The author looks into the life & work of Alexander von Humboldt, viewing him as a protagonist of a scientific globalization concept that linked the promotion of science with the trinity of liberty, equality, & fraternity. Humboldt saw fraternite as realized in the form of a worldwide dialogue of scientists. The author observes that Humboldt was a pragmatic & organizational genius of networking, ie, the strategy of public relations that included contacts with scientists & the popularization of scientific achievements. Humboldt's Eurocentrism, which comes to the fore in his work about his travels, is nevertheless as ambivalent as the history of the reception of that work. Truth to tell, this work lay the foundation for European colonization & exploitation of Latin America, but was also essential for its self-understanding & political emancipation. The author claims that Humboldt's private & political ambivalence, essentially productive, is the result of his magnificent incompleteness & imperfections. Adapted from the source document.
The author looks into the life & work of Alexander von Humboldt, viewing him as a protagonist of a scientific globalization concept that linked the promotion of science with the trinity of liberty, equality, & fraternity. Humboldt saw fraternite as realized in the form of a worldwide dialogue of scientists. The author observes that Humboldt was a pragmatic & organizational genius of networking, ie, the strategy of public relations that included contacts with scientists & the popularization of scientific achievements. Humboldt's Eurocentrism, which comes to the fore in his work about his travels, is nevertheless as ambivalent as the history of the reception of that work. Truth to tell, this work lay the foundation for European colonization & exploitation of Latin America, but was also essential for its self-understanding & political emancipation. The author claims that Humboldt's private & political ambivalence, essentially productive, is the result of his magnificent incompleteness & imperfections. Adapted from the source document.
Political attitudes & activity of Thomas Jefferson, one of the founding fathers of American democracy, are described in this text. The author describes Jefferson's role in political activities of major importance for the creation of the US: compiling the Declaration of Independence, operating the Legislative Assembly of the state of Virginia, enacting of the separation of church & state, creating American foreign policy & the policy of Western colonization, introducing the first ten Constitutional amendments as a guarantee of human & civil rights, & elaborating on the principles of the organization of federal government. Jefferson fought against excessive legislation on powers of central political institutions. He established the tradition of Republicans versus Federalists led by Hamilton. That opposition gave birth to the modern American two-party system. Jefferson's presidency was also significant due to the elimination of centralist & oligarchic tendencies of previous Federalist governments. The author suggests that Jefferson's political theory & practice have left a permanent mark on the contemporary theory of democratic republicanism. 45 References. Adapted from the source document.
The author describes the origin of politics in ancient polis. The archaic polis was originally a settlement ruled by aristocracy, a social & religious center of a small agrarian society. Intensive trade, wars, & colonization brought about the crisis of the aristocratic polis between the 8th & 6th ct. BC: The relations between the aristocracy & the peasantry were spoiled, tyrannies came into being, citizens revolted. In the 6th century BC, the crisis was resolved through the establishment of the civic polis in which politics became an autonomous sphere of human activity in which all citizens had a say in the running of polis. The social basis of politics was the emergence of a relatively homogeneous citizenry (demos), in which the old aristocracy was mixed with smaller farmers, craftsmen, & traders. The creators of the politics were wise individuals (sophoi) who, like Solon, embody the new virtue (arete), ie, the ability to go beyond the ephemeral human thinking (doxa), which aims at maximizing fortune & glory, & to establish order (eunomia) in polis. Thanks to the classical Greek philosophy, the epoch-making invention of politics became the paradigm of humanity & one of the foundations of western civilization. Adapted from the source document.
The ownership structure is one of the determining factors in the development of all agricultures; Croatia's is not an exception to this rule. In the long run, the ownership structure is undoubtedly going to determine the direction of the development of the market-oriented Croatian agriculture. The process of building the ownership structure appropriate to the market economy is neither simple not fast, let alone cheap. An overnight change in the ownership structure is neither possible nor prudent. The existing ownership structure of Croatian agriculture is the result of a century & a half long historical development. Socioeconomic & political factors exerted a strong influence on the process of the ownership structure's formation. Today Croatia has an "atomized" estate of only 2.9 hectares. A century ago the average size of estates was 8 hectares. This fragmentation is a direct result of the agrarian reform & colonization in the second Yugoslavia when the land maximum was reduced to 10 hectares. The existing -- very unfavorable structure -- should be in the transitional period gradually adapted to the family economy as the basis of future development, which will be market-oriented, cost-effective, & profitable. 3 Tables, 23 References. Adapted from the source document.
What is the state of consciousness of modernity presently like? Is modernity as out of date as is claimed by neoconservatism in general & the postmodernists in particular? Neoconservatists accuse modern culture of undermining the ethical foundations of social life. The author shows that neoconservatism does not understand the relation between culture & society, & that it ascribes to cultural modernity the pathological syndromes (hedonism, narcissism, loss of identity) which are, in fact, the product of capitalist modernization of economy & society. Through money & power, the systemic imperatives of market economy & of the bureaucratic state gravely endanger the world of life & the process of cultural reproduction & social integration. Thus, it is solely through distinction between societal & cultural modernization that one can also understand the pathological effects resulting from the sphere of culture itself. While societal modernization is characterized by a growing autonomy of purposefully rational activity (in market economy & administration), which leads to colonization of the world of life, cultural modernization is marked by an increasing differentiation of cultural value spheres (science, morality, art) based on varied aspirations to validity (truth, rightness, authenticity) & by a differentiation of structures of rationality (cognitive-instrumental, moral-practical, aesthetic). Conservative critics of the aporiae of modern culture reject the entire project of modernity, advocating either a return to pre-modernism, or a step forward into postmodernity, or else mere anti-modernity (philosophers such as Nietzsche, Heidegger, Bataille, Foucault, Derrida). In contrast to them, the author sees the potentials of modernity in the protection & development of the sphere of communicational rationality against the systemic imperatives of economy & of the state, in the reestablishment of links between the spheres of science, morality & art, & in connecting the corresponding expert cultures with the communicational practice of the world of life. Thus perceived, modernity is still an unfinished project, which encompasses historical emancipatory potentials only as a differentiated reactive linkage of modern culture with everyday practice, only if societal modernization can also be steered down other non-capitalist paths, if the world of life can develop out of itself institutions limited by the dynamics of the economic & administrative system. Adapted from the source document.
