Kant’s Open Secret

2011 ◽  
Vol 28 (7-8) ◽  
pp. 26-40 ◽  
Author(s):  
Geoffrey Bennington

It is argued that Kant’s claimed reconciliation of politics and ethics in the Appendix to ‘Perpetual Peace’ founders on an irreducible element of secrecy that no amount of ‘publicity’ could ever dissipate. This shows up figuratively in images of veiling, and more especially in the paradoxical ‘very transparent veil’ associated with British politics in a footnote to ‘The Contest of Faculties’. This figure suggests that the structure of the ‘public’ itself involves a kind of transcendental secrecy that cannot be ‘publicly’ overcome, and that public space therefore cannot become fully visible to itself. This structural problem, it is claimed, prevents Kant from securing his proposed distinctions between the ‘moral politician’ and the ‘political moralist’, and between ‘political prudence’ or expediency and ‘political wisdom’. A similar problem reappears in the supplementary ‘Secret Article’ that Kant includes in the second edition of ‘Perpetual Peace’, which specifies, ‘secretly’, that heads of state should take secret counsel from the open and public discussions of philosophers. In giving away this secret, even as he declares it to be a secret, Kant essentially repeats the gesture of revealing the violent origin of the state, shown in the ‘ Rechtslehre’ to be illegal, and in so doing condemns the philosopher at best to a kind of exile with respect to political time and space, a marginal place that is here aligned with the place of ‘ ius aequivocum’ addressed in the Appendix to the Introduction to the ‘ Rechtslehre’, where appeals to equity on the one hand and the right of necessity on the other are described as being inaudible in the system of public right. It is suggested that these marginal and equivocal places all show up an internal frontier in the transcendental account of public space, and that this frontier zone, the very place of politics, sets a limit to the prospects of Enlightenment itself. In conclusion, it is proposed that thinking through these problems would require less a turn toward ethics than a rereading of the concept of nature, on the basis of its Heraclitean penchant for hiding or veiling itself.

Author(s):  
José Luis García Guerrero

The present Project contains a complete synthesis of the constitutional Spanish jurisprudence. The author considers that the right to freedom and the political rights are grouped around three or four genres. It identifies, between those, the freedom of communication that the constitutional assembly and the constitutional jurisprudence have extended to all sorts of activities. After this assumption, the project is focused on giving a view of the freedom of communication from the point of view of the differences between the freedom of information and the freedom of speech in a strict way. After defending a legal nature which protects all kinds of communications and which can be exercised by all sorts of chaps; it is rejected that the institutional offshoot explains the really different limitations that several messages introduce, wide restrictions regarding commercial speech or pornography and dropped ones regarding politics. The argument which is proposed for its justification is based on the different systematic connections that are originated between the constitutional rules by the different matter and the purpose pursued by the messages, and, when this yardstick is insufficient, it is complemented with the concept of relevance or public interest, the one which is pretended to be refined. The exercise of that freedom by journalists and maximizing the professional diligence reinforce the freedom of communication when it has to be pondered with other rights or constitutional goods. In Spain, the affair Terminello versus Chicago is considered as a worth yardstick to solve conflicts with the public order.


2004 ◽  
Vol 12 ◽  
pp. 47
Author(s):  
Myriam Feldfeber ◽  
Analía Jaimovich ◽  
Fernanda Saforcada

The educational reform that took place in Argentina during the ´90s should be analyzed in the context of a broader reform process implemented in the whole of Latin America during that period, aimed at reforming the State and introducing deregulation, decentralization and privatization policies. During this process, the role that the Sate traditionally held in education is redefined, and the responsibility of guaranteeing the right to education is transferred form the State to the families and the schools. These transformations redefine the public character of public education, introduce new meanings in the debates and views about when something should be considered public or not in the field of education and foster the creation of a non- state public space which could be placed between the State and the market. This paper aims at analyzing the project “Escuelas 2001” which seeks to implement charter schools in San Luis, Argentina. The analysis is based on a two-fold approach: on the one hand, it takes into consideration the logic underlying the design and implementation of this policy; on the other hand, it focuses on the actors’ views about education, the State and public institutions.


Comunicar ◽  
2005 ◽  
Vol 13 (25) ◽  
Author(s):  
María-Magdalena da-Costa-Oliveira

To transform an individual pain into a collective feeling of suffering is a capacity of all mass media. However, television has, in this point, a tremendous power. The capacity to join millions of TV viewers in front of itself is its most admirable merit, but it’s also its most dreadful danger. Principally when the point are the human rights, as the right of privacy or the right of not suffer in the public space, the demand of quality appears not only as an obligation of the Government but also as a duty of citizenship of all TV viewers. Although it is not properly a novelty in some European countries, the existence of a TV Ombudsman2 will be a reality in Portugal only this year. The Government has approved a legal diploma to create this figure, which will evaluate the programming and information of the public channel RTP. As the ombudsmen of press that we already know, the TV Ombudsman will be the person who receives the critics and observations of TV viewers, evaluates them and writes about them an impression to the administration of the channel. Being a self-regulatory proceeding, the TV Ombudsman is fundamentally a mechanism that implicates citizens. It is not only an entity of vigilance on ethics of Television. It is essentially a platform of dialogue between journalists, programmers and TV viewers. As in the press, the Ombudsman is a mediator. Although it is probably not an absolute guarantee of quality, TV Ombudsman is surely an argument of citizens against the bad things diffused by the box that we believe is the one by which the most important of our lives goes trough. Transformar uma dor individual num sentimento colectivo de sofrimento é uma capacidade de todos os meios de massa. Todavia, a televisão tem a este título um poder tremendamente grande. A capacidade de reunir milhões de telespectadores à sua frente é o seu mais admirável mérito, mas também o seu mais temível perigo. Sobretudo quando estão em causa direitos humanos, como o direito à privacidade ou a não sofrer no espaço público, a procura de qualidade surge não somente como uma obrigação do governo como também como um dever de cidadania de todos os espectadores. Não sendo propriamente novidade em alguns países europeus, a existência do Provedor do Telespectador1 só será uma realidade em Portugal este ano. O governo aprovou um diploma para a criação desta figura que deverá avaliar a programação e a informação do canal público RTP. Como os provedores dos leitores que conhecemos, também o Provedor do Telespectador será a pessoa que receberá as críticas e as observações dos telespectadores, as avaliará e emitirá sobre elas um parecer para a administração do canal. Sendo um procedimento de auto-regulação, o Provedor do Telespectador é fundamentalmente uma entidade de vigilância da ética da televisão. Essencialmente é uma plataforma de diálogo entre jornalistas, programadores e telespectadores. Tal como na imprensa, o Provedor é um mediador. Ainda que não seja provavelmente uma garantia absoluta de qualidade, o Provedor do Telespectador é seguramente um argumento dos cidadãos contra os males difundidos pela caixa que se crê ser aquela por onde passa o mais importante das nossas vidas.


2000 ◽  
Vol 39 (4) ◽  
pp. 507-527 ◽  
Author(s):  
Alberto Melucci ◽  
Leonardo Avritzer

This article is an attempt to show the political consequences of the forms of collective action introduced by social movements and their contribution to the formulation of a new conception of democratic practice. It is our contention that the current crisis faced by democracy is linked to the lack of a space capable of dealing with both social complexity and cultural pluralism. We argue that a public space for face-to-face interaction among citizens differentiated from the state allows us to consider this issue in a different light. Publicity allows the incorporation into democratic politics of demands for cultural integration by preserving a space for their direct presentation. Publicity also avoids a reductionist conception of political claims in which, in order for representation to take place, there is the need to reduce the plurality of the cultural demands through the aggregation of political majorities. In this article we show the tension between the public space and political representation, and argue that the definition of democracy in complex societies should include two further freedoms: the freedom not to belong as the right to withdraw from one's constituted identity in order to form a new one, and the freedom not to be represented. Such acts, which are non-aggregative par excellence, cannot be managed by the system of representation, but only through mechanisms of public presentation and acknowledgement of difference. In our view the tension between the political and the public should become part of the definition of democracy.


Author(s):  
Dirk Voorhoof

The normative perspective of this chapter is how to guarantee respect for the fundamental values of freedom of expression and journalistic reporting on matters of public interest in cases where a (public) person claims protection of his or her right to reputation. First it explains why there is an increasing number and expanding potential of conflicts between the right to freedom of expression and media freedom (Article 10 ECHR), on the one hand, and the right of privacy and the right to protection of reputation (Article 8 ECHR), on the other. In addressing and analysing the European Court’s balancing approach in this domain, the characteristics and the impact of the seminal 2012 Grand Chamber judgment in Axel Springer AG v. Germany (no. 1) are identified and explained. On the basis of the analysis of the Court’s subsequent jurisprudence in defamation cases it evaluates whether this case law preserves the public watchdog-function of media, investigative journalism and NGOs reporting on matters of public interest, but tarnishing the reputation of public figures.


Author(s):  
Jonathan Stutz

AbstractWith the present paper I would like to discuss a particular form of procession which we may term mocking parades, a collective ritual aimed at ridiculing cultic objects from competing religious communities. The cases presented here are contextualized within incidents of pagan/Christian violence in Alexandria between the 4th and 5th centuries, entailing in one case the destruction of the Serapeum and in another the pillaging of the Isis shrine at Menouthis on the outskirts of Alexandria. As the literary accounts on these events suggest, such collective forms of mockery played an important role in the context of mob violence in general and of violence against sacred objects in particular. However, while historiographical and hagiographical sources from the period suggest that pagan statues underwent systematic destruction and mutilation, we can infer from the archaeological evidence a vast range of uses and re-adaptation of pagan statuary in the urban space, assuming among other functions that of decorating public spaces. I would like to build on the thesis that the parading of sacred images played a prominent role in the discourse on the value of pagan statuary in the public space. On the one hand, the statues carried through the streets became themselves objects of mockery and violence, involving the population of the city in a collective ritual of exorcism. On the other hand, the images paraded in the mocking parades could also become a means through which the urban space could become subject to new interpretations. Entering in visual contact with the still visible vestiges of the pagan past, with the temples and the statuary of the city, the “image of the city” became affected itself by the images paraded through the streets, as though to remind the inhabitants that the still-visible elements of Alexandria’s pagan topography now stood as defeated witnesses to Christianity’s victory.


2018 ◽  
Vol 72 (3) ◽  
pp. 693-716
Author(s):  
Zeynep Direk

Abstract This essay explores the late nineteenth and early twentieth Century gender debates in the late Ottoman Empire, and the early Republic of Turkey with a focus on Fatma Aliye’s presence in the public space, as the first Ottoman woman philosopher, novelist, and public intellectual. I choose to concentrate on her because of the important stakes of the gender debates of that period, and the ways in which they are echoed in the present can be effectively discussed by reflecting on the ways in which Fatma Aliye is read, presented, and received. In the first part of this paper, I talk about Fatma Aliye’s life and experience of her gender as a woman, and point to her key interests as a writer and philosopher. In the second part, I situate her in the political history of feminism during the Rearrangement Period (Tanzimat), the Second Constitutional Era (II. Meşrutiyet), and the institution of the modern Republic of Turkey. Lastly, in the third part, I discuss the diverse ways in which she is interpreted in contemporary Turkey. I explore the political impact of the reception of Fatma Aliye as an intellectual figure on the current gender debates in Turkey.


2019 ◽  
pp. 179-198 ◽  
Author(s):  
Manfredo Manfredini

Considering place-based participation a crucial factor for the development of sustainable and resilient cities in the post-digital turn age, this paper addresses the socio-spatial implications of the recent transformation of relationality networks. To understand the drivers of spatial claims emerged in conditions of digitally augmented spectacle and simulation, it focuses on changes occurring in key nodes of central urban public and semi-public spaces of rapidly developing cities. Firstly, it proposes a theoretical framework for the analysis of problems related to socio-spatial fragmentation, polarisation and segregation of urban commons subject to external control. Secondly, it discusses opportunities and criticalities emerging from a representational paradox depending on the ambivalence in the play of desire found in digitally augmented semi-public spaces. The discussion is structured to shed light on specific socio-spatial relational practices that counteract the dissipation of the “common worlds” caused by sustained processes of urban gentrification and homogenisation. The theoretical framework is developed from a comparative critical urbanism approach inspired by the right to the city and the right to difference, and elaborates on the discourse on sustainable development that informs the United Nations’ New Urban Agenda. The analysis focuses on how digitally augmented geographies reintroduce practices of participation and commoning that reassemble fragmented relational infrastructures and recombine translocal social, cultural and material elements. Empirical studies on the production of advanced simulative and transductive spatialities in places of enhanced consumption found in Auckland, New Zealand, ground the discussion. These provide evidence of the extent to which the agency of the augmented territorialisation forces reconstitutes inclusive and participatory systems of relationality. The concluding notes, speculating on the emancipatory potential found in these social laboratories, are a call for a radical redefinition of the approach to the problem of the urban commons. Such a change would improve the capacity of urbanism disciplines to adequately engage with the digital turn and efficaciously contribute to a maximally different spatial production that enhances and strengthens democracy and pluralism in the public sphere.


2020 ◽  
pp. 177-192
Author(s):  
Iman Hegazy

Public spaces are defined as places that should be accessible to all inhabitants without restrictions. They are spaces not only for gathering, socializing and celebrating but also for initiating discussions, protesting and demonstrating. Thus, public spaces are intangible expressions of democracy—a topic that the paper tackles its viability within the context of Alexandria, case study Al-Qaed Ibrahim square. On the one hand, Al-Qaed Ibrahim square which is named after Al-Qaed Ibrahim mosque is a sacred element in the urban fabric; whereas on the other it represents a non-religious revolutionary symbol in the Alexandrian urban public sphere. This contradiction necessitates finding an approach to study the characteristic of this square/mosque within the Alexandrian context—that is to realize the impact of the socio-political events on the image of Al-Qaed Ibrahim square, and how it has transformed into a revolutionary urban symbol and yet into a no-public space. The research revolves around the hypothesis that the political events taking place in Egypt after January 25th, 2011, have directly affected the development of urban public spaces, especially in Alexandria. Therefore methodologically, the paper reviews the development of Al-Qaed Ibrahim square throughout the Egyptian socio-political changes, with a focus on the square’s urban and emotional contextual transformations. For this reason, the study adheres to two theories: the "city elements" by Kevin Lynch and "emotionalizing the urban" by Frank Eckardt. The aim is not only to study the mentioned public space but also to figure out the changes in people’s societal behaviour and emotion toward it. Through empowering public spaces, the paper calls the different Egyptian political and civic powers to recognize each other, regardless of their religious, ethnical or political affiliations. It is a step towards replacing the ongoing political conflicts, polarization, and suppression with societal reconciliation, coexistence, and democracy.


Author(s):  
Harius Eko saputra

Almost every day, in various mass media, especially in newspapers, it is found that there are so many complaints and unsatisfactory opinions from the community, as the customer, towards the current implementation of public service. These complaints and unsatisfactory opinions can describe how bad the quality of the current public service is, which is benefited by the community. It may be the right time for the community to be treated as citizens, who will have rights and give priority to their rights for being served afterwards. They are not anymore being considered as clients who previously have no any choice in choosing and in determining what kind of service that they really want to. There are so many results from research, seminar and writings that are conducted by experts in which their works talk about the implementation of a good and qualified public service. Currently, however, the qualified public service has not yet implemented as should have been. The implementation of public service still acts as however it please to be and only emphasize on its own interest without considering the consumer’s importance as the party that should really be served as well as possible. For this reason, a research, which is done in Service Integrated Unit of the Jember Regency, tries to find out any factors affecting quality of the public services. The main core of the public service implementation is the quality of norm of the service executor. The matter that should be realized is that the executor is the person who should serve for the community, and the community is the one who should be served as well as possible.Keywords: Implementation of public service, legislatif


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