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"The continental tradition in philosophy has gotten more "materialistic" over the last two hundred years. This has resulted from a combination of some very specific moves with regard to the epistemological parameters of understanding and the assertion that ideas may have material force in history. Therefore, the materialism within the continental tradition is not a materiality of being, but a materiality of understanding and action. Such an inquiry opens up space between the activities of sensation and the mental faculty of cognition. 'I think, therefore I am,' is not an empirical statement, but a statement of cognition. It is assumed that this distinction is at the core of continental philosophy. Cognition is always interpretive. Experience is the start of cognition, but not its final product. Our cognitions cannot be separated from our experience of the physical, social, and cultural environment around us. The symbolic nature of language reinforces the interpretive nature of our thoughts and ideas. Our language is, therefore, always projecting an implicit image of the world. Language is, therefore, always political. The materiality of these cognitive world-views is manifested in two ways. First, in their formation. They are the products of sensual contact with the world. Second, in their effects. They move people. It is a picture of the world which serves to shape the content and character of human behavior. Whether we want to call these phantoms of the mind, world-view, ideas, thoughts, cognitions, or any other term, the dual character of their materiality is secure. This work examines the threads of materialist ideas running through the efforts of some major authors in the continental tradition in philosophy. A model of materialism is constructed in Chapter One and used to assess the materialist elements in works from Kant, Marx, Weber, Nietzsche, and contemporary poststructuralism. The work demonstrates the evolution of materialist thinking within the tradition and asserts an evolving and developing articulation of materialism in relation to the thoughts and activities of human beings." -- Publisher's description

The study of domination -- Athens and Rome : dissemination, identity, and the rise of central power -- The Middle Ages : domination and administration in an age of illiteracy -- The birth of the nation-state and the rise of humanism -- Democracy, industrial production, and the rise of national power -- Collective power in the twenty-first century

Poststructualism and political philosophy -- The methods of inquiry : Weber and poststructuralism -- Niklas Luhmann, Jacques Derrida and the politics of epistemological closure -- Democracy and personal autonomy -- Marx, Derrida and the politics of emancipation -- Conclusion: The epistemological crisis in contemporary politics

Introduction -- Max Weber and alienation -- The historical roots of Weber's view of alienation -- Max Weber's methodology : the limits of human knowledge -- Max Weber's ontology : the limits of the individual -- Rationality and the roots of social alienation -- Rationality and capitalism -- Bureaucracy and formal rationality -- Conclusions regarding Weber, alienation, and human subjectivity.

This paper will present a strategic reading of Habermas's project since the publishing of his "Legitimation Crisis." We examine his consensus theory of truth, the assumption of mutually acceptable outcomes in political discourse, and the role of law in bringing about social solidarity. We argue that Habermas has made several questionable assumptions while constructing this project that leave him open to criticism. We suggest that in his desire to preserve the Enlightenment, Habermas has ignored the power dimension of political life, leading him in a very "uncritical" direction.

This paper will present a strategic reading of Habermas's project since the publishing of his Legitimation Crisis. We examine his consensus theory of truth, the assumption of mutually acceptable outcomes in political discourse, & the role of law in bringing about social solidarity. We argue that Habermas has made several questionable assumptions while constructing this project that leave him open to criticism. We suggest that in his desire to preserve the Enlightenment, Habermas has ignored the power dimension of political life, leading him in a very "uncritical" direction. 21 References. Adapted from the source document.

This essay identifies two different methodological strategies used by the proponents of anarchism. In what is termed the "ontological" approach, the rationale for anarchism depends on a particular representation of human nature. That characterization of "being" determines the relation between the individual and the structures of social life. In the alternative approach, the epistemological status of "representation" is challenged, leaving human subjects without stable identities. Without the possibility of stable human representations, the foundations underlying the exercise of institutional power can be challenged. This epistemological discussion is traced from Max Stirner to the twentieth-century movement known as poststructuralism.

AbstractMax Weber's writings convey a tension between a commitment to Enlightenment rationalism and a romanticism that was largely shaped under the influence of the "Sturm und Drang." The tension is represented in the claims that modernity unleashes forces that erode the spontaneous, creative elements of human life. This study argues that Weber has correctly identified some of the problematic substance of modernism, but that he failed to explore alternative sets of assumptions by which the modernist paradigm could be critiqued. As a result, Weber was forced to see the world as a place full of bifurcated conflicts between such elements as: reason/emotion, modern/traditional, science/mysticism. This epistemological framework led Weber to the pessimistic conclusions about the fate of humanity in the modern world.

Explores ways in which the character of Max Weber's work reflects a tension between his commitment to modern rationalist epistemology & a romantic ontology. It is argued that, while accepting the methodology of Kantian epistemology, Weber rejected optimistic faith in reason & progress & asserted values closer to the romantic tradition of the seventeenth-century Sturm und Drang movement in Germany. It is contended that, in order to critique modern rational culture, Weber analyzed cultural development in terms of complex interrelationships, & used the romantic individualism of his own value system to create a fourfold typology of rationality -- instrumental, formal, conceptual, & substantive -- that is tied to social institutions, including capitalism & bureaucracy. It is concluded that Weber's adherence to the modernist conception of knowledge, & his failure to explore alternative sets of assumptions by which it could be critiqued, led to his pessimistic conclusions about the fate of humanity in the modern world. S. Davies