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This book investigates the ways in which soft power is used by African countries to help drive global influence. Selecting four of the countries most associated with soft power across the continent, this book delves into the currencies of soft power across the region: from South Africa's progressive constitution and expanding multinational corporations, to Nigeria's Nollywood film industry and Technical Aid Corps (TAC) scheme, Kenya's sport diplomacy, fashion and tourism industries, and finally Egypt's Pan-Arabism and its reputation as the cradle of civilisation. The book asks how soft power is wielded by these countries and what constraints and contradictions they encounter. Understandings of soft power have typically been driven by Western scholars, but throughout this book, Oluwaseun Tella aims to Africanise our understanding of soft power, drawing on prominent African philosophies, including Nigeria's Omolúwàbí, South Africa's Ubuntu, Kenya's Harambee, and Egypt's Pharaonism. This book will be of interest to researchers from across political science, international relations, cultural studies, foreign policy and African Studies.

This book investigates the ways in which soft power is used by African countries to help drive global influence. Selecting four of the countries most associated with soft power across the continent, this book delves into the currencies of soft power across the region: from South Africa's progressive constitution and expanding multinational corporations, to Nigeria's Nollywood film industry and Technical Aid Corps (TAC) scheme, Kenya's sport diplomacy, fashion and tourism industries, and finally Egypt's Pan-Arabism and its reputation as the cradle of civilisation. The book asks how soft power is wielded by these countries and what constraints and contradictions they encounter. Understandings of soft power have typically been driven by Western scholars, but throughout this book, Oluwaseun Tella aims to Africanise our understanding of soft power, drawing on prominent African philosophies, including Nigeria's Omolúwàbí, South Africa's Ubuntu, Kenya's Harambee, and Egypt's Pharaonism. This book will be of interest to researchers from across political science, international relations, cultural studies, foreign policy and African Studies.

The virtual has during the last couple of decades emerged as a forceful conceptual tool in security studies. While used primarily in order to question assumptions about an objective truth concerning the meaning and value of security and different forms of insecurity, the implications of drawing on this concept vary considerably depending on how the virtual is conceptualized, and specifically how the potentiality of the virtual is linked to the process of actualization. Turning to the philosophies of Baudrillard, Agamben and Deleuze, as well as key thinkers in contemporary security studies, this article delineates three different approaches to analysing the virtualization of security. Focusing in particular on how these approaches point to contending views of 'capture' and 'resistance', it is argued that the choice of approach has serious implications for grasping what is at stake politically in the process of virtualization. These implications relate, more precisely, to how the virtual opens up and/or closes down the spaces of resistance that the modern subject of security traditionally has relied upon. In this way, the virtualization of security is not only important for thinking about capture and resistance, but challenges the very ground on which the modern subject of security rests. ; Time and discourses of global politics

More than a decade prior to the official dismantling of apartheid in South Africa, a number of universities launched foundation programmes to assist disadvantaged students. This article focuses on science and engineering foundation programmes, locating them within their political and institutional context and then tracing the evolution of their educational philosophy. But foundation programmes only represent one strategy for dealing with educational disadvantage. It is therefore compared to an alternative model explored in the early 1990s which emphasised the 'infusion' of academic development principles into the mainstream. This provides a backdrop for considering the educational effectiveness of the foundation programmes that have recently proliferated as a result of the Department of Education's latest funding strategy.

In memoriam of Michel Serres, this essay aims to offer a brief account of the necessity of reading his works in times of political and ecological crisis. Since his opus magnum The Natural Contract, Serres had developed in the last three decades a theory that investigates and rethink the relation of the moderns, since Galileo and Descartes, with what they call "nature" in order to offer a third way to the division between (post-)modern philosophers and dogmatic scientists: the first have been systematically deconstructing all the grand narratives and, the latter have often excluded from their theoretical work any type of moral reflection on the modes of production of scientific practices, and their consequences for humans and non-humans. The path initiated by Serres influenced many contemporary philosophers who have continued and enriched his investigation of the origins and consequences of a new tendency of not doing politics in the epoch of the Anthropocene, of a new escapism that refuses to face the ecological challenges hic et nunc.

The aim of the article is to present Hannah Arendt's and Zygmunt Bauman's theories of democracy and the Jewish question. The paper consists of three sections. In the first one, there are explained the main concepts of their conceptions of democracy. The second one investigates what the collapse of democracy means for both authors. The third one compares Arendt's and Bauman's opinions on the Jewish question. The conclusions explain the main differences and similarities between the researched theories.

This thesis develops a theory of action, drawing chiefly on the work of Hannah Arendt and Michel Foucault. I begin with a discussion of some popular theories of action. As I argue, these theories tend to suffer from three problems: they do not distinguish action from everyday behaviour, they do not account for the way in which action transforms the identity of the actor, and they tend to neglect the innovative and initiatory character of action. In chapter two, I discuss Arendt's theory of political action, which goes a long way toward redressing these problems. However, the value of Arendt's work is limited by her characterisation of the public sphere as subsumed by a 'social' rather than political form of community. Accordingly, I follow Dana Villa and Bonnie Honig's suggestions that a broader understanding of action is required in order to overcome the weaknesses of Arendt's work. In chapters four and five, I demonstrate that a reading of Foucault can yield just such a broader understanding. I begin with an analysis of The History of Sexuality and the argument that the transformation of ethical subjectivity can function as a means of resistance to the normalising effects of power, before moving on to discuss the essay 'What Is Enlightenment?' I argue that these works are part of a 'transformative project,' in which Foucault aims to facilitate the transformation of subjectivity as a means of resistance to social normalisation. This transformative project can be adapted into a theory of action that locates action within contemporary society but shares some of the best aspects of Arendt's theory. Finally, drawing on the work of Foucault and Adriana Cavarero, these theoretical reflections are applied to a discussion of action in the context of small communities. Small-community models of action are an important consideration because they allow us to avoid the traditional dichotomy between action as a task for the individual who transgresses social norms and action as a project of social reform.

Catherine May writes to constituent Carroll Martin in a lengthy discussion of her philosophical positions on governance. She details her position on numerous topic areas including agriculture, social security, Medicare, and the media. She concludes with, "The Good Lord knows that I make mistakes. I certainly don't have all the answers to all our problems. About all I can say to you is that I never quit trying."

Od zasnivanja u 70-im godinama 20. stoljeća, kurikulum filozofije za djecu bio je napadnut s raznih strana. Kao što Maughn Gregory ističe u njegovom članku o tim kritikama, filozofija za djecu privukla je »preklapajuće i proturječne kritike« od religijskih i društvenih konzervativaca do edukacijskih psihologa, filozofa i kritičkih teoretičara (Gregory 2011, 199). Konzervativna kritika filozofije za djecu često ide protiv struje filozofije i liberalnog obrazovanja općenito te se može promatrati kao stari spor koji se konstantno pojavljuje unatoč naporu filozofa, dok se argumenti psihologa da filozofijsko mišljenje nije moguće kod djece određene dobi danas lako pobijaju istraživanjima Kierana Egana (2002) i Alison Gopnik (2009). S druge strane, čini se da kritika kritičkih teoretičara seže dublje nego druge jer razmatra intelektualno relevantan problem filozofskog obrazovanja: umjesto da ispuni svoje obećanje da će osloboditi subjekte, ustvari ih interpelira u ideologiju slobodnog tržišta. Kao što Gert Biesta nastoji pokazati, kurikuli filozofije za djecu »trebaju razviti spektar vještina, uključujući kognitivne vještine i vještine mišljenja, moralne i društvene vještine te demokratske vještine« (Biesta 2011, 310) te na taj način instrumentaliziraju filozofiju da bi postigli određeni cilj, što je dvojben i alarmantan pothvat koji se »može okarakterizirati kao ideološki« (ibid., 309). Da bi se uhvatilo u koštac s problemom instrumentalizacije filozofije (o čemu raspravlja i Vansieleghem (2005)), ovaj rad sugerira da kurikuli filozofije za djecu trebaju promovirati sokratski dijalog s djecom (te u nekim slučajevima biti reformirani u tom smjeru), gdje se naglasak stavlja na slušanje djeteta te davanje glasa, a ne na »nastavne vještine«. Ovaj rad stoga tvrdi da upravo kroz filozofski dijalog dijete može biti saslušano kao dijete, jer takav dijalog intrinzično pretpostavlja prepoznavanje partnera u razgovoru kao ravnopravnog sugovornika. Tako se kurikuli filozofije za djecu mogu smatrati važnim dijelom rastućeg polja »pedagogije slušanja« (v. Rinaldi 2001). ; Since its inception in the seventies, philosophy for children (P4C) curricula have been under attack from various sides. As Maughn Gregory points out in his paper dealing with various criticisms, P4C attracted "overlapping and conflicting criticism" from religious and social conservatives to educational psychologists, philosophers, and critical theorists (Gregory 2011, 199). Conservative criticism of P4C often goes against the grain of philosophy and liberal education in general and can probably be seen as an age-old dispute constantly resurfacing against the effort of philosophers, while psychologists' arguments that philosophical thinking is beyond children of certain age are today easily refuted by the work of Kieran Egan (2002) and Alison Gopnik (2009). Critical theorists' critique, however, seems to go deeper than all other criticisms by raising intellectually pertinent problem of philosophy education: that instead of fulfilling its promise of liberating subjects it in fact interpellates them into free market ideology. As Gert Biesta (2011) tries to show, P4C curricula "are supposed to develop a range of skills, including cognitive and thinking skills, moral and social skills, and democratic skills" (Ibid. 310) and thereby instrumentalize philosophy in order to achieve a certain goal, a dubious and alarming undertaking that "can be characterized as ideological" (Ibid. 309). In order for P4C to tackle this problem of instrumentalization of philosophy (raised also in Vansieleghem (2005)) the present paper suggests that P4C curricula should be seen (and in certain cases reformed) as promoting a Socratic dialogue with children, whereby the emphasis lies on listening to a child and giving her a voice, and not on "teaching skills". This paper thus argues that it is precisely through philosophical dialogue that a child can be heard as a child, since such a dialogue intrinsically presupposes recognition of the conversational partner as an equal interlocutor. P4C curricula can thus be regarded as an important part of emerging field of "Pedagogy of Listening" (cf. Rinaldi 2001). ; Depuis sa création dans les années 70, le programme éducatif de philosophie a été attaqué de divers côtés. Comme le souligne Maughn Gregory dans son article consacré à ces critiques, la philosophie pour les enfants a attiré des « critiques qui s'imbriquent et se contredisent », partant des conservateurs religieux et sociaux et allant jusqu'aux psychologues de l'éducation, philosophes et théoriciens critiques (Gregory 2011, 199). La critique conservatrice de la philosophie pour les enfants va souvent à l'encontre du courant de la philosophie et de l'éducation libérale en général et peut être vue comme un vieux conflit qui réapparait constamment malgré l'effort des philosophes, bien que les arguments du psychologue, selon lesquelles une pensée philosophique chez les enfants d'un certain âge n'est pas possible, aient été facilement réfutés par les recherches de Kieran Egan (2002) et Alison Gopnik (2009). Toutefois, il semblerait que la critique des théoriciens critiques va plus loin que les autres car elle met en avant un problème intellectuellement pertinent pour l'éducation philosophique : au lieu de tenir sa promesse en vue de la libération des sujets, elle interpelle à vrai dire ces mêmes sujets au sein d'une idéologie de marché libre. À la manière dont Gert Berta tente de le montrer, les programmes éducatifs de philosophie pour les enfants «sont supposés mettre en oeuvre un éventail de compétences, comportant des compétences cognitives et des compétences de la pensée, des compétences morales et sociales, et des compétences démocratiques » (Biesta 2011, 310). Ainsi, ces programmes instrumentalisent la philosophie pour arriver à leurs fins, entreprise douteuse et alarmante « qui peut être caractérisée d'idéologique » (Ibid, 309). Afin de s'attaquer au coeur du problème de l'instrumentalisation de la philosophie (problème également abordé par Vansieleghem (2005)), ce travail suggère que les programmes de philosophie pour les enfants promeuvent les dialogues socratiques avec les enfants (et, dans certains cas, soient réformés en vue de cette voie), dialogues où l'accent est mis sur l'écoute de l'enfant et sur le fait de lui donner la parole, et non sur les « compétences de l'enseignement ». Par là, ce travail stipule que c'est précisément à travers un dialogue philosophique que l'enfant peut être entendu en tant qu'enfant car un dialogue de la sorte suppose de manière intrinsèque la reconnaissance du partenaire dans la conversation comme interlocuteur égal. Ainsi, les programmes éducatifs peuvent être perçus comme une partie importante du domaine émergeant de « la pédagogie de l'écoute » (v. Rinaldi 2001). ; Seit ihrer Einführung in den Siebzigerjahren waren die Curricula der Philosophie für Kinder (PfK) von verschiedenen Seiten her den Angriffen ausgesetzt. Wie Maughn Gregory in seinem Artikel über die unterschiedlichen Kritiken darauf hinweist, zog die PfK "eine sich überlappende und widersprüchliche Kritik" auf sich, von Religions- und Sozialkonservativen bis zu pädagogischen Psychologen, Philosophen und kritischen Theoretikern (Gregory 2011, 199). Die konservative Kritik an der PfK schwimmt oftmals gegen den Strom der Philosophie und der liberalen Erziehung im Allgemeinen und kann vermutlich als ein uralter Disput angesehen werden, der trotz der Bemühungen der Philosophen andauernd auftaucht, während die Argumente der Psychologen, das philosophische Denken sei für Kinder im bestimmten Alter unbegreiflich, heutzutage leicht durch das Werk von Kieran Egan (2002) und Alison Gopnik (2009) widerlegt werden. Die Kritik der kritischen Theoretiker scheint andererseits tiefer zu reichen als alle anderen Kritiken, indem sie ein intellektuell relevantes Problem der Philosophieerziehung anschneidet: dass sie, statt ihr Versprechen der Befreiung der Subjekte einzuhalten, sie in der Tat in die Ideologie des freien Markts einfügt. Wie Gert Biesta (2011) zu zeigen versucht, "sollen" die Curricula der PfK "eine Reihe von Fertigkeiten entwickeln, einschließlich der kognitiven und Denkfertigkeiten, der moralischen und sozialen Fertigkeiten sowie der demokratischen Fertigkeiten" (ebd., 310), und instrumentalisieren dadurch die Philosophie, um ein bestimmtes Ziel zu erreichen, was ein fragwürdiges und alarmierendes Unternehmen ist, das "sich als ideologisch charakterisieren lässt" (ebd., 309). Damit die PfK dieses Problem der Instrumentalisierung der Philosophie in Angriff nimmt (erörtert auch von Vansieleghem (2005)), schlägt der vorliegende Artikel vor, die Curricula der PfK (in bestimmten Fällen in dieser Richtung reformiert) sollten den sokratischen Dialog mit Kindern fördern, wobei der Schwerpunkt darin liege, dem Kind zuzuhören und die Stimme zu geben, und nicht in den "Lehrfertigkeiten". Aufgrund dessen argumentiert diese Arbeit, gerade durch den philosophischen Dialog könne ein Kind als Kind gehört werden, da ein solcher Dialog intrinsisch die Anerkennung des Gesprächspartners als eines gleichberechtigten Gesprächsteilnehmers voraussetze. Die Curricula der PfK können demnach als ein wichtiger Teil des aufstrebenden Felds der "Pädagogik des Zuhörens" betrachtet werden (vgl. Rinaldi 2001).

- ; Este escrito explora, a la vez que rinde un homenaje postumo a la obra del profesor emerito de la Universidad de Notre Dame, los principales aspectos que Niemeyer advierte en la formacion del pensamiento politico modemo, asf como la caracterizacion penetrante que su filosofi hace frente a las tesis que niegan la posibilidad ontologica de la realidad. La filosofia polftica de Gerhart Niemeyer esta caracterizada por una cntica al pensamiento modemo (y posmodemo) manifestado en las ideologfas politicas que se originan en la llustracion. Atraves de una vida dedicada al estudio de los principales fenomenos politicos en la historia, Niemeyer advierte la existencia de un conjunto de sfmbolos unificadores que han determinado el curso politico del siglo XX, de los cuales se han nutrido las ideologfas totalitaristas, asf como las corrientes de pensamiento positivistas, el atefsmo, elliberalismo ideologico y el existencialismo. La Ultima parte de esta conferencia explora y analiza los principios expuestos por la filosofia polftica de Niemeyer tendientes a la recuperacion del orden polftico, cuyas fuentes son actualizadas a la luz de los filosofos griegos (Aristoteles y Platon fundamentalmente) y de la filosofia cristiana (Agustin de Hipona y Tomas de Aquino),mediante una teona de la conciencia noetica y del derecho y la ley natural. ; Cet ecrit explore, et en meme temps rend l'hommage postume al'oeuvre du professeur emerite de I'Universite Notre Dame, les aspects principaux que Niemeyer constate dans la formation de la pensee politique modeme, ainsi que la caracterisation penetrante que fait sa philosophie face aux theses qui nient la possibilite ontologique de la realite. La philosophie politique de Gerhart Niemeyer est caracterisee par une critique ala pensee modeme (et postmodeme) manifestee dans les ideologies politiques qui ont leur origine au Siecle des Lumieres. Niemeyer, atravers de sa vie dediee al'etude des phenomenes politiques principaux dans I'histoire, remarque I'existence d'un ensemble des syrnboles unifiants qui ont determine Ie cours politique du XX-erne siecle, dont se sont alimentees les ideologies totalitaristes, ainsi que Ies courants de Ia pensee positiviste, l'atheisme, Ie liberalisme ideologique et l'existentialisme. La derniere partie de cette conference explore et analyse Ies principes exposes par la philosophie politique de Niemeyer qui tendent vers la recuperation de l'ordre politique dont Ies sources sont actualisees ala lumiere des philosophes grecs (fondamentalement Aristote et Platon) et de la philosophie chretienne (Augustin d'Hippone et Thomas d'Aquin), grace aune teorie de la conscience non-ethique et du droit et Ia Ioi naturels.

The Applied Hermeneutics department of the Universidad Nacional de la Patagonia Austral (Argentina), Fundación MenteClara Internacional's Peer-Reviewed Journal and the history department of Savitribai Phule Pune University (India) call for papers addressing the following topics egalitarian philosophies of caste, class, gender, and life choices looking for relationships between humanist philosophies, existential phenomenology, and their influence on the work and thinking of those who fostered the evolution of shudras and dalits from ignorance and slavery in India, just as Dr. Bhimrao Ambedkar, Savitribai Phule, Sathyavani Muthu, and others have done in other continents.This call aims at discussing and integrating concepts as well as creating new academic tools to emancipate individuals and bring them to the same condition of being by gathering, in a common forum, different disciplines that contribute to solve and make inequalities of caste, class, gender, and life choices visible.We will have in particular consideration (financing projects) empirical research related to the critical analysis of the discourse of contemporary social actors to identify, in those leading or influencing the destinies of regions, tendencies to segregate, massify or emancipate people in verbal or body language.> See full articl here

In the era of increasing globalization, education has become one of the media through which political, economic and cultural ideas areexchanged between nations and people. This paper looks at the dynamics and the epistemological challenges of delivering a Western (Canadian)curriculum, from the Deweyan lens, in an East Asian schooling context, namely China, that predominantly views education through the Confucianlens. I will employ a self-study research methodology to highlight some of these challenges, and demonstrate how the four pillars of the CulturallyResponsive Leadership (CRL) framework can enhance cultural exchange and close the epistemological gap in a high school setting. This studyunderscores the importance of hiring and training culturally humble educators. Looking ahead, it will be beneficial to develop more strategies onways teachers and leaders can unpack their biases when implementing the CRL framework; and develop an appreciation for other epistemologicallenses through which one can narrow the gap between Eastern and Western educational philosophies. This way, educators can continue to promotecross-cultural understanding, which can potentially move us towards a more caring and inclusive world. Key words: globalization, epistemological gap, culturally responsive leadership, culturally humble educator,cross-cultural understanding, inclusive world

This paper deals with various philosophical aspects of the notion of listening correlated with forming and disabling of totalitarian communities. Traditional philosophy is mainly critical towards sensual knowledge, whereas contemporary thought is concentrated on listening as a significant and complex phenomenon that can be observed as a cognitive category and through various philosophical perspectives (politics, ethics). For Heidegger, listening has existential status and represents one of Dasein's characteristics. According to him, listening is understanding the one who is close to us (whom we bear in ourselves) – a friend. In Heidegger's philosophy of listening, Derrida recognises the possibility of forming a community of same and close. It alludes to homogenisation and enmity. Abandoning Heidegger's thesis about listening to a friend, Derrida writes about the possibility of listening to the spectre representing an affirmation of the existence of absolute otherness. Listening to the spectre is the only correct ethics by which distance is made and totalitarian community avoided. Like Derrida, Nancy sees the danger of forming a totalitarian community in the sameness and closeness of society's members. The way of avoiding the possibility of forming such a community Nancy sees in immediate (sensual) contact with the world. For Nancy, listening is a contact with the world not mediated by significations and understandings. Listening represents a metaphor of resistance towards aspirations of representative political systems in forming complete and closed communities. By presenting several contemporary philosophical concepts, this paper tries to demonstrate that listening, apart from creating closeness, can maintain an impossible community characterised by irrepresentability and heterogeneity and, more importantly, can function as the resistance toward totalitarian systems. ; Rad se bavi različitim filozofijskim aspektima pojma slušanja u svezi s oblikovanjem i obustavljanjem totalitarnih zajednica. Tradicionalna filozofija uglavnom je kritički nastrojena prema čulnom znanju, dok se suvremena misao usmjerava na slušanje kao značajan i kompleksan fenomen koji može biti promatran kao kognitivna kategorija i kroz različite filozofijske perspektive (politika, etika). Za Heideggera, slušanje ima egzistencijalni status i predstavlja jedno od Daseinovih obilježja. Po njegovu mišljenju, slušanje je razumijevanje onoga tko nam je blizak (koga nosimo u sebi) – prijatelja. U Heideggerovoj filozofiji slušanja, Derrida prepoznaje mogućnost oblikovanja zajednice istih i bliskih. Aludira na homogenizaciju i neprijateljstvo. Napuštajući Heideggerovu tezu o slušanju prijatelja, Derrida piše o mogućnosti slušanja sablasti koja predstavlja afirmaciju egzistencije apsolutne drugosti. Slušanje sablasti jedina je ispravna etika putem koje se uspostavlja udaljenost i izbjegava totalitarnu zajednicu. Poput Derridaa, Nancy vidi opasnost u oblikovanju totalitarne zajednice u istosti i bliskosti članova društva. Način izbjegavanja mogućnosti oblikovanja takve zajednice Nancy vidi u izravnom (čulnom) dodiru sa svijetom. Za Nancyja, slušanje je dodir sa svijetom neposredovan označavanjima i razumijevanjima. Slušanje predstavlja metaforu otpora prema aspiracijama predstavničkih političkih sustava u oblikovanju potpunih i zatvorenih zajednica. Predstavljajući nekoliko suvremenih filozofijskih pojmova, ovaj rad pokušava demonstrirati da slušanje, osim stvaranja bliskosti, može održavati nemoguću zajednicu karakteriziranu nepredstavništvom i heterogenošću te, što je važnije, može funkcionirati kao otpor prema totalitarnim sustavima. ; Die Arbeit behandelt verschiedenartige philosophische Aspekte des Begriffs des Hörens bezüglich der Schaffung und Auflösung totalitärer Gemeinschaften. Die traditionelle Philosophie steht dem sinnlichen Wissen zumeist kritisch gegenüber, während der zeitgenössische Gedanke auf das Hören als ein belangvolles und komplexes Phänomen ausgerichtet ist, welches sich als kognitive Kategorie und aus differenten philosophischen Perspektiven (Politik, Ethik) betrachten lässt. Das Hören hat für Heidegger einen existenziellen Status und repräsentiert eine der Eigenschaften des Daseins. Seines Erachtens ist Hören das Verständnis desjenigen, der uns nahesteht (den wir bei uns tragen) – des Freundes. In Heideggers Philosophie des Hörens erkennt Derrida die Möglichkeit, eine Gemeinschaft der Selben und Nahen zu formen. Er macht Anspielungen auf Homogenisierung und Feindseligkeit. Indem er Heideggers These vom Hören des Freundes verwirft, schreibt Derrida über die Möglichkeit, einem Gespenst zuzuhören, welches die Affirmation der Existenz absoluter Andersheit abbildet. Dem Gespenst zuzuhören ist die einzig richtige Ethik, durch die Distanz hergestellt und eine totalitäre Gemeinschaft vermieden wird. Ebenso wie Derrida sieht Nancy die Gefahr in der Schaffung einer totalitären Gemeinschaft aufgrund von Selbigkeit und Nahekommen der Gesellschaftsmitglieder. Einen Weg, der Eventualität der Formung einer solchen Gemeinschaft auszuweichen, sieht Nancy in direktem (sinnlichem) Kontakt mit der Welt. Für Nancy bedeutet das Hören eine nicht durch Signifikationen und Verständnisse vermittelte Berührung mit der Welt. Das Hören stellt eine Metapher für den Widerstand gegen die Aspirationen der repräsentativen politischen Systeme dar, vollkommene und geschlossene Gemeinschaften zu gestalten. Indem es mehrere zeitgenössische philosophische Begriffe vorstellt, versucht dieses Paper zu demonstrieren, dass das Hören, abgesehen von der Schaffung einer Nähe, auch eine unmögliche Gemeinschaft aufrechtzuerhalten vermag, die durch Nichtrepräsentativität und Heterogenität gekennzeichnet ist, und nicht zuletzt als Widerstand gegen totalitäre Systeme fungieren kann. ; Ce travail aborde divers aspects philosophiques du concept de l'écoute lié à la formation et au renversement des communautés totalitaires. La tradition philosophique relève principalement d'une critique envers la connaissance sensorielle, alors que la pensée contemporaine a trait à l'écoute, en tant que phénomène significatif et complexe, qui peut être considérée comme une catégorie cognitive, et peut également être analysée à travers diverses perspectives philosophiques (politique, éthique). Pour Heidegger, l'écoute a un statut existentiel et présente l'une des caractéristiques du Dasein. Selon lui, écouter c'est comprendre celui qui nous est proche (celui que nous portons en nous) – l'ami. Dans la philosophie heideggérienne de l'écoute, Derrida voit la possibilité de former une communauté des mêmes et des proches. Il fait allusion à l'homogénéisation et à l'hostilité. En rupture avec la thèse heideggérienne sur l'écoute de l'ami, Derrida écrit sur la possibilité de l'écoute du spectre qui présente l'affirmation d'une existence de l'altérité absolu. L'écoute du spectre est l'unique éthique juste au travers laquelle se constitue la distance et s'évite la communauté totalitaire. À l'instar de Derrida, Nancy voit un danger dans la formation de communautés totalitaires dans l'identité et la familiarité. La manière d'éviter toute possibilité de formation d'une telle communauté, Nancy la voit dans le contact direct (sensoriel) avec le monde. Pour Nancy, écouter c'est être en contact avec le monde sans l'entremise de significations et de compréhensions. Écouter présente une métaphore de résistance envers les aspirations des systèmes politiques représentatifs à former des communautés entières et fermées. En présentant quelques concepts philosophiques contemporains, ce travail s'applique à démontrer que l'écoute, hormis créer des affinités, peut préserver une communauté invraisemblable caractérisée par le non-représentationnel et l'hétérogénéité, mais aussi, et ce qui est bien plus important, peut fonctionner comme une force de résistance envers les systèmes totalitaires.

Agent-based models have played a prominent role in recent debates about the merits of democracy. In particular, the formal model of Lu Hong and Scott Page and the associated "diversity trumps ability" result has typically been seen to support the epistemic virtues of democracy over epistocracy (i.e., governance by experts). In this paper we first identify the modeling choices embodied in the original formal model and then critique the application of the Hong-Page results to philosophical debates on the relative merits of democracy. In particular we argue that the "best-performing agents" in the Hong-Page model should not be interpreted as experts. We next explore a closely related model in which best-performing agents are more plausibly seen as experts and show that the diversity trumps ability result fails to hold. However, with changes in other parameters (such as the deliberation dynamic) the diversity trumps ability result is restored. The sensitivity of this result to parameter choices illustrates the complexity of the link between formal modeling and more general philosophical claims; we use this debate as a platform for a more general discussion of when and how agent-based models can contribute to philosophical discussions.

This paper takes the understanding of philosophy as political techne to be at the core of Gilbert Simondon's thought. This is shown against the background of the Note Complémentaire, a short text written at the same time as his two main works Du mode d'existence des objets techniques and L'individuation à la lumière des notions de forme et d'information. An analysis of the specific function played by technics within culture in Simondon's thought helps draw a line that connects the two books. Culture is conceived as a regulatory apparatus of social systems, made of structures and processes of transindividual individuation recurrently made metastable by both biological and technical factors. In my conclusions, I deal with Simondon's understanding of philosophy as a pedagogical tradition, that is a subset of culture carrying and spreading the schemas of political invention it has developed from technics since its pre-Socratic origins.