Between ethics and politics: Gramsci's theory of intellectuals

Modern Italy ◽  
1998 ◽  
Vol 3 (01) ◽  
pp. 67-85 ◽  
Author(s):  
James Martin

SummaryThis article examines Gramsci's theory of intellectuals in the light of Bauman's distinction between ‘legislators’ and ‘interpreters’. By distinguishing descriptive and prescriptive dimensions to Gramsci's theory, it is possible to see a tension between the dual ethical and political functions that he attributes to ‘organic intellectuals’. In the one, Gramsci effectively deconstructs the intellectual's role as the bearer of universal knowledge, while in the other he reconstructs that role through an emphasis on the revolutionary party. It is argued that the tensions in Gramsci's theory stem from his attachment to a peculiarly modern conception of the relationship between intellectuals, culture and the state.

Author(s):  
Peter Coss

In the introduction to his great work of 2005, Framing the Early Middle Ages, Chris Wickham urged not only the necessity of carefully framing our studies at the outset but also the importance of closely defining the words and concepts that we employ, the avoidance ‘cultural sollipsism’ wherever possible and the need to pay particular attention to continuities and discontinuities. Chris has, of course, followed these precepts on a vast scale. My aim in this chapter is a modest one. I aim to review the framing of thirteenth-century England in terms of two only of Chris’s themes: the aristocracy and the state—and even then primarily in terms of the relationship between the two. By the thirteenth century I mean a long thirteenth century stretching from the period of the Angevin reforms of the later twelfth century on the one hand to the early to mid-fourteenth on the other; the reasons for taking this span will, I hope, become clearer during the course of the chapter, but few would doubt that it has a validity.


2006 ◽  
pp. 29-56
Author(s):  
Michal Sládecek

In first chapters of this article MacIntyre?s view of ethics is analyzed, together with his critics of liberalism as philosophical and political theory, as well as dominant ideological conception. In last chapters MacIntyre?s view of the relation between politics and ethics is considered, along with the critical review of his theoretical positions. Macintyre?s conception is regarded on the one hand as very broad, because the entire morality is identified with ethical life, while on the other hand it is regarded as too narrow since it excludes certain essential aspects of deliberation which refers to the sphere of individual rights, the relations between communities, as well as distribution of goods within the state.


2018 ◽  
Vol 9 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Xiaoguang Kang

AbstractChina recently promulgated and revised a number of laws, regulations and measures to regulate the nonprofit sector. All these administrative efforts increase support for Chinese nonprofit organizations (NPOs) on the one hand and put unprecedented pressure on them on the other. The seemingly contradictory effects are actually based on the same logic of Administrative Absorption of Society (AAS). This article proposes three phases in the development of AAS: an subconscious phase, a theory-modeling phase, and an institutionalization phase. The institutionalization of AAS has led to the rise of neo-totalitarianism, which is featured by state capitalism, unlimited government, and a mixed ideology of Marxism and Confucianism. Neo-totalitarianism further strengthens AAS and has begun to reshape the relationship between the state and the nonprofit sector. This article analyzes China’s nonprofit policymaking from a sociopolitical perspective, and clarifies the context, the characteristics, and the evolution of laws and policies in the nonprofit sector in macrocosm.


2018 ◽  
Vol 72 (1) ◽  
pp. 48-68 ◽  
Author(s):  
Melissa Tyler

This article considers inclusion through the lens of embodied ethics. It does so by connecting feminist writing on recognition, ethics and embodiment to recent examples of political activism as instances of recognition-based organizing. In making these connections, the article draws on insights from Judith Butler’s recent writing on the ethics and politics of assembly in order to rethink how inclusion might be understood and practised. The article has three interrelated aims: (i) to emphasize the importance of a critical reconsideration of the ethics and politics of inclusion given – on the one hand, its positioning as an organizational ‘good’, and on the other, the conditions attached to it; (ii) to develop a critique of inclusion, drawing on insights from recent feminist thinking on relational ethics; and (iii) to connect this theoretical critique of inclusion, reconsidered here through the lens of embodied ethics, to assembly as a form of feminist activism. Each of these aims underpins the theoretical and empirical discussion developed in the article, specifically its focus on the relationship between embodied ethics, the interplay between theory and practice, and a politics of assembly as the basis for a critical reconsideration of inclusion.


Religions ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 10 (2) ◽  
pp. 135
Author(s):  
Mădălina Guzun

The otherness of the other, considered as foreignness, is deeply intertwined with the problem of translation and with the one of morality. How can the two of them be brought together based on the work of Emmanuel Levinas? The main question which leads my analysis is the following: does morality limit itself to the relationship with another person or does it concern society in its entirety? In the thought of Levinas, ethics is placed on the side of the dual relationship with the other, while the presence of the third institutes the realm of politics. At first glance, the two dimensions contradict each other, for the first one is characterized by infinity, overabundance, and love, while the second one comports a dimension of finitude, measure, symmetry, and justice. Yet these two domains always exist contemporaneously, each of them needing the limitation brought by its counterpart. How is their relationship to be thought? I will argue that the answer can be found within the domain of translation, understood as an essential asymmetry that is both harmonic and disruptive.


2020 ◽  
Vol 87 (S1) ◽  
pp. 101-107
Author(s):  
John P. Kent

AbstractThe relationship between the cow and calf develops over time after birth. The behavioural mechanisms underlying its development are important and comparisons with other species may increase our understanding. In nature the cow will separate herself from the herd to give birth and then the cow–calf relationship will develop with the ability to recognise each other. While twinning levels are low in cows, they do rear their twin calves. If the calf is lost at or after birth the cow can be responsive towards other calves and in specific circumstances the cow can develop a maternal bond with an alien calf, i.e. foster. In this Research Reflection a distinction is made between the development of, on the one hand, maternal responsiveness (the tendency of the cow to care for a calf which occurs before birth) and, on the other hand, the development of the maternal–filial bond or relationship which is reciprocal, occurs after birth and is characterised by the ability to discriminate the mother's own calf from alien calves. These processes can overlap and the relationship between cow and calf in this ‘hider’ species is more plastic than in some other mammals. For example, a cow might form an attachment with an alien calf before she gives birth. After the cow has given birth the loss of her own calf may result in the state of maternal responsiveness being maintained, such that developing a maternal bond with one or several appropriate alien calves is possible. Viable fostering techniques are possible. If a maternal relationship to the mother's own calf has developed then fostering will be more difficult. If the cow's relationship with her own calf is not exclusive, and she is in a state of maternal responsiveness then fostering of calves of an appropriate age and status can be achieved.


2022 ◽  
Vol 124 ◽  
pp. 181-206
Author(s):  
Lukáš Fasora

This text summarises the results of extensive research into the relationship between the state and universities in 1849–1939, i.e. between the so-called ‘Thun reform’ and the closure of Czech universities by the Nazis. The focus is on the state’s respect for the privileged position of universities and the monitoring of tensions arising from the clash between legislation and the universities’ day-to-day operations, resulting mainly from satisfying the economic needs of universities on the one hand, and the interpretation of the responsibility and discipline of their academic staff towards the state and society on the other. The research shows the advancing erosion of the so-called Prussian (Humboldt’s) concept of an autonomous national-oriented university and the difficult search for a democratic alternative in interwar Central Europe’s unstable political and economic conditions.


2009 ◽  
Vol 32 (1) ◽  
pp. 131-151
Author(s):  
Dewale Adewale Yagboyaju

It is common to interpret African politics in tribal or ethnic terms. In the case of Nigeria, the dominant political behaviour can be defined, on the one hand, in terms of “incessant pressures on the state and the consequent fragmentation or prebendalizing of state-power” (Joseph, 1991:5). On the other hand, such practices can also be related to “a certain articulation of the factors of class and ethnicity” (ibid). For a better understanding of the essentials of Nigerian politics and its dynamics, it is necessary to develop a clearer perspective on the relationship between the two social categories mentioned above and their effects on such issues as political corruption and poverty.


2021 ◽  
Vol 4 (1) ◽  
pp. 77-95
Author(s):  
Baatr U. Kitinov ◽  
Liu Qiang

The authors examine the relationship between Dzungaria and Tibet in the first half of the 18th century. A whole series of events that happened in these countries coincide chronologically in a rather surprising way. The authors highlight the important events of this period: the seizure of Lhasa by the Dzungars in 1717–1720, the uprising of the Kukunor Khoshuts in 1723–1724, the development of Dzungar-Tibetan relations in the second quarter of the 18th century. They stress the Galdan-Tsereng’s embassy to the Dalai-lama in 1742/1743, the event, which was mentioned even in the Russian archival documents. Besides, they pay special attention to the activities of the main leaders, such as Dzungarian hungtaiji: Tsewang-Rabdan, Galdan-Tsereng; Tibetan rulers: rgyal-po Lhawzang, miwang Pholanay, the Dalai-lamas Sixth and Seventh; the Qing emperors: Kangxi, Yongzheng, Qianlong. They quote the letters exchanged between the Qing emperors, on the one hand, and the Dzungar (and Khoshut) leaders, on the other. The authors concluded that the relations between Dzungaria and Tibet during the first half of the 18th century could be subdivided into three stages (1703–1717; 1717–1727; 1727–1745/1750, each with its peaks). These relations, as well as their development, largely depended on the state of the relations between the dynasty of Qing and Tibet, especially the imperial policy towards Dzungaria.


Author(s):  
Kim Workman

In this presentation, I consider not only the relationship between Māori and the state, but the response of key criminal justice agencies to the surge of Māori confidence in the 1970’s and 80’s, and desire to take control of their own destiny – the Māori renaissance as it became known.  How did the Police, the prisons and the youth justice system respond to this call for rangatiratanga?  How easily did it respond to the idea that Māori, far from being passive recipients of the criminal justice system, wanted a piece of the action? How well did the operational reality meld with, on the one hand, the state’s vision of a bicultural nation, and on the other, the Māori vision for a measure of autonomy, a rangatiratanga not realised in any earlier constitutional or political arrangements?


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