Taking Modernity to Extremes: On the Roots of Anti-Politics

2019 ◽  
pp. 147892991988734
Author(s):  
Matteo Truffelli ◽  
Lorenzo Zambernardi
Keyword(s):  
Political Philosophy ◽  
Natural Condition ◽  
Social Life ◽  
Max Weber ◽  
Thomas Hobbes ◽  
Political Authority ◽  
Modern Times ◽  
Modern Politics ◽  
Modern Era

The term anti-politics has been used in recent years as never before. However, the concept is used to describe political phenomena and actors that appear at first sight to be mutually exclusive. Starting from the difficulties in defining anti-politics, the main goal of the article is to elucidate its intellectual roots, showing that it is a kind of shadow of modern politics, mirroring its many forms. From an examination of Thomas Hobbes’ political philosophy, it will be shown that anti-politics was born at a moment when politics was no longer seen as a natural condition of social life, but an artificial construct that can be dismantled and reassembled. By no means coincidentally, the main manifestations of anti-politics are nothing but the radical and destructive reinterpretation of what Max Weber identifies as the three “inner justifications” of political authority (i.e. tradition, charisma, competence). Although Weber lays down those principles as underpinning political authority in ancient and modern times, the contention of this article is that they can only be used to deny the legitimacy of politics once this comes to be seen as an artifice that can be taken to pieces and put together again: in short, in the modern era.

scholarly journals The Theory of Social Contract and Legitimacy Today

2018 ◽  
Vol 9 (5) ◽  
pp. 19-28
Author(s):  
Neophitos Economides
Keyword(s):  
Political Philosophy ◽  
Social Contract ◽  
Final Section ◽  
Ancient Greece ◽  
Political Authority ◽  
The Political ◽  
Renaissance Period ◽  
The Social ◽  
History Of ◽  
Modern Era

Abstract The theory of social contract has played - and still plays - an important role in the central stage of political philosophy. The social contract answers the question of the origin of the society. The history of the theory originates in the ancient Greece political philosophy and extends to the recent years. However, the foundation of the theory resulted in the Renaissance period through the treatises of classical contractarians Hobbes, Locke and Rousseau. The manuscript describes the main arguments regarding the theory of social contract and suggests the main similarities and differences among them. Finally, the manuscript, according to the main description of the theories, suggests the main categorization of their results in legitimizing the political authority. In the final section, the article proposes the contribution of the theory of the social contract to the modern era and summarizes the positive aspects of its arguments to the legitimization of the political authority of modern states.

Coming to Terms with Social Life

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kai Erikson
Keyword(s):  
Social Order ◽  
Social Life ◽  
Karl Marx ◽  
Max Weber ◽  
Religious Life ◽  
Class Struggle ◽  
Political Authority ◽  
Emile Durkheim ◽  
The Social ◽  
Spirit Of Capitalism

This chapter examines how three masters of the sociological tradition—Karl Marx, Émile Durkheim, and Max Weber—came to terms with social life. Two major themes run throughout Marx's work: the first has to do with the effects of the class struggle on the human spirit; the second has to do with the effects of class struggle on human thought and human institutions, a topic he dealt with under the general headings of class consciousness and ideology. The chapter also considers Durkheim's views on the nature of the social order and on the nature of sociology, and more specifically on questions such as those relating to division of labor, suicide, and religious life. Finally, it discusses Weber's The Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism as well as his thoughts on topics ranging from the nature of sociology to forms of political authority.

Political Authority, Self-Defense, And Pre-Emptive War

1972 ◽  
Vol 1 (4) ◽  
pp. 409-426 ◽  
Author(s):  
Marvin Schiller
Keyword(s):  
Political Philosophy ◽  
John Locke ◽  
Thomas Hobbes ◽  
Well Being ◽  
Political Authority ◽  
Self Defense ◽  
Systematic Fashion ◽  
History Of ◽  
Central Purpose

The central purpose of this paper is to examine the case for political authority, i.e., the argument for having political authority rather than for having none. Thus, the case for political authority is the case against anarchism. My construction of that case owes much, no doubt, to observations made long ago by Thomas Hobbes and john locke. Nevertheless, these observations have never been stated in a satisfactory and systematic fashion, not even by Hobbes and locke themselves. Hobbes’ observations have, more often than not, been misunderstood, and those of locke have generally been overlooked. However, this paper is not intended to be an exercise in the history of political philosophy. Rather, it is an assessment of a philosophical thesis, namely, that political authority is essential to man's survival and well-being. Although this thesis is rarely contested and, in fact, borders on the commonplace, it is contestable. Moreover, since disenchantment with authority and how it is exercised is growing, an examination of how men are likely to fare in its absence is appropriate. Such an examination is complex, but it is not impossible.

scholarly journals Nature, civility and eschatology: Thomas Hobbes’s progress in three acts

2016 ◽  
Vol 27 (4) ◽  
pp. 884-900 ◽  
Author(s):  
Marko Simendic
Keyword(s):  
Political Theory ◽  
Human Nature ◽  
Natural Condition ◽  
Thomas Hobbes ◽  
Kingdom Of God ◽  
Political Authority ◽  
The State ◽  
Human Reasoning ◽  
Human Being ◽  
Hypothetical Situation

This paper argues that Thomas Hobbes?s theory contains an account of progressive defragmentation and unification of power, accompanied by the progression in human reasoning capacities. If the consequence of human nature is abandonment of natural condition and subjection to a sovereign, then similar principles should apply to the sovereigns themselves, since Hobbes sees them as continuing to exist in the state of nature. In turn, the relations between sovereigns must also lead to defragmentation of political authority, either by conquest or through peaceful submission. Total defragmentation of power might also have eschatological consequences, as the unified power of one human being over the whole world would remove ?external violence? as a cause of ?the dissolution of a commonwealth? while the perfection of reason would progressively remove the ?internal? causes. This is a hypothetical situation that could relate Hobbes?s description of the Kingdom of God from Leviathan to his wider political theory by marking the single sovereign representative of now immortal all-encompassing Leviathan as the Antichrist and thus announcing the second coming of Christ.

Introduction: Subjects and Systems

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Lisa Herzog
Keyword(s):  
Political Philosophy ◽  
Social Life ◽  
Social Philosophy ◽  
Police Departments ◽  
Moral Criticism ◽  
Meso Level ◽  
Black Boxes ◽  
Private Corporations ◽  
Moral Questions

The Introduction sets out the problem this book addresses: organizations, in which individuals seem to be nothing but ‘cogs’, have become extremely powerful, while being apparently immune to moral criticism. Organizations—from public bureaucracies to universities, police departments, and private corporations—have specific features that they share qua organizations. They need to be opened up for normative theorizing, rather than treated as ‘black boxes’ or as elements of a ‘system’ in which moral questions have no place. The Introduction describes ‘social philosophy’ as an approach that addresses questions at the meso-level of social life, and situates it in relation to several strands of literature in moral and political philosophy. It concludes by providing a preview of the chapters of the book.

Esteem and self-esteem as an interweaving polarity. Max Weber´s analysis from the Protestant ethic to the ideal-type of politician

Human Affairs ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 30 (3) ◽  
pp. 353-364
Author(s):  
Cristiana Senigaglia
Keyword(s):  
Social Life ◽  
Max Weber ◽  
Modern Society ◽  
Self Esteem ◽  
Protestant Ethic ◽  
Social Reputation ◽  
Conduct Of Life ◽  
The Social ◽  
The Relationship ◽  
The Ideal

AbstractAlthough Max Weber does not specifically analyze the topic of esteem, his investigation of the Protestant ethic offers interesting insights into it. The change in mentality it engendered essentially contributed to enhancing the meaning and importance of esteem in modern society. In his analysis, Weber ascertains that esteem was fundamental to being accepted and integrated into the social life of congregations. Nevertheless, he also highlights that esteem was supported by a form of self-esteem which was not simply derived from a good social reputation, but also achieved through a deep and continual self-analysis as well as a strict discipline in the ethical conduct of life. The present analysis reconstructs the different aspects of the relationship between social and self-esteem and analyzes the consequences of that relationship by focusing on the exemplary case of the politician’s personality and ethic.

From Intuitions to Anarchism?

2020 ◽  
Vol 26 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
David Gordon
Keyword(s):  
Political Philosophy ◽  
Present Article ◽  
Common Sense ◽  
Ethical Theory ◽  
Political Authority ◽  
Individual Rights ◽  
Common View ◽  
Libertarian Theory

AbstractWhen libertarian political philosophy attracted wide public notice in the 1970s, a common view was that the distinctive individual rights advocated in libertarian theory required grounding in a theory of ethics. Recently, this view has come under challenge. It has been argued that resort to such grounding in ethical theory is unneeded. An appeal to common sense intuitions suffices to justify libertarianism. First, a brief account of libertarianism will be presented. Then, some examples of the older, pro-grounding position will be discussed. Then, the principal defense of the newer view, Michael Huemer’s The Problem of Political Authority, will be examined. This discussion constitutes the substance of the present paper. The principal contention of the present article will be that the argument to libertarianism from intuitions does not succeed. In conclusion, it will be suggested that a return to the earlier, grounding view is indicated for philosophers who wish to defend libertarianism.

Hobbes's Concept of Representation—I

1964 ◽  
Vol 58 (2) ◽  
pp. 328-340 ◽  
Author(s):  
Hanna Pitkin
Keyword(s):  
Political Philosophy ◽  
Thomas Hobbes ◽  
History Of ◽  
Standard Edition

It is not customary to regard Thomas Hobbes as a theorist particularly concerned with representation. Hardly any of the traditional commentaries on his thought even acknowledge that he mentions the term; and the index to Molesworth's standard edition of Hobbes's English works contains no reference to it. But the fact is that representation plays a central role in the Leviathan; and Hobbes's analysis of the concept is among the most serious, systematic and challenging in the history of political philosophy. It is an analysis both temptingly plausible and, as I hope to show, peculiarly wrong. And the ways in which it is wrong are intimately related to what is most characteristic and peculiar in the Hobbesian political argument.

Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document