Defending Political Duties to the Self

Duty to Self ◽  
2021 ◽  
pp. 160-194
Author(s):  
Paul Schofield
Keyword(s):  
The State ◽  
The Self ◽  
State Coercion ◽  
The Individual

This chapter argues for the existence of political duties owed to the self, which justify state coercion for the sake of the individual coerced. A person can pose a threat to her own freedom, and to her own ability to acquire what she is owed. Thus, a person’s relationship to herself raises concerns about both right and justice, thereby licensing the state to subject her to paternalistic policy, justified on liberal grounds. Paternalistic laws discussed include those outlawing tobacco, those limiting the amount of debt a person can take on, forced savings programs, and prohibitions on slavery contracts.

Coleridge’s Exile from the Social Contract, 1795–1829

2016 ◽  
Author(s):  
Zoe Beenstock
Keyword(s):  
Social Contract ◽  
The State ◽  
The Self ◽  
Breaking Point ◽  
General Will ◽  
Social Crisis ◽  
State Of Nature ◽  
The Social ◽  
The Individual ◽  
Better Than

Coleridge wrote frequently about Rousseau throughout his varied career. His early lectures and letters draw on Rousseau’s critique of luxury and frequently allude to the general will, depicting Rousseau as a Christ-like figure. Coleridge’s subsequent disappointment with Pantisocracy led him to reject Rousseau and the social contract. Comparing Rousseau to Luther in The Friend, Coleridge argues that Rousseau’s unhappiness arises from a conflict between an age of individualism and an ongoing need for community. According to Coleridge, poetry tolerates this conflict better than philosophy. In ‘Reflections on Having Left a Place of Retirement’ Coleridge suggests that social retreat offers illusory solace from war and social crisis. He critiques the state of nature, sympathy, and even religion for failing to balance the self with its environment. Thematically and formally The Rime of the Ancient Mariner explores this crisis in cohering systems. Through the mariner’s relationship to the albatross, the wedding that frames the poem, and episodes of the supernatural that disrupt the ballad form, Coleridge defines a breaking point between the individual and general wills.

Might There Be Self-Directed Political Duties?

Duty to Self ◽  
2021 ◽  
pp. 139-159
Author(s):  
Paul Schofield
Keyword(s):  
The State ◽  
The Self ◽  
Liberal Tradition ◽  
State Coercion

This chapter discusses difficulties with the idea that there exist duties to the self that the state may paternalistically force a person to discharge. The liberal tradition typically prizes freedom, and so views with suspicion any suggestion that a person ought to be coerced for her own sake. State coercion is permissible only to realize right and justice, which are usually thought to regulate relationships between distinct persons. Since a person’s relationship to herself is typically not thought to be one regulated by right or justice, coercion of a person for her own sake has been consistently rejected within the liberal tradition.

scholarly journals Against Public Reason’s Alleged Self-Defeat

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Andrei Bespalov
Keyword(s):  
Political Power ◽  
The State ◽  
The Self ◽  
Coercive Power ◽  
Public Justification ◽  
State Coercion ◽  
Moral Justifications

AbstractMainstream political liberals hold that state coercion is legitimate only if it is justified on the grounds of reasons that all may reasonably be expected to accept. Critics argue that this public justification principle (PJP) is self-defeating, because it depends on moral justifications that not all may reasonably be expected to accept. To rebut the self-defeat objection, I elaborate on the following disjunction: one either agrees or disagrees that it is wrong to impose one’s morality on others by the coercive power of the state. Those who disagree reject PJP, they understand politics as war. Those who agree accept PJP, they understand politics as competition. Political competitors abide by PJP to avoid politics as war, by enforcing PJP on political combatants they engage in a war that is unavoidable. In both cases their exercise of political power has a justification that is reasonably acceptable to all.

scholarly journals From donation to self-reflection: living of volunteers of a toy library for children with cancer

2018 ◽  
Vol 22 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Ana Paula Silva Pugliero ◽  
Marcela Astolphi de Souza ◽  
Luciana de Lione Melo
Keyword(s):  
Mental Health ◽  
Health Care ◽  
Mental Health Care ◽  
Phenomenological Study ◽  
The State ◽  
The Self ◽  
Children With Cancer ◽  
Self Reflection ◽  
Self Knowledge ◽  
The Individual

Abstract Objective: To understand what it means to be a volunteer in a cancer-affected children care unit´s toy library, located within the state of São Paulo. Method: Phenomenological study based on the assumptions related to the analysis of the stated phenomenon's structure, with eleven volunteers to be interviewed upon a guiding question: "What does it feel like to be a volunteer in a toy library used by children with cancer?". Results: From the volunteer's answers, three theme categories arose: self-oriented relations, group-oriented relations and world-oriented relations. Conclusion and implications for practice: Being a volunteer embraces diverse relationships that contribute to the self-knowledge of the individual, making it possible to review concepts, beliefs, values, according to the new times in which we live There is a need for volunteer empowerment for work as well as mental health care. Nurses play a fundamental role in this context.

scholarly journals THE ROLE OF THE SELF-GOVERNING REGIONS IN CORONAVIRUS CRISIS IN SLOVAKIA

2021 ◽  
pp. 12-23
Author(s):  
Dalibor Mikuš
Keyword(s):  
Social Issue ◽  
Initial Phase ◽  
The State ◽  
The Self ◽  
The European Union ◽  
Parliamentary Elections ◽  
Whole Process ◽  
Current State ◽  
The Individual

The coronavirus crisis is a major social issue addressed in many countries over the last two years. Everyday life has been significantly influenced by the measures taken in an effort to eliminate the effects of this virus. The representatives of the state were not prepared for such a situation, which was reflected in the differently chosen strategies in the member states of the European Union. If we take a closer look at the situation in Slovakia, the outbreak of the corona crisis was associated with the parliamentary elections and change of government at the end of February 2020. Political aspects significantly influenced the initial phase of the fight against Covid-19. Self-governing regions were active in the individual stages and became important actors in the whole process. The article focuses on the evaluation of the role of two selected regional units - Bratislava and Košice self-governing regions within the coronavirus crisis. We primarily focus on the taken measures at the beginning of the whole process, when regional governments reacted sooner than the state itself. In addition, we analyse how self-governing regions have been involved in the vaccination process. In this context, we evaluate the current state and number of vaccinated people in both municipalities.

scholarly journals La aplicación del artículo 155 de la Constitución a Cataluña. Un examen de su dudosa constitucionalidad

2018 ◽  
pp. 169-203
Author(s):  
Joan RIDAO MARTÍN
Keyword(s):  
Political Conflict ◽  
The State ◽  
The Self ◽  
The Political ◽  
Government Institutions ◽  
Spanish Constitution ◽  
State Coercion ◽  
Regional Governments

LABURPENA: Kataluniako autogobernu-erakunde burujabeei Espainiako Konstituzioaren 155. artikulua aplikatu zaie modu aitzindarian. Artikulu horrek, hain zuzen, estatuaren hertsadura-mekanismoa xedatzen du, eta erabaki horrek, atzean dagoen gatazka politikoan eduki duen eraginaz harago, transzedentzia handia izan du konstituzio mailan. Horrenbestez, eta Estatuaren legezkotasuna eskualdeko gobernuen aurrean babesteko Konstituzioak dituen baliabideen legitimitatea zalantzan jarri gabe (estatu konposatu gehienen konstituzio-ordenamenduek ezartzen dituzte horrelakoak), orain arte ezagutu ez den Espainiako praxiaren berritasunak, horren inguruan zabaldu den eztabaidarekin batera, Konstituzioaren bidezkotasuna aztertzera bultzatzen gaitu: bai premisei, bai ezohiko baliabide horren babespean hartutako neurriei dagokienez. Azterketa hori eginda, gainera, zenbait akats antzeman daitezke; eta akats horiek, ziurrenik, konstituzio-kontrakotasuna azaleratzen dute. RESUMEN: La pionera aplicación del mecanismo de coerción estatal del artículo 155 de la Constitución Española a las instituciones de autogobierno de Cataluña ha tenido una evidente trascendencia constitucional, más allá de las repercusiones sobre el conflicto político que subyace en su fundamento. Así, sin poner en duda la legitimidad de los instrumentos constitucionales de protección de la legalidad estatal frente a la actuación de los gobiernos regionales, presentes en la mayoría de ordenamientos constitucionales de los Estados compuestos, la novedad que presenta la hasta ahora inédita praxis española, y la litigiosidad desatada al respecto, nos invita a realizar un examen de la justeza constitucional tanto de los presupuestos como de las medidas adoptadas al amparo de ese extraordinario recurso, con el resultado de que de ese escrutinio se derivan diversos vicios que determinan su más que probable inconstitucionalidad. ABSTRACT: The pioneering enforcement of the state coercion mechanism of article 155 of the Spanish Constitution to the self-government institutions of Catalonia has had an evident constitutional transcendence, beyond the implications on the political conflict that underlies its basis. Thus, without questioning the legitimacy of the constitutional instruments for the protection of State legality against the actions by regional governments, present in most of the constitutional systems of the composite States, the novelty presented by the hitherto unprecedented Spanish praxis, and litigation unleashed in this regard, invites us to scrutinize the constitutional fairness of both the principles and the measures adopted under this extraordinary measure, with the result that this scrutiny leads to various flaws that determine its more than likely unconstitutionality.

DEMOCRATIC LEGITIMACY AND COERCIVELY ENFORCED BORDERS

2021 ◽  
Vol 4 ◽  
pp. 1-22
Author(s):  
Michael Rabinder James
Keyword(s):  
Political Legitimacy ◽  
Political Authority ◽  
The State ◽  
Democratic Legitimacy ◽  
Individual Autonomy ◽  
Border Enforcement ◽  
Plausible Account ◽  
State Coercion ◽  
The Individual ◽  
Do So

Arash Abizadeh argues that all coercive enforcement of borders is democratically illegitimate, since foreigners do not participate in the creation of border laws. It is irrelevant whether the border laws are substantively just or unjust, whether the state enforcing them is affluent or poor, and whether the individual being coerced autonomously chooses to cross the border or is forced by desperate circumstances to do so. His argument involves (1) a foundational commitment to individual autonomy; (2) a normative premise that coercion requires democratic legitimation; (3) and an empirical premise that border enforcement laws subject all foreigners to state coercion. In this essay, I contest each of these components. I challenge the empirical premise through examples illustrating the empirical limits to state coercion over foreigners. I contest the normative premise by showing that state coercion requires democratic legitimation only for those involuntarily and indefinitely subject to it. Finally, I challenge the commitment to individual autonomy as foundational to political legitimacy by distinguishing political legitimacy from political authority. I conclude by demonstrating how my critique renders a more plausible account of the normative limits of border coercion, one that coheres more readily with stances advanced by Javier Hidalgo and Abizadeh himself.

scholarly journals Thinking the Political with Jean-Luc Nancy

Stasis ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (1) ◽  
pp. 16-38
Author(s):  
Janar Mihkelsaar
Keyword(s):  
The State ◽  
The Self ◽  
The Other ◽  
The Political ◽  
The People ◽  
The One ◽  
The Individual

In this article, I argue that at the center of Jean-Luc Nancy’s approach to the political lies the thinking of subject as that of relation. Throughout the historical actualizations of, for example, the individual, the state, or the people as a subject, the problematic of relation is one that has retreated and now demands to be subjected to a retreatment. When the arche-teleological presuppositions that constitute subject as that which is given enter the phase of deconstruction, subject comes to present itself as nothing but the activity of relating itself to itself. I respond to Nancy’s call to invent “an affirmation of relation” by way of rethinking the logics of sovereignty and democracy. While sovereignty unites, posits, finitizes, and finishes the self of the people, a post-68 democracy pluralizes, infinitizes, and disfigures the identity of the people. Between sovereignty and democracy, notwithstanding their conflicting tenets, the relation is not that of reciprocal exclusion. One is rather the correlative of the other. Without the one, the other would not make any sense. Through this Janus-faced economy of the political, the people can experience its own “reality”—to experience relation itself. The affirmation of relation is what gives and keeps free the voided site of the political for the infinite self-institution of the people, and for that reason is political par excellence.

Doctoral Studies in Psychology in Spain

2003 ◽  
Vol 8 (1) ◽  
pp. 28-33
Author(s):  
Yolanda García Rodríguez
Keyword(s):  
Doctoral Programs ◽  
Legal Reform ◽  
The State ◽  
Teaching Program ◽  
Doctoral Studies ◽  
Public And Private ◽  
Teaching And Research ◽  
Doctoral Thesis ◽  
Critical Phase ◽  
The Individual

In Spain doctoral studies underwent a major legal reform in 1998. The new legislation has brought together the criteria, norms, rules, and study certificates in universities throughout the country, both public and private. A brief description is presented here of the planning and structuring of doctoral programs, which have two clearly differentiated periods: teaching and research. At the end of the 2-year teaching program, the individual and personal phase of preparing one's doctoral thesis commences. However, despite efforts by the state to regulate these studies and to achieve greater efficiency, critical judgment is in order as to whether the envisioned aims are being achieved, namely, that students successfully complete their doctoral studies. After this analysis, we make proposals for the future aimed mainly at the individual period during which the thesis is written, a critical phase in obtaining the doctor's degree. Not enough attention has been given to this in the existing legislation.

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