The Political Mythology of Apartheid

1986 ◽  
Vol 85 (340) ◽  
pp. 474-475
Author(s):  
PAUL B RICH
2017 ◽  
Vol 18 (35) ◽  
pp. 246-273
Author(s):  
Victor de Oliveira Pinto Coelho

ABSTRACT The theme of this article is Ernst Jünger’s work in the interwar period, especially the essay The Worker (1932). Our focus is to point out, in the Jüngerian appropriation of technique, its character of anti-liberal political mythology. We dialogue with the political and intellectual horizon of the time (including authors such as Simmel, Kracauer and Benjamin), seeking to establish a problematization framework about the technique in Germany, where also emerges the so-called “Conservative Revolutionary Movement.” We point out in Jünger’s work the relationship between the “type” or “figure of the worker” and the notion of the sacrifice of individuality in favor of the total mobilization of technique, in the terms of reactionary modernism. Finally, as there are no references to authors and works in The Worker, we raise the hypothesis of an underlying dialogue with the intellectual tradition of Romanticism by confronting Jünger’s work with the theme of “asymptotic completion” (Lacoue-Labarthe) -the impossibility, in modern times, of sustaining a pre-established harmony.


2019 ◽  
Vol 12 (5) ◽  
pp. 83
Author(s):  
Evgueny Alexandrovich Chiglintsev ◽  
Natalya Yurievna Bikeyeva ◽  
Maxim Vadimovich Griger ◽  
Igor Vladimirovich Vostrikov ◽  
Farit Nafisovich Ahmadiev ◽  
...  

This collective article is dedicated to the images of power in the ancient and medieval societies, their forming, functions and the ways of representation. Authors found the universal components of the images of power in the different pre-industrial societies of the East and Vest, such as procedures of obtaining power, coronation and anointment, ruler’s regalia and the forms of organizing space of power. The authors investigate the relationship between the secular and the sacred elements in the political mythology of power. This paper deals with the evolution of images of power, rituals and symbols of authority from Ancient Eastern to Medieval societies. The purpose of the article is to present the universal components of the images of power in Ancient and Medieval times. The identification of common and specific features in the representation of power and ritual practices will allow us to see the evolution of ideas about power in pre-industrial societies.


2018 ◽  
Vol 62 (1) ◽  
pp. 269-283
Author(s):  
Jorge Varela ◽  

This article approaches the political mythology of authority through an interpretation of Kojève’s reading of authority. The deployment of discourses directed at the creation of common meanings arises as the central vector of authority, shared temporalities being the foremost among them. At a time of the presence of authority´s absence the master narratives that aim at bringing together that which remains apart cannot be recognized as unified. What remains as the realm of commonality is the very absence of authority.


1980 ◽  
Vol 23 (3) ◽  
pp. 589-615 ◽  
Author(s):  
John Turner

In 1915 and again in 1917 the British government almost decided to buy out the whole of the licensed liquor trade in the United Kingdom. An examination of the circumstances in which this ambitious proposal was contemplated poses serious questions of interpretation for the historian of the first World War. The episode figures in the historiography of temperance as a missed opportunity to use the power of government to solve a longstanding social problem; this, however, was a minor part of the story. In 1915 state purchase was to have helped to reduce industrial absenteeism, and thus to increase munitions production. In 1917 it was to have conserved foodstuffs and saved shipping during the submarine crisis. It can thus be seen as yet another manifestation of ‘war socialism’: but it has two distinctive characteristics. First, the government had little understanding of the economic and social phenomena which it sought to control by assuming ownership of the liquor trade, though much political effort was put into the manoeuvre. Second, the private interests concerned were quite eager, partly because of pre-war conditions, to be expropriated for their own good as much as for the nation's benefit. It is an unexceptionable part of conventional wisdom that the first World War, like the second, was a major catalyst of change, and especially of state intervention in society. The history of state purchase shows how tenuous and haphazard the causal connexion between war and social change could be. The demands of war were (almost) translated into major state intervention, but the process was mediated by the political mythology of drink, by the operation in the political system of a powerful business pressure group, and by the shifting priorities of governments which subordinated all policy to the need to guide a war economy to victory.


2021 ◽  
Vol 17 (1) ◽  
pp. 44-50
Author(s):  
Victoria Omelchenko

In this article, the author argues that philosophy is a "methodology" of understanding. Hermeneutics is the theory and methodology of interpretation especially the interpretation philosophical texts. H.-G. Gadamer asserted that methodical contemplation is opposite to experience and reflection. We can reach the truth only by understanding or mastering our experience. According to H.-G. Gadamer, our understanding is not fixed but rather is changing and always indicating new perspectives. The most important thing is to unfold the nature of individual understanding. Hermeneutics is not just "art", but the methodology of "understanding." Accordingly, philosophy is the methodology of understanding and interpretation. Philosophy is a science with its own subject and object. Legal laws are not absolute, therefore they should be interpreted. It is the task of philosophy. Philosophy speaks the language of concepts and evidence. Concepts should be specific, clear, defined. Philosophical work is the formulation of concepts. On the basis of such understanding of philosophy, we will now study the question of "political myth". Scientific exploration is devoted to the study of the concept of "myth" and identifying the essential features of the "political myth". What is "political myth" of modernity? What language is he speaking? What appealed? In this intelligence proved that "political myth" is a communication system that distorts reality. It is established that every "political myth" has its own shelf life and the boundaries of its interpretation. It is confirmed that "political myth" is one of the most effective tools to meet political goals, such as achievement of power and its legitimation. It is proved that political discourse is irrational, and political speeches appeal to the argument of sensuous, not rational. "Political myth" models own "world picture", which is a simplified, taken for granted, self-evident. It is proved that the ability of critical judgment, ability to work with information and qualitative analysis from the mouth of the unbiased media and the expert environment, though not a panacea, but partially negate the "force," "political myth". Myth has an irrational basis, and controls the emotions with the help of stereotypes. The myth creates its own reality and creates the effect of solidarity of the masses. The essence of "political myth" is that he always addressed to specific audiences, takes into account the peculiarities of mentality. A dominant position in the "political myth" plays a stereotype. Any stereotype is formed on the generalizations. What is the difference between the stereotypes and myths? "A stereotype is a label", which is the context, but it there is no story. That is, the stereotype is a form, and the myth is content history. In addition, in this exploration of the role and value of such concepts as "political magic" and "political spectacle" in the context of "political mythology" as applied mythology.


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