Samuel Scheffler
- Published in print:
- 2002
- Published Online:
- November 2003
- ISBN:
- 9780199257676
- eISBN:
- 9780191600197
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/0199257671.003.0012
- Subject:
- Political Science, Political Theory
In Ethics and the Limits of Philosophy, Bernard Williams criticizes the ‘morality system’ and the associated philosophical enterprise of constructing ethical theories. Williams argues that we would ...
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In Ethics and the Limits of Philosophy, Bernard Williams criticizes the ‘morality system’ and the associated philosophical enterprise of constructing ethical theories. Williams argues that we would be better off replacing the ‘thin’ concepts favoured by the morality system and its theorists, concepts such as ‘right’ and ‘good’, with ‘thick’ concepts of the sort that were prevalent in the ethical thought of ancient Greece, such as ‘courage’ and ‘treachery’. In this critical essay, Scheffler presents several arguments against Williams's view; among them is the argument that the distinction between thick and thin concepts is not a clear one, and that the elimination of ethical theory would leave Williams without adequate conceptual resources to engage in the kind of social criticism that he himself regards as necessary.Less
In Ethics and the Limits of Philosophy, Bernard Williams criticizes the ‘morality system’ and the associated philosophical enterprise of constructing ethical theories. Williams argues that we would be better off replacing the ‘thin’ concepts favoured by the morality system and its theorists, concepts such as ‘right’ and ‘good’, with ‘thick’ concepts of the sort that were prevalent in the ethical thought of ancient Greece, such as ‘courage’ and ‘treachery’. In this critical essay, Scheffler presents several arguments against Williams's view; among them is the argument that the distinction between thick and thin concepts is not a clear one, and that the elimination of ethical theory would leave Williams without adequate conceptual resources to engage in the kind of social criticism that he himself regards as necessary.
D. C. Greetham
- Published in print:
- 1999
- Published Online:
- October 2011
- ISBN:
- 9780198119937
- eISBN:
- 9780191671265
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780198119937.003.0010
- Subject:
- Literature, Criticism/Theory
This chapter focuses on the changing status of the sociology of text during the last decade or so to show that textual theory and practice reflect the prevailing cultural dominants. It further ...
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This chapter focuses on the changing status of the sociology of text during the last decade or so to show that textual theory and practice reflect the prevailing cultural dominants. It further discusses the evolution of text in relation to the societal evolution and in light of the various social theories. Eclecticism was described as a cognitive system of representation, whereby the subject – in this case both the editor and the reader of the edition – freely internalized an appropriate ‘picture’ of the phenomenological and cultural world. Ideology in this sense of a mode of cognition shared by a culture is obviously much more effective as a shaper of behaviour and thought than a system of legal constraints would be. The chapter also points out exemplary moments in the history of Marxist thought where the concerns of textuality as understood by editors and textual scholars finds significant expression, as well as a discussion of social textual criticism.Less
This chapter focuses on the changing status of the sociology of text during the last decade or so to show that textual theory and practice reflect the prevailing cultural dominants. It further discusses the evolution of text in relation to the societal evolution and in light of the various social theories. Eclecticism was described as a cognitive system of representation, whereby the subject – in this case both the editor and the reader of the edition – freely internalized an appropriate ‘picture’ of the phenomenological and cultural world. Ideology in this sense of a mode of cognition shared by a culture is obviously much more effective as a shaper of behaviour and thought than a system of legal constraints would be. The chapter also points out exemplary moments in the history of Marxist thought where the concerns of textuality as understood by editors and textual scholars finds significant expression, as well as a discussion of social textual criticism.
Jason C Bivins
- Published in print:
- 2008
- Published Online:
- September 2008
- ISBN:
- 9780195340815
- eISBN:
- 9780199867158
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195340815.001.0001
- Subject:
- Religion, Religion and Society
This book investigates American political religions by studying how conservative evangelical political orientations are shaped and spread by pop cultural narratives of fear and horror. This book ...
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This book investigates American political religions by studying how conservative evangelical political orientations are shaped and spread by pop cultural narratives of fear and horror. This book takes an interdisciplinary approach to what it calls the “religion of fear”, a form of religious social criticism produced and sustained in evangelical engagements with pop culture. The book's cases include Jack Chick's cartoon tracts, anti‐metal and anti‐rap preaching, the Halloween dramas known as Hell Houses, and Left Behind novels. By situating them in their sociopolitical contexts and drawing out their creators' motivations, the book locates in these entertainments a highly politicized worldview comprising evangelical piety, the aesthetics of genre horror, a narrative of American decline, and a combative approach to public politics. The book also proposes its own theoretical categories for explaining the cases: the Erotics of Fear and the Demonology Within. What does it say about American public life that such ideas of fearful religion and violent politics have become normalized? The book engages this question critically, establishing links and resonances between the cultural politics of evangelical pop, the activism of the New Christian Right, and the political exhaustion facing American democracy.Less
This book investigates American political religions by studying how conservative evangelical political orientations are shaped and spread by pop cultural narratives of fear and horror. This book takes an interdisciplinary approach to what it calls the “religion of fear”, a form of religious social criticism produced and sustained in evangelical engagements with pop culture. The book's cases include Jack Chick's cartoon tracts, anti‐metal and anti‐rap preaching, the Halloween dramas known as Hell Houses, and Left Behind novels. By situating them in their sociopolitical contexts and drawing out their creators' motivations, the book locates in these entertainments a highly politicized worldview comprising evangelical piety, the aesthetics of genre horror, a narrative of American decline, and a combative approach to public politics. The book also proposes its own theoretical categories for explaining the cases: the Erotics of Fear and the Demonology Within. What does it say about American public life that such ideas of fearful religion and violent politics have become normalized? The book engages this question critically, establishing links and resonances between the cultural politics of evangelical pop, the activism of the New Christian Right, and the political exhaustion facing American democracy.
Jason C. Bivins
- Published in print:
- 2008
- Published Online:
- September 2008
- ISBN:
- 9780195340815
- eISBN:
- 9780199867158
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195340815.003.0001
- Subject:
- Religion, Religion and Society
The book's introduction describe the image of “Scary Jesus,” which prompted a shift in approach to American political religions from one rooted in conventional studies of protest and government to ...
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The book's introduction describe the image of “Scary Jesus,” which prompted a shift in approach to American political religions from one rooted in conventional studies of protest and government to one oriented around cultural politics and representation. The chapter explores the way in which popular discourse and imagery can be manipulated for political purposes, and specifically engages the efficacy of tales of fright and horror in these endeavors. The chapter surveys standard approaches to religion and politics, and — drawing on multiple disciplines — proposes to move beyond standard approaches to “church and state” or “civil religion”. The chapter concludes by proposing two new terms — the Erotics of Fear and the Demonology Within — for thinking about the Religion of Fear.Less
The book's introduction describe the image of “Scary Jesus,” which prompted a shift in approach to American political religions from one rooted in conventional studies of protest and government to one oriented around cultural politics and representation. The chapter explores the way in which popular discourse and imagery can be manipulated for political purposes, and specifically engages the efficacy of tales of fright and horror in these endeavors. The chapter surveys standard approaches to religion and politics, and — drawing on multiple disciplines — proposes to move beyond standard approaches to “church and state” or “civil religion”. The chapter concludes by proposing two new terms — the Erotics of Fear and the Demonology Within — for thinking about the Religion of Fear.
Jason C. Bivins
- Published in print:
- 2008
- Published Online:
- September 2008
- ISBN:
- 9780195340815
- eISBN:
- 9780199867158
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195340815.003.0007
- Subject:
- Religion, Religion and Society
The book's conclusion draws together the cases, exploring their similarities and differences. The bulk of the chapter focuses on the meanings of the religion of fear's politics, shown both in the way ...
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The book's conclusion draws together the cases, exploring their similarities and differences. The bulk of the chapter focuses on the meanings of the religion of fear's politics, shown both in the way this discourse parallels the long‐standing activism of the New Christian Right and in the way it resonates with the culture of political decline and hostility in the United States. The chapter explores the limits of available literature on political religions — that produced by academics and also by public commentators — and encourages scholars of religion to engage their subjects more critically and politically.Less
The book's conclusion draws together the cases, exploring their similarities and differences. The bulk of the chapter focuses on the meanings of the religion of fear's politics, shown both in the way this discourse parallels the long‐standing activism of the New Christian Right and in the way it resonates with the culture of political decline and hostility in the United States. The chapter explores the limits of available literature on political religions — that produced by academics and also by public commentators — and encourages scholars of religion to engage their subjects more critically and politically.
S. A. Skinner
- Published in print:
- 2004
- Published Online:
- January 2010
- ISBN:
- 9780199273232
- eISBN:
- 9780191706394
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199273232.003.0001
- Subject:
- History, British and Irish Early Modern History
This book challenges conventional assumptions of tractarianism as an episode in church history and rejects the notion that tractarians had little interest in social questions. It argues that, by a ...
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This book challenges conventional assumptions of tractarianism as an episode in church history and rejects the notion that tractarians had little interest in social questions. It argues that, by a natural application of their assumptions of the church's primacy over the state, first-generation tractarians directed a vigorous commentary to the ‘condition of England’ question. The book makes systematic use of two neglected, though rich, polemical sources. The first is the British Critic, a quarterly periodical for whose editorial control John Henry Newman successfully manoeuvred in the late 1830s and which served as tractarianism's house magazine between 1838 and 1843. The second is the canon of social novels issued by some of the movement's prolific yet forgotten adherents, in particular William Gresley and Francis Edward Paget. This book shows that social criticism was neither a marginal nor latent but an organic element of first-generation tractarianism, one aggressively articulated across a broad polemical front. By focusing on the confessional politics and ecclesiastical paternalism disclosed by tractarian commentary, this book aims to help redress a historiographical imbalance.Less
This book challenges conventional assumptions of tractarianism as an episode in church history and rejects the notion that tractarians had little interest in social questions. It argues that, by a natural application of their assumptions of the church's primacy over the state, first-generation tractarians directed a vigorous commentary to the ‘condition of England’ question. The book makes systematic use of two neglected, though rich, polemical sources. The first is the British Critic, a quarterly periodical for whose editorial control John Henry Newman successfully manoeuvred in the late 1830s and which served as tractarianism's house magazine between 1838 and 1843. The second is the canon of social novels issued by some of the movement's prolific yet forgotten adherents, in particular William Gresley and Francis Edward Paget. This book shows that social criticism was neither a marginal nor latent but an organic element of first-generation tractarianism, one aggressively articulated across a broad polemical front. By focusing on the confessional politics and ecclesiastical paternalism disclosed by tractarian commentary, this book aims to help redress a historiographical imbalance.
Hugh Grady
- Published in print:
- 1996
- Published Online:
- October 2011
- ISBN:
- 9780198130048
- eISBN:
- 9780191671906
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780198130048.001.0001
- Subject:
- Literature, Shakespeare Studies
William Shakespeare was neither a Royalist defender of order and hierarchy nor a consistently radical champion of social equality, but rather simultaneously radical ...
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William Shakespeare was neither a Royalist defender of order and hierarchy nor a consistently radical champion of social equality, but rather simultaneously radical and conservative as a critic of emerging forms of modernity. This book argues that Shakespeare's social criticism in fact often parallels that of critics of modernity from our own Postmodernist era: that the broad analysis of modernity produced by Karl Marx, Max Horkheimer, Theodor W. Adorno, Michel Foucault, and others can serve as a productive enabling representation and critique of the emerging modernity represented by the image in Troilus and Cressida of ‘an universal wolf’ of appetite, power, and will. The readings in this book demonstrate Shakespeare's keen interest in what twentieth-century theory has called ‘reification’ — a term that designates social systems created by human societies, but that confronts those societies as operating beyond human control, according to an autonomous ‘systems’ logic — in nascent mercantile capitalism, in power-oriented Machiavellian politics, and in the scientistic, value-free rationality which Horkheimer and Adorno call ‘instrumental reason’.Less
William Shakespeare was neither a Royalist defender of order and hierarchy nor a consistently radical champion of social equality, but rather simultaneously radical and conservative as a critic of emerging forms of modernity. This book argues that Shakespeare's social criticism in fact often parallels that of critics of modernity from our own Postmodernist era: that the broad analysis of modernity produced by Karl Marx, Max Horkheimer, Theodor W. Adorno, Michel Foucault, and others can serve as a productive enabling representation and critique of the emerging modernity represented by the image in Troilus and Cressida of ‘an universal wolf’ of appetite, power, and will. The readings in this book demonstrate Shakespeare's keen interest in what twentieth-century theory has called ‘reification’ — a term that designates social systems created by human societies, but that confronts those societies as operating beyond human control, according to an autonomous ‘systems’ logic — in nascent mercantile capitalism, in power-oriented Machiavellian politics, and in the scientistic, value-free rationality which Horkheimer and Adorno call ‘instrumental reason’.
S. A. Skinner
- Published in print:
- 2004
- Published Online:
- January 2010
- ISBN:
- 9780199273232
- eISBN:
- 9780191706394
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199273232.003.0002
- Subject:
- History, British and Irish Early Modern History
This book makes systematic use of two neglected, though rich, sources for tractarian thought. The first is the British Critic, a quarterly periodical rapidly established by John Henry Newman as the ...
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This book makes systematic use of two neglected, though rich, sources for tractarian thought. The first is the British Critic, a quarterly periodical rapidly established by John Henry Newman as the movement's house magazine. The general neglect of the Critic is the more remarkable given that it was commandeered and edited by Newman at a time when first-generation tractarianism was at its most radical and ebullient. Where the periodical material often elaborated the theoretical framework for a social criticism, the second source — tractarian fiction — aimed at its practical application. This fiction came in the form of ‘social’ or ‘condition of England’ novels written by William Gresley and Francis Edward Paget, whose colourful and polemically charged tales afford superabundant illustration of those social attitudes that are anatomised later in the book. The social novels relentlessly emphasise the duties as well as rights bestowed by property, and pronounce on the broadest conceivable range of contemporary issues, from commercialism and industrialism, to political economy and the new poor law, the working conditions of the urban and rural poor, and the dangers of socialism and Chartism.Less
This book makes systematic use of two neglected, though rich, sources for tractarian thought. The first is the British Critic, a quarterly periodical rapidly established by John Henry Newman as the movement's house magazine. The general neglect of the Critic is the more remarkable given that it was commandeered and edited by Newman at a time when first-generation tractarianism was at its most radical and ebullient. Where the periodical material often elaborated the theoretical framework for a social criticism, the second source — tractarian fiction — aimed at its practical application. This fiction came in the form of ‘social’ or ‘condition of England’ novels written by William Gresley and Francis Edward Paget, whose colourful and polemically charged tales afford superabundant illustration of those social attitudes that are anatomised later in the book. The social novels relentlessly emphasise the duties as well as rights bestowed by property, and pronounce on the broadest conceivable range of contemporary issues, from commercialism and industrialism, to political economy and the new poor law, the working conditions of the urban and rural poor, and the dangers of socialism and Chartism.
Catia Cecilia Confortini
- Published in print:
- 2012
- Published Online:
- September 2012
- ISBN:
- 9780199845231
- eISBN:
- 9780199979875
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199845231.003.0002
- Subject:
- Political Science, International Relations and Politics
The central theoretical arguments of the manuscript are outlined in this chapter. This chapter starts with a discussion of the limitations of understanding feminist debates about peace around ...
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The central theoretical arguments of the manuscript are outlined in this chapter. This chapter starts with a discussion of the limitations of understanding feminist debates about peace around equality/difference divides. It then grounds my theoretical analysis in a constructivist ontology of social construction and suggest the need to move beyond epistemological and ontological differences to focus on methodology to develop a theory of emancipatory agency. After describing what feminists would require of such a theory, the chapter draws on Brooke Ackerly’s influential methodology of Third World Feminist Social Criticism (TWFSC), highlighting its contributions and weaknesses for a theory of emancipatory agency. The chapter suggests that its methodological tools are critical to compel openness to new questions, self-reflection on power dynamics, and continuous self-assessment. They are, however, incomplete to induce action in the direction of emancipation. The chapter thus develops my alternative account.Less
The central theoretical arguments of the manuscript are outlined in this chapter. This chapter starts with a discussion of the limitations of understanding feminist debates about peace around equality/difference divides. It then grounds my theoretical analysis in a constructivist ontology of social construction and suggest the need to move beyond epistemological and ontological differences to focus on methodology to develop a theory of emancipatory agency. After describing what feminists would require of such a theory, the chapter draws on Brooke Ackerly’s influential methodology of Third World Feminist Social Criticism (TWFSC), highlighting its contributions and weaknesses for a theory of emancipatory agency. The chapter suggests that its methodological tools are critical to compel openness to new questions, self-reflection on power dynamics, and continuous self-assessment. They are, however, incomplete to induce action in the direction of emancipation. The chapter thus develops my alternative account.
Annika Thiem
- Published in print:
- 2008
- Published Online:
- March 2011
- ISBN:
- 9780823228980
- eISBN:
- 9780823235865
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Fordham University Press
- DOI:
- 10.5422/fso/9780823228980.001.0001
- Subject:
- Philosophy, Moral Philosophy
Moral philosophy and poststructuralism have long been considered two antithetical enterprises. Moral philosophy is invested in securing norms, whereas poststructuralism attempts to ...
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Moral philosophy and poststructuralism have long been considered two antithetical enterprises. Moral philosophy is invested in securing norms, whereas poststructuralism attempts to unclench the grip of norms on our lives. Moreover, poststructuralism is often suspected of undoing the possibility of ethical knowledge by emphasizing the unstable, socially constructed nature of our practices and knowledge. This book argues that Judith Butler's work makes possible a productive encounter between moral philosophy and poststructuralism, rethinking responsibility and critique as key concepts at the juncture of ethics and politics. Putting into conversation Butler's earlier and most recent work, this book begins by examining how Butler's critique of the subject as nontransparent to itself, formed thoroughly through relations of power and in subjection to norms and social practices, poses a challenge to ethics and ethical agency. The book argues, in conversation with Butler, Levinas, and Laplanche, that responsibility becomes possible only when we do not know what to do or how to respond, yet find ourselves under a demand to respond, and even more, to respond well to others. Drawing on the work of Butler, Adorno, and Foucault, the book examines critique as a central practice for moral philosophy. It interrogates the limits of moral and political knowledge and probes methods of social criticism to uncover and oppose injustices.Less
Moral philosophy and poststructuralism have long been considered two antithetical enterprises. Moral philosophy is invested in securing norms, whereas poststructuralism attempts to unclench the grip of norms on our lives. Moreover, poststructuralism is often suspected of undoing the possibility of ethical knowledge by emphasizing the unstable, socially constructed nature of our practices and knowledge. This book argues that Judith Butler's work makes possible a productive encounter between moral philosophy and poststructuralism, rethinking responsibility and critique as key concepts at the juncture of ethics and politics. Putting into conversation Butler's earlier and most recent work, this book begins by examining how Butler's critique of the subject as nontransparent to itself, formed thoroughly through relations of power and in subjection to norms and social practices, poses a challenge to ethics and ethical agency. The book argues, in conversation with Butler, Levinas, and Laplanche, that responsibility becomes possible only when we do not know what to do or how to respond, yet find ourselves under a demand to respond, and even more, to respond well to others. Drawing on the work of Butler, Adorno, and Foucault, the book examines critique as a central practice for moral philosophy. It interrogates the limits of moral and political knowledge and probes methods of social criticism to uncover and oppose injustices.
Raymond Guess
- Published in print:
- 2008
- Published Online:
- October 2011
- ISBN:
- 9780195320466
- eISBN:
- 9780199851591
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195320466.003.0004
- Subject:
- Philosophy, Political Philosophy
As “intellectualism” refers to the way humans are able to form and systematically evaluate beliefs, John Dewey asserted that Western philosophy can be associated with a certain “intellectualist” ...
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As “intellectualism” refers to the way humans are able to form and systematically evaluate beliefs, John Dewey asserted that Western philosophy can be associated with a certain “intellectualist” bias. This chapter exhibits the attempts to look into the vital properties of human beings such as the essentials about the human way of life, human characteristics, and other such information. In examining the historical background of his rethinking of reification and how this concept is related to the concepts of cognition and recognition, Honneth attempts to provide an analysis that extends to two interrelated subplots: the philosophical anthropology observed in the West and the emergence of a different kind of social criticism.Less
As “intellectualism” refers to the way humans are able to form and systematically evaluate beliefs, John Dewey asserted that Western philosophy can be associated with a certain “intellectualist” bias. This chapter exhibits the attempts to look into the vital properties of human beings such as the essentials about the human way of life, human characteristics, and other such information. In examining the historical background of his rethinking of reification and how this concept is related to the concepts of cognition and recognition, Honneth attempts to provide an analysis that extends to two interrelated subplots: the philosophical anthropology observed in the West and the emergence of a different kind of social criticism.
Stephen Innes
- Published in print:
- 2011
- Published Online:
- May 2012
- ISBN:
- 9780199769063
- eISBN:
- 9780199896851
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199769063.003.0005
- Subject:
- Sociology, Economic Sociology
The paradoxical result of Puritan thrift, to which observers since Weber have repeatedly pointed, and of which the Puritans themselves were acutely aware, was how what started out as a deeply pious ...
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The paradoxical result of Puritan thrift, to which observers since Weber have repeatedly pointed, and of which the Puritans themselves were acutely aware, was how what started out as a deeply pious attitude toward the methodological practice of godly accumulation eventually seemed to lead to a highly effective, but ultimately worldly, technique for material acquisitiveness. How, in other words, did the Puritans ever come to produce Benjamin Franklin? This chapter addresses this question by locating part of the answer in the unique social and cultural circumstances of Puritan New England that allowed for the fullest implementation of the Puritan politics of virtue, and of the creation of key institutions that reinforced compliance to this politics within the Puritan community. Thrift and thriving were as much public as private matters. The chapter underscores the centrality of social criticism among the Puritans as a form of social control, paying special attention to the ways they treated economic success with suspicion, if not equating it with spiritual and moral failure. Beginning with the Puritan jeremiad, this tradition of critique continues in both religious and secular formulations down to the present.Less
The paradoxical result of Puritan thrift, to which observers since Weber have repeatedly pointed, and of which the Puritans themselves were acutely aware, was how what started out as a deeply pious attitude toward the methodological practice of godly accumulation eventually seemed to lead to a highly effective, but ultimately worldly, technique for material acquisitiveness. How, in other words, did the Puritans ever come to produce Benjamin Franklin? This chapter addresses this question by locating part of the answer in the unique social and cultural circumstances of Puritan New England that allowed for the fullest implementation of the Puritan politics of virtue, and of the creation of key institutions that reinforced compliance to this politics within the Puritan community. Thrift and thriving were as much public as private matters. The chapter underscores the centrality of social criticism among the Puritans as a form of social control, paying special attention to the ways they treated economic success with suspicion, if not equating it with spiritual and moral failure. Beginning with the Puritan jeremiad, this tradition of critique continues in both religious and secular formulations down to the present.
Uttara Natarajan
- Published in print:
- 1998
- Published Online:
- October 2011
- ISBN:
- 9780198184379
- eISBN:
- 9780191674235
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780198184379.003.0005
- Subject:
- Literature, 19th-century Literature and Romanticism, Criticism/Theory
This chapter examines the moral implications of Hazlitt's construct of the self-affirming tendency of the mind, of which the fullest and most powerful manifestation is termed ‘genius’. It notes that ...
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This chapter examines the moral implications of Hazlitt's construct of the self-affirming tendency of the mind, of which the fullest and most powerful manifestation is termed ‘genius’. It notes that Hazlitt's concerns are insistently moral, and it is a strong moral emphasis that adds to the polemical thrust of his epistemology. It examines, again, Hazlitt's philosophy, specifically as moral philosophy. It explains that like his epistemology and indeed, inseparable from it, Hazlitt's theory of morals is all pervasive, reaching far beyond the immediate context of the philosophical lectures and essays into the fundamentals of his literary and social criticism.Less
This chapter examines the moral implications of Hazlitt's construct of the self-affirming tendency of the mind, of which the fullest and most powerful manifestation is termed ‘genius’. It notes that Hazlitt's concerns are insistently moral, and it is a strong moral emphasis that adds to the polemical thrust of his epistemology. It examines, again, Hazlitt's philosophy, specifically as moral philosophy. It explains that like his epistemology and indeed, inseparable from it, Hazlitt's theory of morals is all pervasive, reaching far beyond the immediate context of the philosophical lectures and essays into the fundamentals of his literary and social criticism.
Lara Trout
- Published in print:
- 2010
- Published Online:
- March 2011
- ISBN:
- 9780823232956
- eISBN:
- 9780823235803
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Fordham University Press
- DOI:
- 10.5422/fso/9780823232956.003.0001
- Subject:
- Philosophy, American Philosophy
This introductory chapter explains the coverage of this book, which is about classical American pragmatic Charles S. Peirce's concept of unintentional racism. It focuses on the compatibility of ...
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This introductory chapter explains the coverage of this book, which is about classical American pragmatic Charles S. Peirce's concept of unintentional racism. It focuses on the compatibility of Peirce's with contemporary social criticism. This book attempts to explain the condition of unintentional discrimination using the work of neuroscientist Antonio Damasio. It also highlights how Peirce's infinitely inclusive communal ideal may be undermined by the habit of unintentional exclusion of historically dominant social groups.Less
This introductory chapter explains the coverage of this book, which is about classical American pragmatic Charles S. Peirce's concept of unintentional racism. It focuses on the compatibility of Peirce's with contemporary social criticism. This book attempts to explain the condition of unintentional discrimination using the work of neuroscientist Antonio Damasio. It also highlights how Peirce's infinitely inclusive communal ideal may be undermined by the habit of unintentional exclusion of historically dominant social groups.
Judith Butler
- Published in print:
- 2008
- Published Online:
- October 2011
- ISBN:
- 9780195320466
- eISBN:
- 9780199851591
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195320466.003.0003
- Subject:
- Philosophy, Political Philosophy
Although Honneth's re-thought-of concept of reification is still rooted in a reconstruction of Lukács works, he was able to incorporate matters such as social criticism, psychology, philosophy, and ...
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Although Honneth's re-thought-of concept of reification is still rooted in a reconstruction of Lukács works, he was able to incorporate matters such as social criticism, psychology, philosophy, and other related schools of thought in his rethinking. Honneth points out that there exists a connection between recognition in the context of philosophical anthropology and social theory and the problem of reification. In his rethinking, he attempts to relate reification to a more fundamental practice of recognition that is observed through specific forms to nature, to other people, and to the self. It is asserted that reification does not only mean that subjects are treated as objects within a model of the commodity, but rather that the subject itself is also reifying. This chapter looks into how Honneth was able to come up with his new conceptualization of the term reification in relation to Lukács original definition.Less
Although Honneth's re-thought-of concept of reification is still rooted in a reconstruction of Lukács works, he was able to incorporate matters such as social criticism, psychology, philosophy, and other related schools of thought in his rethinking. Honneth points out that there exists a connection between recognition in the context of philosophical anthropology and social theory and the problem of reification. In his rethinking, he attempts to relate reification to a more fundamental practice of recognition that is observed through specific forms to nature, to other people, and to the self. It is asserted that reification does not only mean that subjects are treated as objects within a model of the commodity, but rather that the subject itself is also reifying. This chapter looks into how Honneth was able to come up with his new conceptualization of the term reification in relation to Lukács original definition.
Peter Robinson
- Published in print:
- 2005
- Published Online:
- September 2007
- ISBN:
- 9780199273256
- eISBN:
- 9780191706370
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199273256.003.0012
- Subject:
- Literature, 20th-century and Contemporary Literature
This chapter addresses the theme of death and the relationships between the living and the dead in the poetry and prose of Roy Fisher. The connections between the poet's formal decisions, his ...
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This chapter addresses the theme of death and the relationships between the living and the dead in the poetry and prose of Roy Fisher. The connections between the poet's formal decisions, his background and family, his philosophical doubt, and his criticism of social structures and religious orders are elucidated. The evolution of the poet's relation to this theme, from his early post-symbolist lyrics to his late modernist epic, A Furnace, is tracked and discussed in the light of his archeological, homemade alternative to the Christian afterlife.Less
This chapter addresses the theme of death and the relationships between the living and the dead in the poetry and prose of Roy Fisher. The connections between the poet's formal decisions, his background and family, his philosophical doubt, and his criticism of social structures and religious orders are elucidated. The evolution of the poet's relation to this theme, from his early post-symbolist lyrics to his late modernist epic, A Furnace, is tracked and discussed in the light of his archeological, homemade alternative to the Christian afterlife.
Jane Anna Gordon and Cyrus Ernesto Zirakzadeh (eds)
- Published in print:
- 2018
- Published Online:
- May 2019
- ISBN:
- 9780813175164
- eISBN:
- 9780813175195
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- University Press of Kentucky
- DOI:
- 10.5810/kentucky/9780813175164.001.0001
- Subject:
- Political Science, American Politics
Richard Wright left readers with a trove of fictional and nonfictional works about suffering, abuse, and anger in the United States and around the globe. He composed unforgettable images of ...
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Richard Wright left readers with a trove of fictional and nonfictional works about suffering, abuse, and anger in the United States and around the globe. He composed unforgettable images of institutionalized racism, postwar capitalist culture, Cold War neo-imperialism, gender roles and their violent consequences, and the economic and psychological preconditions for personal freedom. He insisted that humans unflinchingly confront and responsibly reconstruct their worlds. He therefore offered not only honest social criticisms but unromantic explorations of political options. The book is organized in five sections. It opens with a series of broad discussions about the content, style, and impact of Wright’s social criticism. Then the book shifts to particular dimensions of and topics in Wright’s writings, such as his interest in postcolonial politics, his approach to gendered forms of oppression, and his creative use of different literary genres to convey his warnings. The anthology closes with discussions of the different political agendas and courses of action that Wright’s thinking prompts—in particular, how his distinctive understanding of psychological life and death fosters opposition to neoslavery, efforts at social connectivity, and experiments in communal refusal. Most of the book’s chapters are original pieces written for this volume. Other entries are excerpts from influential, earlier published works, including four difficult-to-locate writings by Wright on labor solidarity, a miscarriage of justice, the cultural significance Joe Louis, and the political duties of black authors. The contributors include experts in Africana studies, history, literature, philosophy, political science, and psychoanalysis.Less
Richard Wright left readers with a trove of fictional and nonfictional works about suffering, abuse, and anger in the United States and around the globe. He composed unforgettable images of institutionalized racism, postwar capitalist culture, Cold War neo-imperialism, gender roles and their violent consequences, and the economic and psychological preconditions for personal freedom. He insisted that humans unflinchingly confront and responsibly reconstruct their worlds. He therefore offered not only honest social criticisms but unromantic explorations of political options. The book is organized in five sections. It opens with a series of broad discussions about the content, style, and impact of Wright’s social criticism. Then the book shifts to particular dimensions of and topics in Wright’s writings, such as his interest in postcolonial politics, his approach to gendered forms of oppression, and his creative use of different literary genres to convey his warnings. The anthology closes with discussions of the different political agendas and courses of action that Wright’s thinking prompts—in particular, how his distinctive understanding of psychological life and death fosters opposition to neoslavery, efforts at social connectivity, and experiments in communal refusal. Most of the book’s chapters are original pieces written for this volume. Other entries are excerpts from influential, earlier published works, including four difficult-to-locate writings by Wright on labor solidarity, a miscarriage of justice, the cultural significance Joe Louis, and the political duties of black authors. The contributors include experts in Africana studies, history, literature, philosophy, political science, and psychoanalysis.
Catia Cecilia Confortini
- Published in print:
- 2012
- Published Online:
- September 2012
- ISBN:
- 9780199845231
- eISBN:
- 9780199979875
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199845231.003.0006
- Subject:
- Political Science, International Relations and Politics
This chapter summarizes the empirical findings and returns to the assessment of whether Ackerly’s theory of TWFSC adequately represents WILPF’s methodology in the context of the postwar liberal West. ...
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This chapter summarizes the empirical findings and returns to the assessment of whether Ackerly’s theory of TWFSC adequately represents WILPF’s methodology in the context of the postwar liberal West. Drawing on and expanding this theory, the chapter outlines a methodology of emancipatory agency that better adapts to the context in which WILPF, like many other Western peace organizations, operates. The chapter takes inspiration from a methodological tool whose elements were described by outgoing WILPF International Chair Dorothy Hutchinson in 1968. Hutchinson claimed that WILPF used “intelligent compassion” to formulate policies that challenged the economic, political, and ideological status quo. Intelligent compassion complements and enriches TWFSC. Together, intelligent compassion and TWFSC constitute a superior feminist critical methodology for emancipatory social change. The story of WILPF suggests not only that a feminist understanding of peace is dynamic and always changing but also that we should indeed shift away from trying to define once and for all what is social change, emancipation, or even peace and rather focus on peace as a continuous and holistic process of building justice.Less
This chapter summarizes the empirical findings and returns to the assessment of whether Ackerly’s theory of TWFSC adequately represents WILPF’s methodology in the context of the postwar liberal West. Drawing on and expanding this theory, the chapter outlines a methodology of emancipatory agency that better adapts to the context in which WILPF, like many other Western peace organizations, operates. The chapter takes inspiration from a methodological tool whose elements were described by outgoing WILPF International Chair Dorothy Hutchinson in 1968. Hutchinson claimed that WILPF used “intelligent compassion” to formulate policies that challenged the economic, political, and ideological status quo. Intelligent compassion complements and enriches TWFSC. Together, intelligent compassion and TWFSC constitute a superior feminist critical methodology for emancipatory social change. The story of WILPF suggests not only that a feminist understanding of peace is dynamic and always changing but also that we should indeed shift away from trying to define once and for all what is social change, emancipation, or even peace and rather focus on peace as a continuous and holistic process of building justice.
Elisabeth Lasch-Quinn
- Published in print:
- 2008
- Published Online:
- September 2012
- ISBN:
- 9780748626014
- eISBN:
- 9780748670673
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Edinburgh University Press
- DOI:
- 10.3366/edinburgh/9780748626014.003.0008
- Subject:
- Society and Culture, Cultural Studies
The challenge to democratic ideals forms the basis of this chapter, framed within the broader crisis in intellectual life explored in Chapters 5 and 13 of this volume by Kevin Mattson and Martin ...
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The challenge to democratic ideals forms the basis of this chapter, framed within the broader crisis in intellectual life explored in Chapters 5 and 13 of this volume by Kevin Mattson and Martin Halliwell. Taking texts by George Cotkin, Russell Jacoby and Sven Birkerts as starting points, in this essay the author, Elisabeth Lasch-Quinn, considers the roots of the perceived decline in intellectual culture in the face of bureaucratic and market imperatives. The chapter considers the place of the public intellectual within a period of diminished possibilities and calls for a renewal of social criticism based on a revitalization of democratic politics and a sense of common purpose. The discussion concludes with a survey of other contemporary trends in the fields of globalization, religion, medicine, technology and environmentalism that indicate that social criticism takes many shapes and contours in the early twenty-first century, and serves to map out the second section of this volume.Less
The challenge to democratic ideals forms the basis of this chapter, framed within the broader crisis in intellectual life explored in Chapters 5 and 13 of this volume by Kevin Mattson and Martin Halliwell. Taking texts by George Cotkin, Russell Jacoby and Sven Birkerts as starting points, in this essay the author, Elisabeth Lasch-Quinn, considers the roots of the perceived decline in intellectual culture in the face of bureaucratic and market imperatives. The chapter considers the place of the public intellectual within a period of diminished possibilities and calls for a renewal of social criticism based on a revitalization of democratic politics and a sense of common purpose. The discussion concludes with a survey of other contemporary trends in the fields of globalization, religion, medicine, technology and environmentalism that indicate that social criticism takes many shapes and contours in the early twenty-first century, and serves to map out the second section of this volume.
Albena Azmanova
- Published in print:
- 2012
- Published Online:
- November 2015
- ISBN:
- 9780231153805
- eISBN:
- 9780231527286
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Columbia University Press
- DOI:
- 10.7312/columbia/9780231153805.003.0010
- Subject:
- Political Science, Political Theory
This chapter offers an account of the deeply political process of articulation and generalization of normative claims in the process of judging in order to investigate its critical potential. While ...
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This chapter offers an account of the deeply political process of articulation and generalization of normative claims in the process of judging in order to investigate its critical potential. While working within the conceptual framework outlined in Chapter 8, the focus here shifts to the validating and critical potential of reasoned argumentation in public deliberations. The chapter addresses, in consecutive order, three sets of questions. The first set relates to the core concern of theories of deliberative democracy—the issue of communicatively produced normative consensus. The second set of questions concerns social criticism. Not only the possibility but also the very value of consensus in modern pluralist democracies has become suspect. The third set of questions concerns the issue of normative innovation: How does consensus on binding social norms and political rules stay open to social change?Less
This chapter offers an account of the deeply political process of articulation and generalization of normative claims in the process of judging in order to investigate its critical potential. While working within the conceptual framework outlined in Chapter 8, the focus here shifts to the validating and critical potential of reasoned argumentation in public deliberations. The chapter addresses, in consecutive order, three sets of questions. The first set relates to the core concern of theories of deliberative democracy—the issue of communicatively produced normative consensus. The second set of questions concerns social criticism. Not only the possibility but also the very value of consensus in modern pluralist democracies has become suspect. The third set of questions concerns the issue of normative innovation: How does consensus on binding social norms and political rules stay open to social change?
