the common good. Chapter 2 investigates the challenges of integrating human rights, as international instruments, in the local (especially non-western) setting. It is suggested that Human Rights Education (HRE) can play a key role in their contextualisation. The chapter also explores how individual and collective behaviours are influenced by both cognitive and social factors, drawing on two social science theories, cognitive schema theory and social norms theory. Drawing on key literature on gender and power, the last section offers an analysis of the structural conditions that shape what people think to be possible and achievable; that is: their aspirations and capabilities.Less
Advocates for new approaches to development have increasingly called for people-led implementations. However, many models have failed, being both weak in the theory framing them, and in the practice that actualised them in the ground. This chapter weaves together theories to analyse critical flaws in how human rights and human development are enacted in the field. It advocates for human rights education interventions that engage people’s imaginative collaborative potential as they aspire toward the common good. Chapter 2 investigates the challenges of integrating human rights, as international instruments, in the local (especially non-western) setting. It is suggested that Human Rights Education (HRE) can play a key role in their contextualisation. The chapter also explores how individual and collective behaviours are influenced by both cognitive and social factors, drawing on two social science theories, cognitive schema theory and social norms theory. Drawing on key literature on gender and power, the last section offers an analysis of the structural conditions that shape what people think to be possible and achievable; that is: their aspirations and capabilities.
Noëlle Vahanian
- Published in print:
- 2014
- Published Online:
- September 2014
- ISBN:
- 9780823256952
- eISBN:
- 9780823261444
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Fordham University Press
- DOI:
- 10.5422/fordham/9780823256952.003.0006
- Subject:
- Religion, Theology
This chapter distinguishes between two ways to believe in an age of relativism and postmodernism. The first form smacks of fideism, and it is without any other cause besides that of naï ...
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This chapter distinguishes between two ways to believe in an age of relativism and postmodernism. The first form smacks of fideism, and it is without any other cause besides that of naï self-fulfillment. Part of the cult of the self, its expression is “think positive” and its content is self-entitlement. It is an uncomplicated form of belief that has great currency in a consumer-oriented society. A prime example can been seen in the movie Polar Express. The apologue of this major production was that any dream will come true so long as one believes that it will. Hence, this form of belief is also relativistic. The second form of belief is properly postmodern in that its aim is to view the real in the imaginary. The movie Finding Neverland exemplifies this form of belief. Based on the life of J. M. Barrie, the author of Peter Pan, the movie conflates real life events with imaginary storylines to take the heroine to Neverland or to her death. In this way, the imagination provokes and sustains the distanciation between the subject and her fantasy and brings the real of facticity to the fore by way of an imaginary trope.Less
This chapter distinguishes between two ways to believe in an age of relativism and postmodernism. The first form smacks of fideism, and it is without any other cause besides that of naï self-fulfillment. Part of the cult of the self, its expression is “think positive” and its content is self-entitlement. It is an uncomplicated form of belief that has great currency in a consumer-oriented society. A prime example can been seen in the movie Polar Express. The apologue of this major production was that any dream will come true so long as one believes that it will. Hence, this form of belief is also relativistic. The second form of belief is properly postmodern in that its aim is to view the real in the imaginary. The movie Finding Neverland exemplifies this form of belief. Based on the life of J. M. Barrie, the author of Peter Pan, the movie conflates real life events with imaginary storylines to take the heroine to Neverland or to her death. In this way, the imagination provokes and sustains the distanciation between the subject and her fantasy and brings the real of facticity to the fore by way of an imaginary trope.
Nicholas Tampio
- Published in print:
- 2012
- Published Online:
- January 2013
- ISBN:
- 9780823245000
- eISBN:
- 9780823250707
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Fordham University Press
- DOI:
- 10.5422/fordham/9780823245000.003.0006
- Subject:
- Philosophy, Political Philosophy
The conclusion reviews the historical debate about the meaning of autonomy to enter the contemporary one. Many contemporary Kantians seek to counter the charge of relativism or nihilism by ...
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The conclusion reviews the historical debate about the meaning of autonomy to enter the contemporary one. Many contemporary Kantians seek to counter the charge of relativism or nihilism by maintaining that Kant provides a true account of morality for imperfectly rational being such as ourselves. The problem with this approach is that it freezes Kantianism—and the Enlightenment—in its original eighteenth-century form. The task of autonomy requires those inspired by Kant's writings to think creatively about how to welcome new religious constituencies into the twenty-first century Enlightenment.Less
The conclusion reviews the historical debate about the meaning of autonomy to enter the contemporary one. Many contemporary Kantians seek to counter the charge of relativism or nihilism by maintaining that Kant provides a true account of morality for imperfectly rational being such as ourselves. The problem with this approach is that it freezes Kantianism—and the Enlightenment—in its original eighteenth-century form. The task of autonomy requires those inspired by Kant's writings to think creatively about how to welcome new religious constituencies into the twenty-first century Enlightenment.
David Ellis
- Published in print:
- 2013
- Published Online:
- January 2014
- ISBN:
- 9781846318894
- eISBN:
- 9781846318023
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Liverpool University Press
- DOI:
- 10.5949/liverpool/9781846318894.003.0019
- Subject:
- Literature, Criticism/Theory
Leavis would frequently recall how Wittgenstein had charged him with having more character than intelligence. Ellis ponders how much character he did in fact need as the effects of consumer ...
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Leavis would frequently recall how Wittgenstein had charged him with having more character than intelligence. Ellis ponders how much character he did in fact need as the effects of consumer capitalism which he and many others had identified in the 1920s become irresistibly predominant. They caused his cultural criticism to appear increasingly irrelevant, and the literary critical discrimination he believed in was undermined by a general spirit of relativism in philosophy which made the Oxford don's rebuke to Graves for preferring one book to another seem more avant-garde that it was meant to be at the time. Squeezed between literary scholarship and cultural study, the concept of English as a subject with literary criticism at its centre became difficult to maintain. And yet (Ellis concludes) it is that essentially Leavisian notion which provides the best insurance against the subject's descent into functional autonomy.Less
Leavis would frequently recall how Wittgenstein had charged him with having more character than intelligence. Ellis ponders how much character he did in fact need as the effects of consumer capitalism which he and many others had identified in the 1920s become irresistibly predominant. They caused his cultural criticism to appear increasingly irrelevant, and the literary critical discrimination he believed in was undermined by a general spirit of relativism in philosophy which made the Oxford don's rebuke to Graves for preferring one book to another seem more avant-garde that it was meant to be at the time. Squeezed between literary scholarship and cultural study, the concept of English as a subject with literary criticism at its centre became difficult to maintain. And yet (Ellis concludes) it is that essentially Leavisian notion which provides the best insurance against the subject's descent into functional autonomy.
Saida Hodžić
- Published in print:
- 2016
- Published Online:
- September 2017
- ISBN:
- 9780520291980
- eISBN:
- 9780520965577
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- University of California Press
- DOI:
- 10.1525/california/9780520291980.003.0001
- Subject:
- Anthropology, African Cultural Anthropology
Introduction: Governmentality Against Itself lays out the book’s overarching arguments and analytical contributions to anthropology and feminist theory. Rather than debating how “we” as Western ...
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Introduction: Governmentality Against Itself lays out the book’s overarching arguments and analytical contributions to anthropology and feminist theory. Rather than debating how “we” as Western subjects should think about cutting, this book attends to the political concerns and ethical dilemmas of Ghanaian and other African women and men who are most engaged in and affected by the efforts to end and regulate cutting. It addresses two questions: Are efforts to end female genital cutting a problem, and if so, what kind of a problem are they and for whom? For whom is the ending of cutting a problem and why? I redefine answers to these two questions from the perspectives of Ghanaian lifeworlds rather than liberal debates about FGM. In Ghana, cutting has been ending in many districts, and dramatically so in areas where sustained, decades-long campaigns have taken place. The waning of cutting has been accompanied by critical responses to the colonial order of things and its afterlives in the liberal governance of everyday life. These critiques are voiced not in public protests or debates but in a different key: in indirect speech and in practices of living. They gather their force from sensibilities (that is entanglements of thought, affect, and habitus) formed at the interstices of social and governmental logics, and in consonance with tacit principles on which society is built, such as the ethics of relationality and mutual responsibility.Less
Introduction: Governmentality Against Itself lays out the book’s overarching arguments and analytical contributions to anthropology and feminist theory. Rather than debating how “we” as Western subjects should think about cutting, this book attends to the political concerns and ethical dilemmas of Ghanaian and other African women and men who are most engaged in and affected by the efforts to end and regulate cutting. It addresses two questions: Are efforts to end female genital cutting a problem, and if so, what kind of a problem are they and for whom? For whom is the ending of cutting a problem and why? I redefine answers to these two questions from the perspectives of Ghanaian lifeworlds rather than liberal debates about FGM. In Ghana, cutting has been ending in many districts, and dramatically so in areas where sustained, decades-long campaigns have taken place. The waning of cutting has been accompanied by critical responses to the colonial order of things and its afterlives in the liberal governance of everyday life. These critiques are voiced not in public protests or debates but in a different key: in indirect speech and in practices of living. They gather their force from sensibilities (that is entanglements of thought, affect, and habitus) formed at the interstices of social and governmental logics, and in consonance with tacit principles on which society is built, such as the ethics of relationality and mutual responsibility.
Patrick Shade and John Lachs
- Published in print:
- 2014
- Published Online:
- September 2014
- ISBN:
- 9780823256747
- eISBN:
- 9780823261390
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Fordham University Press
- DOI:
- 10.5422/fordham/9780823256747.003.0016
- Subject:
- Philosophy, American Philosophy
Lachs argues that belief in the uniformity of human nature underlies dogmatism about absolute values. He rejects this view since he finds that the natures of individuals vary. Values are relative not ...
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Lachs argues that belief in the uniformity of human nature underlies dogmatism about absolute values. He rejects this view since he finds that the natures of individuals vary. Values are relative not to individuals’ thoughts and feelings but to their natures. This form of relativism does not lead to anarchy, however, since natures are similar and compatible enough to make social organizations possible, even if their overlaps do not constitute or consist in a uniform essence. Relativism has the chief advantage of promoting human liberty so that individuals can pursue their unique forms of perfection.Less
Lachs argues that belief in the uniformity of human nature underlies dogmatism about absolute values. He rejects this view since he finds that the natures of individuals vary. Values are relative not to individuals’ thoughts and feelings but to their natures. This form of relativism does not lead to anarchy, however, since natures are similar and compatible enough to make social organizations possible, even if their overlaps do not constitute or consist in a uniform essence. Relativism has the chief advantage of promoting human liberty so that individuals can pursue their unique forms of perfection.
Matthew S. LoPresti
- Published in print:
- 2013
- Published Online:
- January 2014
- ISBN:
- 9780823251551
- eISBN:
- 9780823252985
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Fordham University Press
- DOI:
- 10.5422/fordham/9780823251551.003.0006
- Subject:
- Philosophy, Philosophy of Religion
This chapter explores theopoetics and the question of relativity, critically reflecting on the role of theopoetics in philosophy. Addressing whether or not theopoetics can be termed a relativistic ...
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This chapter explores theopoetics and the question of relativity, critically reflecting on the role of theopoetics in philosophy. Addressing whether or not theopoetics can be termed a relativistic endeavor and whether or not Whitehead's particular theopoetic notions make for sound philosophy, the author ultimately highlights the ways in which theopoetics sparks imaginative insights in loci where orthodoxy has led to stagnation. Along the way, the chapter assesses theopoetics’ ability to speak to and from a variety of religious positions, including eastern religious perspectives. The chapter concludes with an appraisal of Whitehead's statement that God is the poet of the world, noting the significance and creativity of the divine-human relation and the value of transformative thinking that emerges from Whitehead's invocation.Less
This chapter explores theopoetics and the question of relativity, critically reflecting on the role of theopoetics in philosophy. Addressing whether or not theopoetics can be termed a relativistic endeavor and whether or not Whitehead's particular theopoetic notions make for sound philosophy, the author ultimately highlights the ways in which theopoetics sparks imaginative insights in loci where orthodoxy has led to stagnation. Along the way, the chapter assesses theopoetics’ ability to speak to and from a variety of religious positions, including eastern religious perspectives. The chapter concludes with an appraisal of Whitehead's statement that God is the poet of the world, noting the significance and creativity of the divine-human relation and the value of transformative thinking that emerges from Whitehead's invocation.
Christopher Prior
- Published in print:
- 2013
- Published Online:
- May 2013
- ISBN:
- 9780719083686
- eISBN:
- 9781781704998
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Manchester University Press
- DOI:
- 10.7228/manchester/9780719083686.003.0002
- Subject:
- History, Imperialism and Colonialism
This chapter considers metropolitan attitudes and ideas about Africa and empire to which officials were exposed, both via formal training, and British culture more broadly. Such training was marked ...
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This chapter considers metropolitan attitudes and ideas about Africa and empire to which officials were exposed, both via formal training, and British culture more broadly. Such training was marked by a lack of specificity and an unwillingness on the part of those being trained to engage with the material. Nevertheless, that officials were exposed to imprecise ideas does not mean that officials registered in such ideas an irreconcilable tension between universalistic reform and a relativistic conservation of an African status quo. Officials learnt to love the empire without learning how.Less
This chapter considers metropolitan attitudes and ideas about Africa and empire to which officials were exposed, both via formal training, and British culture more broadly. Such training was marked by a lack of specificity and an unwillingness on the part of those being trained to engage with the material. Nevertheless, that officials were exposed to imprecise ideas does not mean that officials registered in such ideas an irreconcilable tension between universalistic reform and a relativistic conservation of an African status quo. Officials learnt to love the empire without learning how.
Federico Lenzerini
- Published in print:
- 2014
- Published Online:
- April 2014
- ISBN:
- 9780199664283
- eISBN:
- 9780191748479
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199664283.001.0001
- Subject:
- Law, Human Rights and Immigration, Public International Law
This book has the purpose of investigating the impact played by culture in the contemporary dynamics of human rights. It offers a reconceptualization of the debate of universalism vs. cultural ...
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This book has the purpose of investigating the impact played by culture in the contemporary dynamics of human rights. It offers a reconceptualization of the debate of universalism vs. cultural relativism and explores how the affirmation of a culturally-driven approach has shaped the recent development of international human rights law. Today custodians of human rights, especially international monitoring bodies, try to advance the effectiveness of human rights standards by interpreting, adjudicating, and enforcing them through taking into due account the cultural specificities and needs of the different human communities. By means of the use of elements of cultural identities and cultural diversity as parameters for the interpretation, adjudication, and enforcement of human rights standards, the latter are evolving from the traditional strictly ‘universal’ idea to a ‘multi-cultural’ one, whereby rights are interpreted in a dynamic manner, responding to the particular needs of the relevant communities and individuals. As a result different meanings can be attributed to the same human rights standards by adapting them to the cultural needs of the persons and—especially—communities specifically concerned. This method is today extensively used and accepted in the context of international practice, even outside the human rights field. Culturalization of human rights law does not only maximize effectiveness of human rights standards, but also promotes the stability of inter-cultural relations and, ultimately, peace. At the same time, a basic cluster of human rights universalism remains necessary, representing the minimum content of the global social agreement uniting all members of the international community.Less
This book has the purpose of investigating the impact played by culture in the contemporary dynamics of human rights. It offers a reconceptualization of the debate of universalism vs. cultural relativism and explores how the affirmation of a culturally-driven approach has shaped the recent development of international human rights law. Today custodians of human rights, especially international monitoring bodies, try to advance the effectiveness of human rights standards by interpreting, adjudicating, and enforcing them through taking into due account the cultural specificities and needs of the different human communities. By means of the use of elements of cultural identities and cultural diversity as parameters for the interpretation, adjudication, and enforcement of human rights standards, the latter are evolving from the traditional strictly ‘universal’ idea to a ‘multi-cultural’ one, whereby rights are interpreted in a dynamic manner, responding to the particular needs of the relevant communities and individuals. As a result different meanings can be attributed to the same human rights standards by adapting them to the cultural needs of the persons and—especially—communities specifically concerned. This method is today extensively used and accepted in the context of international practice, even outside the human rights field. Culturalization of human rights law does not only maximize effectiveness of human rights standards, but also promotes the stability of inter-cultural relations and, ultimately, peace. At the same time, a basic cluster of human rights universalism remains necessary, representing the minimum content of the global social agreement uniting all members of the international community.
Katja Maria Vogt
- Published in print:
- 2017
- Published Online:
- August 2017
- ISBN:
- 9780190692476
- eISBN:
- 9780190692506
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/oso/9780190692476.003.0004
- Subject:
- Philosophy, Ancient Philosophy, Moral Philosophy
Chapter 4 rethinks Protagoras’s Measure Doctrine from a non-relativist, realist perspective. It coins the term Measure Realism, according to which human beings are the measure of what is good for ...
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Chapter 4 rethinks Protagoras’s Measure Doctrine from a non-relativist, realist perspective. It coins the term Measure Realism, according to which human beings are the measure of what is good for them. This proposal is developed via a series of arguments against contemporary Truth Relativism and against a purely epistemic notion of standards of assessment. Human beings, it is argued, are the measure in a metaphysical way: qua the beings we are, we are the standard that is needed in ethical theory. It also makes sense to ask “what is the good for animals?” and “what is the good for the universe?” And it makes sense to imagine better cognizers than us, aiming to supersede what appear to be our limitations. Still, ethical theorizing examines how we are to live as human beings, which includes concern with the good of other beings and how we should aim to be better cognizers and agents.Less
Chapter 4 rethinks Protagoras’s Measure Doctrine from a non-relativist, realist perspective. It coins the term Measure Realism, according to which human beings are the measure of what is good for them. This proposal is developed via a series of arguments against contemporary Truth Relativism and against a purely epistemic notion of standards of assessment. Human beings, it is argued, are the measure in a metaphysical way: qua the beings we are, we are the standard that is needed in ethical theory. It also makes sense to ask “what is the good for animals?” and “what is the good for the universe?” And it makes sense to imagine better cognizers than us, aiming to supersede what appear to be our limitations. Still, ethical theorizing examines how we are to live as human beings, which includes concern with the good of other beings and how we should aim to be better cognizers and agents.
