scholarly journals REABILITATION OF ETHICS THROUGH THE PRISM OF INDIVIDUAL BIOGRAPHY (A. MACINTYRE, H. ARENDT)

The purpose of the article is to study ethical problematics in the philosophical works of Alasdair MacIntyre and Hannah Arendt. On the one hand we have the analysis of virtues ethics and of its place in modern society (through the prism of emotivism ethics inherent to this society), and on the other hand, we have the analysis of action and judgment as scopes of person’s self-representation, which are valuable by themselves. MacIntyre developed his hypothesis about an individual biography pointing out that modern emotivism ethics does not leave a room for conscious ethical worldview, reduces the scope of ethical choice to the very statement of individual preference. By that, a sequence of ethical decisions and preferences in a person’s life acquires irrational and wayward nature, due to which conscious transition from one narrative to another becomes impossible. In its turn, the possibility of individual biography as a holistic story that everyone can tell about themselves provides such an informative nature of ethical views, which have features of a narrative that can be rationally told and rationally perceived by others. Hannah Arendt analyzed the issue of modern ethical crisis from the other side – she studied the ethical dimension of judging ability and the role of action in social interaction. An action (as Arendt believed) becomes the strictly human scope of human activity, in which personality can “open up” (unlike the areas of work and creation). Judging ability appears in this context as a foundation, thanks to which a person becomes able to act: ethical worldview exists in terms of evaluation of something that exists in relation to something due. An action in this context is an active embodiment of a certain worldview position that “unfolds” itself precisely in the area of ethics while being involved in interpersonal interaction. Arendt claimed that an action, due to its nature, is unpredictable and that every human being, who dares to take it, risks getting, in the end, a result that is far from their intentions. Exactly because of it, an action exists in the actor’s biography and the fabrics of interpersonal connections simultaneously – it is the latter, which gives the space for interpretation of an actor’s actions significance. Thus, the individual biography becomes the thing that makes sense only through the prism of interpersonal interaction and mutual interpretations of individual stories.

2018 ◽  
Vol 13 (2) ◽  
pp. 219-225
Author(s):  
Arif A JAMAL

AbstractIn considering the articles in this Special Issue, I am struck by the importance of a set of factors that, in my view, both run through the articles like a leitmotif, as well as shape the major ‘take away’ lesson(s) from the articles. In this short commentary, I elaborate on these factors and the lesson(s) to take from them through five ‘Cs’: context; complexity; contestation; the framework of constitutions; and the role of comparative law. The first three ‘Cs’ are lessons from the case studies of the articles themselves, while the second two ‘Cs’ are offered as lessons to help take the dialogue forward. Fundamentally, these five ‘Cs’ highlight the importance of the articles in this Special Issue and the conference from which they emerged on the one hand, while on the other hand, also making us aware of what are the limits of what we should conclude from the individual articles. In other words, taken together, the five ‘Cs’ are, one might say, lessons about lessons.


Africa ◽  
1991 ◽  
Vol 61 (3) ◽  
pp. 299-317 ◽  
Author(s):  
Suzette Heald

AbstractThe literature has tended to deal with diviners only where they have been seen to play a notable role in the transformation of social relationships. This leads us to overlook their relative social invisibility in many African societies. Yet we may gain insight into the rise of prophets and charismatic healers by looking at the other side of this story in the multitude of very humble practitioners plying their trade. This is the context in which this article explores the role of diviners among the Gisu of Uganda.The privacy of consultation, the search for distant diviners, the way they are approached only at times of crisis and as agents of private counteraction or vengeance, go some way towards explaining why it is difficult for diviners to gain recognition. Added to which are the difficulties of another order which relate to what might here be regarded as divinatory success. For divination may be seen to fail at a number of different levels: in the lack of credibility of a given practitioner, i n a lack of unanimity among those consulted and in the multiplicity of causal agents evoked.An argument put forward here is that scepticism is endemic to the system and, possibly, distinctive to it. We should ask not, as Evans-Pritchard did, how belief i s sustained despite the presence of scepticism but what it is about these beliefs which encourages scepticism. It is not useful to explore this issue in terms of the rationality question or the ‘truth’ of belief systems. If we are to draw a comparison with modern attitudes, of greater significance are the organisation and differentiation of knowledge and its relationship to power. It is suggested that diagnostic systems used by societies such as the Gisu encourage an agnostic attitude in a way i n which those of the modern West do not.In the final part of the article the social role of divination is reconsidered and some of the positive functions proposed for it are questioned. Gisu divination can be seen to have evolved into a very narrow niche whose parameters are bound, on the one hand, by the limits of belief and, on the other, by a system of interpersonal vengeance. We may say that the socially marginal attributes of diviners, exclusively concerned with the negative aspects of social relationships, represent a real social marginality. At best they are agents by which the individual may be reconciled with harshnesses imposed by his own destiny, of ancestral affliction; at worst they are agents of individual vengeance and retribution. This may be taken as more or less disqualifying them from articulating a positive, future-oriented vision on behalf of the community. Clearly it is not impossible but it is a huge jump from these humble practitioners, interpreting the present in terms of the past and trading evil with evil at an individual level, to prophets capable of formulating a positive social vision, a means forward, on behalf of a wider moral or social community.


2016 ◽  
Vol 6 (1) ◽  
pp. 105-108
Author(s):  
Borjanka Trajković ◽  
◽  
Dragana Litričin Dunić ◽  

For centuries the role of the library was defined as a warehouse of books. Now, in the 21st century, the library is facing perhaps the biggest challenge – its physical survival. The role of librarians is re-branded to reflect their expertise as curators of content and reliable navigators in an evergrowing ocean of information - in any format they might exist. The future libraries shall be open to all the new ideas on how to work better and accept the new technologies. On the one hand, they must recognize the need to change their methods, but on the other hand - to preserve the continuity of their objectives and mission. The new era requires modern models of learning and the attractiveness of the curricula, that is, a modern education system that shall adapt the curricula to the needs of modern society and reconcile centuries of man's need for knowledge, reading books and education in general with the new technologies.


2012 ◽  
Vol 8 (3) ◽  
pp. 64-87
Author(s):  
Anabela Pereira

The aim of this article is to demonstrate how body-representations offer an opportunity for its visual interpretation from a biographical point of view, enhancing, on the one hand, the image’s own narrative dynamics, and, on the other, the role of the body as a place of incorporation of experiences, as well as, a vehicle mediating the individual interaction with the world. Perspective founded in the works of the artists Helena Almeida and Jorge Molder, who use self-representation as an expression of these incorporated (lived) experiences, constitutes an important discursive construction and structuring of their narrative identity through visual creation, the artists enable the other with moments of sharing knowledge, creativity and subjectivity, contributing also to the construction of the contemporary, cultural and social imagery.


Target ◽  
2010 ◽  
Vol 22 (2) ◽  
pp. 298-329 ◽  
Author(s):  
Omid Azadibougar

Nearly all scholarly works about the encounter of Iran with European modernity emphasize the role of translation not only in introducing new literary forms into the Persian literary system, but also in becoming the main engine of change and modernization of the culture. This paper concerns itself with this constructivist narrative of the available historiographical discourse and the translational environment between 1851 and 1921 in Iran. After describing the field of translation in the period in question, I challenge the uncritical conception of translation as a positive force by, on the one hand, investigating hypothetical cultural and linguistic implications, and on the other hand, questioning the power of translation per se, as ascribed to it in the above mentioned historiographical discourse, in socio-cultural modernization. This will prioritize the individual and cultural translational effects over the supposed institutional ones.


2020 ◽  
Vol 132 (4) ◽  
pp. 439-466
Author(s):  
Martin Becker

This paper examines the crucial role of verbal tenses for the text constitution and, especially, for the creation of narrative perspectives in the tale about St. Augustin's life, Sur les pas de Saint Augustin, written by the contemporary ’Maghrebian‘ author Kebir Ammi. On the one hand, it will be explored how the different tenses contribute in a substantial way to the creation of narrative perspectives, respectively, to narrative focalizations. On the other hand, the importance of the tenses in the structuring and organization of the individual episodes will be highlighted and, last but not least, their contribution to the semiotic dimension of the text. Finally, in an overarching perspective, the article casts light on the narrative potential inherent in tense categories and on the relevance of a modern tense theory for narrative research.


Author(s):  
Andrea Gamberini

This chapter analyses power relations in the countryside, focusing on the relationships between the lords of the castle and the dependent peasants. The aim is twofold: on the one hand, to highlight the absence of a shared political culture and, on the other, to describe the individual ideas of each social group (the culture of violence promulgated by the lords, the attempt to establish pacts on the part of the peasants, the role of conflict in implementing political ties, etc.). In the face of such divergence, the chapter investigates the ways in which opposing political cultures could coexist and interact.


1976 ◽  
Vol 20 (3) ◽  
pp. 292-305 ◽  
Author(s):  
Patricia Daine ◽  
Lois Foster

This paper seeks to outline an appropriate role for sociology in teacher preparation. An attempt is made to account for the hiatus between interest in education by sociologists on the one hand and on the other, their contribution to a sociology of education of value to the teaching profession. It is argued that both normative and interpretive approaches must be presented in sociology courses for prospective teachers. Only in this way can the contradictions and dilemmas in contemporary sociology, reflecting as it does the problems of modern society, be made explicit. Teacher trainees must be educated for the lifetime task of reflection on the meaning of their work; this is seen as the most significant role of sociology in the training of teachers.


Etyka ◽  
1979 ◽  
Vol 17 ◽  
pp. 53-82
Author(s):  
Roman Tokarczyk

Among the most interesting ideas of New Left in the US is a search for authenticity in human personality, or investigation of the place and role of the contemporary man when he is found in the setting: man-group-society-state. Finding such authenticity non-existent on the American scene the ideologists of New Left trace back the causes of this situation, characterized by deformation of personality deprived of the ego, and depict an authentic man who accepts himself both with respect to his ego and as a part of a social group in which he lives. Surreptitious emphasis of the value of the individual and of his unique personality points to the individuality of man as a central category of this line of thought. In the consequence of coexistence of various personalities, variety is the main feature of the new American society postulated by New Left. Individuality and variety imply freedom as a key concept of that thought. Variety of human individualities enjoying freedom will enable the quest for the authentic ego and abolish the manifestations of alienation which do not exist within the real interpersonal community. Community as a structural form of social coexistence is based on close, often intimate, interpersonal relations and allegedly enables unconstrained search for individuality, showing a new way from the present atomization of the American society. The key values of that thought are potentially conflicting: on the one hand there is a set of ideas: individuality, variety, freedom; on the other, there is the concept of community. The two counterparts may easily stand in conflict or mutually limit their application. In such cases it is postulated to detect the causes of conflict and eliminate them.


Author(s):  
Tedi Kholiludin

AbstrakAsumsi sekularisme bahwa peran agama akan meredup pasca Pencerahan, nyata tidak terbukti. Dugaan akan tergerusnya agama di ruang publik, tak terwujud. Meski ada sekularisasi di masyarakat, tapi proses itu tidak berimbas pada kesadaran individu. Agama masih menjadi modal sosial dan memberikan pengaruh terhadap pergumulan masyarakat modern. Dalam bentuknya yang paling militan hingga yang halus kita merasakan bagaimana pengaruh dari Konfusianisme dan Taoisme di Cina dan Taiwan, Kristen Kharismatik serta Pentakostalisme di Afrika Selatan dan India, Kristen Ortodoks di Rusia, Islam di Indonesia serta spirit kapitalisme di Eropa Timur. Agama disini, menjadi sebentuk the hidden form of capital atau modal yang tersembunyi. Di lain wajah, sentimen agama, juga tak jarang menimbulkan banyak pertikaian. Konflik antar umat beragama semakin banyak kita temukan. Inilah era dimana counter terhadap sekularisasi justru semakin menguat.  Agama selalu menghadirkan wajah ganda yang ambivalen, menjadi perekat dan sumber integrasi di satu sisi, tapi juga menjadi pemisah dan sumber konfilik di sisi lain. Bagaimana masyarakat yang tidak saling mengenal satu dengan lain, berasal dari berbagai belahan dunia bisa terbangun sentimennya karena agama. Juga sebaliknya, bagaimana ikatan-ikatan persaudaraan menjadi pudar karena berbeda agama atau pemahaman keagamaan.Kata kunci: Agama, Integrasi, Konflik dan Rekonsiliasi AbstractThe assumption of secularism that the role of religion will diminish after the Enlightenment is not proven. Allegations of religious erosion in the public sphere are unfulfilled. Although there is secularization in society, but the process does not affect individual consciousness. Religion is still a social capital and gives effect to the struggle of modern society. In its most militant to subtle form we feel the influence of Confucianism and Taoism in China and Taiwan, Christian Charismatics and Pentecostalism in South Africa and India, Orthodox Christianity in Russia, Islam in Indonesia and the spirit of capitalism in Eastern Europe. Here, Religion is being a form of hidden form of capital or hidden capital. On the other face, religious sentiments, also not infrequently cause a lot of disputes. Conflict among religious people more and more we find. This is an era where the counter to secularization is actually getting stronger. Religion always presents an ambivalent double face, a glue and source of integration on the one hand, but also a separator and a source of confidence on the other. How people who do not know each other, coming from different parts of the world can be awakened by religious sentiment. On the contrary, how fraternal bonds fade due to different religions or religious understanding. Keyword: Religion, Integration, Conflict and Reconciliation                


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