Universalism, Particularism and the Question of Identity
Considers recent efforts in leftist political theorizing to describe multiple subject positions in opposition to the traditional universal subject. In classic (Ancient) philosophy, the universal was sharply divided from the particular, & it was thought that the particular realized itself only by merging with universal reason. Christianity taught that the realm of the universal was God's sphere, & thus, not accessible to human reason. The Enlightenment relocated reason within the human body, & so, began an interrogation of the division between the particular & the universal as it existed within particular human beings. Current appeals to a pure particularism are not helpful in solving the dilemmas these interrogations have produced. Instead, it is suggested that the universal is best understood as the symbol of a missing fullness, while the particular exists only as an assertion of difference, which, at the same time, cancels this difference by being communicated through a nondifferential medium. Implications of this view for leftist political practice are discussed. D. M. Smith