"The Presence of the Other is a Presence that Teaches": Levinas, Pragmatism, and Pedagogy

2006 ◽  
Vol 14 (1-2) ◽  
pp. 91-108 ◽  
Author(s):  
Claire Elise Katz
Keyword(s):  
Educational Philosophy ◽  
Jewish Education ◽  
Positive Response ◽  
Political Community ◽  
The Other ◽  
Ethical Framework ◽  
The Political ◽  
Moral Cultivation ◽  
Ethical Response ◽  
Ethical Project

AbstractAlthough Levinas talks about ethics as a response to the other, most scholars assume that this "response" is not something tangible—it is not an actual giving of food or providing of shelter and clothing. But there is evidence in Levinas's own writings that indicate he does intend for a positive response to the Other. In any event, while he acknowledges that the other is the sole person I wish to kill, killing the other, within an ethical framework would be a violation of that response. The failure to respond to the other ethically requires us to ask if Levinas's project needs an educational philosophy or a model of moral cultivation to supplement it. This essay explores this question by putting into conversation Levinas's ethical project and his interest in Jewish education with John Dewey's philosophy of education and its relationship to the political community. This exploration will help us see what this field of research might offer in promoting the cultivation of ethical response as Levinas envisions it and what its limits are.

scholarly journals Perception of Polish Democracy in a Comparative Approach in Relation to the European Integration Processes

2020 ◽  
pp. 9-23
Author(s):  
Tomasz Grzegorz Grosse
Keyword(s):  
European Integration ◽  
Voter Turnout ◽  
Political Community ◽  
The Other ◽  
Political Polarization ◽  
Comparative Approach ◽  
The Political ◽  
The West ◽  
Polish Society ◽  
Negative Phenomena

The aim of the article is to show the condition of Polish democracy on the example of two elections held in 2019 and 2020. The elections brought about a positive phenomenon for democ racy, which is an increase in voter turnout. On the other hand, negative phenomena appeared, in particular the violent political polarization within the political community. The example of the Polish elections was then confronted with the perception of democracy among Polish society in a comparative approach, i.e. against the perception of other European nations. Against this background, the assessment of Polish democracy by Poles is exceptionally positive. Later in the article, an attempt was made to consider to what extent the integration processes may be responsible for weakening democracy in the Member States, as well as for the decline in trust in democratic institutions in the west and southern part of the continent.

scholarly journals La persona humana: razón y fe al servicio del hombre (II): La comunidad humana. The Human Person: Reason and Faith in the Service of Human Being (II): The Human Community

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Carlo Caffarra
Keyword(s):  
Human Person ◽  
Political Community ◽  
The Other ◽  
The Political ◽  
Personal Dignity ◽  
History Of ◽  
Self Transcendence ◽  
Reason And Faith ◽  
Maximum Expression ◽  
The Trinity

La naturaleza humana es comunional. La semejanza del hombre con Dios, con la Trinidad, no solo estriba en su espiritualidad, sino también en su sociabilidad. La raíz de esta unidad interpersonal está en el nexo que el hombre tiene con Cristo; y sus supuestos son la sustancialidad espiritual de la persona y su capacidad de autotrascendencia. La persona no puede encontrar su propia plenitud sino en la comunicación con las demás personas, a la que tiende por naturaleza como causa final última de la historia de la humanidad. La causa formal de esta communicatio in humanitate, que tiene en la entrega su punto culminante, es la recíproca afirmación de la dignidad personal. La naturaleza comunional de la persona, por lo demás, se cumple en la unión varón-mujer —como primera forma—, en la comunidad política —con ciertas limitaciones— y, definitivamente, en la Jerusalén celestial.Human nature is “communional”. Man’s likeness to God, to the Trinity, lies not only in his spirituality, but in his sociability. The root of this interpersonal unity is the link of man with Christ; and its bases are the spiritual substance of the person and its capacity for self-transcendence. The person reaches its own fulfillment only in communication with the other persons, to which it naturally tends, it being the final and end cause of the history of humanity. The formal cause of this communicatio in humanitate, which reaches its maximum expression in self-giving, is the reciprocal affirmation of personal dignity. Also, the communional nature of the person is fulfilled in the union of man and woman —in the first instance—, in the political community —with certain limitations— and, finally, in the heavenly Jerusalem.

Conclusion to Part III

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Joseph Lacey
Keyword(s):  
Political Community ◽  
The Other ◽  
The Political ◽  
Sharp Distinction

Chapters 5 and 6 point towards the general conclusion that the logic undergirding the LFT cannot be ultimately defeated, but merely contained indefinitely. In this conclusion to Part III, I attempt to draw out explicitly the main comparative lessons from my analysis of Belgium and Switzerland, highlighting the primary factors that explain why the LFT took hold in one case but not the other. We can distinguish between factors related to the political community and those more closely linked to the regime. Of course, to the extent that a regime and political community are co-dependent and continue to impact one another in their mutual evolution, it is impossible to make a razor-sharp distinction between factors related to one rather than the other. Bearing this in mind, however, we may group things together in this way for analytic purposes....

Political implications of compassion in Mencius

Diogenes ◽  
2021 ◽  
pp. 039219212097038
Author(s):  
Sarinya Arunkhajornsak
Keyword(s):  
Young Child ◽  
The Other ◽  
The Political ◽  
Moral Cultivation ◽  
Political Implications ◽  
Universal Love ◽  
Self Interest ◽  
Moral Universe ◽  
Political Realm

This paper examines Mencius’ view on compassion in the political realm by proposing that Mencius defends compassionate governance by reconciling the two extremes of Yangist self-love and Mohist universal love. This paper proposes a reading of two famous stories, namely, the story of a young child on the verge of falling into a well, and the story of King Xuan of Qi sparing an ox as paradigmatic cases for understanding Mencius’ account of compassion in the political realm. This paper argues that Mencius succeeds in his defense of governance with compassion against the other two extremes of self-love and altruism. To provide an argument for compatibility with egoism or self-love, this paper offers an analysis of Mencius’ idea of the ruler sharing pleasure with his people instead of denying pleasure for himself. In this sense, a good ruler does not need to sacrifice his self-interest. To counter the demand of universal love of the Mohists, Mencius develops a position that the Confucian ideal ruler, while not sacrificing his self-interests, those interests need to be guided and directed by a proper process of moral cultivation of his compassionate heart so that he can readily share his pleasures with all the peoples in his kingdom. These readings indicate Mencius’ expanded argument for political implications of compassion in the moral universe of the Confucian school.

3. Crime and punishment

2019 ◽  
pp. 48-69
Author(s):  
Massimo Renzo
Keyword(s):  
Moral Theory ◽  
Political Community ◽  
The Other ◽  
The Political ◽  
Criminal Punishment ◽  
Crime And Punishment ◽  
Other Hand ◽  
Justification Of Punishment ◽  
Do So

This chapter focuses on crime and punishment. Punishment involves the imposition of hardship or suffering on a supposed offender for a supposed crime, by a person or body who claims the authority to do so. Criminal punishment is problematic in at least three respects: it harms those who are punished; it also harms, indirectly, their families and friends; and it imposes significant costs on the rest of the political community. There are two strategies for the justification of punishment: instrumental and non-instrumental justifications. The instrumental strategy has been traditionally pursued by endorsing some version of consequentialism, the moral theory according to which the rightness or wrongness of a given conduct, practice, or rule depends only on its consequences. Non-instrumental justifications, on the other hand, have been traditionally defended by retributivist theories, according to which, wrongdoers deserve to suffer in proportion to the gravity of the wrong they have committed.

Ambedkar’s Framing of the ‘Political’ within Ethical Practice

2016 ◽  
Vol 4 (2) ◽  
pp. 143-158
Author(s):  
Rajeev Kadambi
Keyword(s):  
The State ◽  
The Self ◽  
The Other ◽  
Ethical Framework ◽  
The Political ◽  
Original Formulation ◽  
Ethical Practice ◽  
Moral Conduct ◽  
Institutional Structures ◽  
Practices Of The Self

This article advances Ambedkar’s recasting of pure politics and the political within an ethical framework. It explores Ambedkar’s ethos of radical action grounded in the limitation of the state, law and institutional structures to transform society. In foregrounding Ambedkar’s idea of transformation and change through practices of the self, the essay locates self-transformation as going beyond a critique of existing social and economic frameworks. In furtherance, this view captures an ethics of internal transformation resulting from the change in moral conduct achieved through voluntary conversion. Dhamma was based on techniques of self-restraint that stressed on an unremitting duty owed to the other including an adversary and stranger. It inaugurated an inclusive and ecological notion of kinship based on empathy and friendship whose aim was to break down all barriers and create a compassionate society. Ambedkar furnishes us with an original formulation to think through a notion of compassionate justice from the moral lexicon of the broken men.

scholarly journals Locke's Educational Dimension in Some Thoughts Concerning Education in Function of the Philosophy of Education

2021 ◽  
Vol 18 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Petar Jakopec
Keyword(s):  
Political Participation ◽  
Educational Philosophy ◽  
Moral Identity ◽  
Philosophy Of Education ◽  
Political Community ◽  
The Other ◽  
Good Education ◽  
Other Hand

In this article the author problematizes Locke's Some Thoughts Concerning Education and critically re-examines Locke's educational philosophy. By elaborating Locke's Thoughts on the basis of particular and verified reasons, the article concludes that Locke's educational philosophy is closely related to his understanding of liberty and the role of an individual in a political community. Although in his Thoughts Locke did not focus on the question of what education is in order to elaborate on the problem of education, he nevertheless philosophically focused on the question of why and how to educate, that is, he seeks to determine what the goal of education is. In this sense, he found that education primarily serves to strengthen an apprentice’s moral identity and natural character, and offers a number of practical suggestions on how to educate. While on the other hand, Locke sees the ultimate meaning of why to educate in the function of a good education that will prepare an apprentice for free and full political participation in the life of a political community.

scholarly journals Jeremy Waldron and the Circumstances of Politics

2020 ◽  
pp. 1-22
Author(s):  
Alexander Latham-Gambi
Keyword(s):  
Human Rights ◽  
Collective Action ◽  
Institutional Design ◽  
Civic Virtue ◽  
Political Community ◽  
The Other ◽  
The Political ◽  
Political Sphere ◽  
The Face

Abstract This article examines Jeremy Waldron's concept of the “circumstances of politics” (CoP), which he describes as the felt need for a common decision in the face of disagreement. Waldron uses the CoP to detach certain issues surrounding civic virtue and institutional design from questions about substantive principles such as justice and human rights. While emphasis is often placed on the fact of disagreement, I argue that the other aspect of the CoP, the need for collective action, is in fact the more fundamental. Waldron's arguments rely on an understanding that there is expressive value in citizens affirming commitment to the political community and on an awareness of how the nature of politics as public collective action is structured by the constitutional architecture. I argue that a lopsided focus on disagreement threatens to obscure the fact that the political sphere is itself a fragile achievement that is in need of continual support.

Religion and the Construction of a Christian Roman Polity

2020 ◽  
Vol 4 (1) ◽  
pp. 76-113
Author(s):  
Francesco Rotiroti
Keyword(s):  
Theoretical Framework ◽  
Political Community ◽  
The Political ◽  
Political Dimension ◽  
Roman World ◽  
Recent Scholarship ◽  
Theories Of Religion ◽  
Ancient Christianity

This article seeks to define a theoretical framework for the study of the relation between religion and the political community in the Roman world and to analyze a particular case in point. The first part reviews two prominent theories of religion developed in the last fifty years through the combined efforts of anthropologists and classicists, arguing for their complementary contribution to the understanding of religion's political dimension. It also provides an overview of the approaches of recent scholarship to the relation between religion and the Roman polity, contextualizing the efforts of this article toward a theoretical reframing of the political and institutional elements of ancient Christianity. The second part focuses on the religious legislation of the Theodosian Code, with particular emphasis on the laws against the heretics and their performance in the construction of the political community. With their characteristic language of exclusion, these laws signal the persisting overlap between the borders of the political community and the borders of religion, in a manner that one would expect from pre-Christian civic religions. Nevertheless, the political essence of religion did also adapt to the ecumenical dimension of the empire. Indeed, the religious norms of the Code appear to structure a community whose borders tend to be identical to the borders of the whole inhabited world, within which there is no longer room for alternative affiliations; the only possible identity outside this community is that of the insane, not belonging to any political entity and thus unable to possess any right.

Identity Politics' Issue In Indonesia Presidential Election 2019

2019 ◽  
Vol 1 (5) ◽  
Author(s):  
Ida Susilowati ◽  
Zahrotunnimah Zahrotunnimah ◽  
Nur Rohim Yunus
Keyword(s):  
Identity Politics ◽  
Presidential Election ◽  
Political Identity ◽  
Secondary Data ◽  
The Other ◽  
The Political ◽  
Political Campaign ◽  
Communist Ideology ◽  
Presidential Election Campaign ◽  
Research Analysis

AbstractPresidential Election in 2019 has become the most interesting executive election throughout Indonesia's political history. People likely separated, either Jokowi’s or Prabowo’s stronghold. Then it can be assumed, when someone, not a Jokowi’s stronghold he or she certainly within Prabowo’s stronghold. The issue that was brought up in the presidential election campaign, sensitively related to religion, communist ideology, China’s employer, and any other issues. On the other side, politics identity also enlivened the presidential election’s campaign in 2019. Normative Yuridis method used in this research, which was supported by primary and secondary data sourced from either literature and social phenomenon sources as well. The research analysis concluded that political identity has become a part of the political campaign in Indonesia as well as in other countries. The differences came as the inevitability that should not be avoided but should be faced wisely. Finally, it must be distinguished between political identity with the politicization of identity clearly.Keywords. Identity Politics, 2019 Presidential Election

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