scholarly journals The State as God: On Bourdieu's Political Theology

2019 ◽  
Vol 2 (2) ◽  
pp. 61-77
Author(s):  
Victor L. Shammas

Bourdieu’s anthropology of the state can be interpreted as a form of political theology, premised on a panentheistic conception of the state, which is transcendental to social reality while simultaneously being lodged in all social matter. The state is a Leviathan that imposes a horizon of meaning beyond which social agents rarely, if ever, move. The anthropologist must transcend the doxic structures of the state by engaging in a labor of anamnesis, enacting a bringing-to-consciousness of the invisible and occluded operations of the state in its deployment of symbolic power, which serves to naturalize a series of dominant (yet arbitrary) categories, concepts, and representations. Bourdieu’s ontological vision can be summarized in the concise formula, ‘state = society = God.’ A guiding methodical imperative for sociologists of the state-as-divinity is extracted from Bourdieu’s lectures on the state: the Deus Absconditus Principle, which mandates detecting and uncovering the veiled divinity of the state in all aspects of social reality. It is the task of the anthropologist to channel, interpret, and challenge the panentheistic state.

2016 ◽  
Vol 27 (2) ◽  
pp. 429-435
Author(s):  
Snjezana Prijic-Samarzija

I am referring to social engagement as a value-based choice to actively intervene in social reality in order to modify existing collective identities and social practices with the goal of realizing the public good. The very term ?engagement?, necessarily involves the starting awareness of a social deficit or flaw and presupposes a critical attitude towards social reality. In this article, I will attempt to provide arguments in favour of the thesis about the possibility (and, later, necessity) of institutional engagement, critical action and even institutional protest, basing this view on the thesis that institutions are fundamentally collective or social agents whose actions must be guided by ethical and epistemic virtues.


2004 ◽  
Vol 24 (33) ◽  
pp. 141
Author(s):  
Andréa Vilela Gouvêia Quadra

<p>Como nação que lentamente se liberta do jugo da colonização, mas que  já foi (e ainda é) marcada pela cultura do outro, Moçambique tem, na  literatura, autores que conseguiram evidenciar a tensão existente entre a  tradição e a “cultura nova” que se infiltrou no território africano  principalmente a partir do processo de colonização. É de forma sensível  e desvestida de preconceitos que um desses autores, Mia Couto, em seu  romance <em>Terra sonâmbula</em>, aponta a existência dessa teia de influências  que atua na construção da identidade do povo moçambicano. Oral/ escrita;  sonho/ lógica e racionalidade: dois pares de aspectos que, se em princípio  parecem se constituir como dicotômicos, acabam por revelar, na obra, a  defesa de uma mestiçagem como condição harmonizadora da tensão entre  tradição e “cultura nova”. O caráter mestiço da nova Moçambique seria um terceiro “estado de alma” do povo; na obra, um estado <em>sonhambulante</em>:  estado de quem sonha, mas age como se estivesse acordado. Assim o  visível e o invisível, o possível e o impossível formam um novo <em>estado  de vivência</em>, onde seres e acontecimentos fantásticos dividem espaço (de  forma mais concreta que se pode pensar) com a guerra.</p> <p>As a nation that slowly frees itself from the colonization, but has been  (and it still is) stamped by other cultures, Mozambique has, in its literature,  autors that were able to show the tension between tradition and the new  culture, that had entered in Africa manly by the colonization process.  It´s in a sensitive way, with no prejudice that one of these authors, Mia  Couto, in his romance <em>Terra sonâmbula</em>, shows the existence of this  influence net that performs the identity building process of the people  from Mozambique. Oral/ written, dream/ logic and sense: two pairs of  aspects that, if in the beginning seem to be opposites, in this work, they  reveal themselves the defense of the halfcasteness as a balancing condition  of the tension between tradition and new culture. The halfcaste side of  the new Mozambique would be a third “soul state” of the people; in the  work, a “sonhambulante” state (this word is formed by three words:  dream sleep-walker and walking): the state of one who dreams, but acts  as if were awake. Thus, the visible and the invisible, possible and impossible  form a new living state, where beings and fantastic events share the  spaces (in a more concrete way that one may think) with the war.</p>


The Puritans ◽  
2019 ◽  
pp. 40-77
Author(s):  
David D. Hall

This chapter examines how reformation unfolded in England. A tiny number of people acted on the imperative to quit the state church. Why did others who wanted reform or reformation not follow their example? As often happened in early modern Europe, outbursts of radicalism prompted a reaction in favor of more moderate or even conservative principles or goals. The first of these was the ambition to take over and refashion a state church with the help of the civil magistrate. In 1558, hopes ran high for Elizabeth to play this role. In the eyes of English and Scottish Presbyterians, magisterial Protestantism—that is, church and state working together to impose and protect a certain version of Protestantism—was justified by biblical precept and political theology. Moreover, this kind of Protestantism preserved a strong role for the clergy over against the “Brownistical” or “democratic” implications of Separatism. At a moment when the rhetorical strategy of anti-puritans such as Bancroft was to emphasize the “Anabaptisticall” aspects of the movement, a third goal was political, to deflect the force of that rhetoric by insisting on the benefits of a national church and some version of the royal supremacy.


2019 ◽  
pp. 249-274
Author(s):  
Bernadette Meyler

Its historical association with monarchical sovereignty has tarred pardoning with an illiberal brush. This Postlude examines Carl Schmitt’s Constitutional Theory, Political Theology and other writings to argue that the pardon resembles the sovereign decision on the state of exception. The vision of pardoning as opposed to liberal constitutionalism dates further back than Schmitt, however; it appears as well in the writings of Immanuel Kant, one of the foundational figures of modern liberalism. Only by disassociating pardoning from sovereignty can it be reconciled with constitutionalism. The Postlude concludes by turning to the work of Hannah Arendt as one source for a non-sovereign vision of pardoning.


2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Drew B Margolin

Abstract This article derives a theory of informative fictions (TIF). Common forms of misinformation—fake news, rumors, and conspiracy theories—while dysfunctional for communicating property information—information about the state and operation of things—can actually be valuable for communicating character information—information about the motivations of social agents. It is argued that narratives containing “false facts” can effectively portray a speaker's theory of another individual's character. Thus, such narratives are useful for gathering information about leaders and other important individuals who are evaluated in the community. After deriving the theory, TIF is used to derive propositions predicting the empirical conditions under which misinformation will be accepted, tolerated or promoted. The implications of the theory for addressing the normative problem of misinformation are also discussed.


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