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chapter 1 European modernity in the light of the history of the entropy of meaning: a philosophical analysis -- chapter 2 A philosophical critique of existentialism -- chapter 3 A revival of Aristotelian practical philosophy: the case of Alasdair MacIntyre – practice, unity of life, and tradition -- chapter 4 Existence, meaning, excellence -- chapter 5 Art as a structure of meaning.

Publikuojame tekstą viešos paskaitos, kurią Mykolo Romerio universiteto profesorius Andrius Bielskis, Aristotelio ir kritinės teorijos studijų centro direktorius, Lietuvos nacionalinės Martyno Mažvydo bibliotekos kvietimu perskaitė 2023 m. balandžio 20 d. Paskaita, skaityta autoriaus 50 metų jubiliejaus proga, – reikšmingas Profesoriaus intelektualinės autobiografijos fragmentas, brėžiantis dar vieną akademinio maršruto variantą.Autorius dėkoja visiems, kas dalyvavo, klausėsi, skaitė ir komentavo jo mintis, ypač šeimos nariams – Severijai ir Nickui, atvykusiems iš Londono, Jolantai ir Samueliui Andriui, broliui Putinui, taip pat ir Nacionalinei Martyno Mažvydo bibliotekai už jos svetingumą

The aim of this paper is to discuss the issue of the best constitution given Aristotle's account of human flourishing articulated in the Nicomachean Ethics. There, Aristotle claims that monarchy is the supreme form of constitution. A similar claim is repeated in Politics. The paper argues that these claims sit uneasily with Aristotle's teleological accounts of the polis, the citizen, and his discussion of the virtues of the citizen and the good man in Politics. Given Aristotle's philosophical definition of the state as "an association of equals for the sake of the best possible life" and his notion that "the best is happiness, and that consists in excellence and its perfect actualization and its employment", and Aristotle's argument on the relationship between the good man and the good citizen, this paper concludes that the best constitution is politeia. Yet, simply to argue so is not enough if we are to rescue Aristotle from his inconsistencies and his claims on "natural inequalities". Finally, a more radical interpretation of Aristotle is outlined, which rejects Aristotle's separation between the oikos and the polis and argues that the verticality of the former is philosophically arbitrary and contradicts the revolutionary implications of Aristotle's normative teleology.

This article discusses automation from the point of view of the intersection between Aristotle and Marx. First, it was Aristotle's notion of automatous – self-moving tools – that gave rise to the contemporary concept of automation. Marx's historical materialism is important as it puts the ongoing process of automation into a historical perspective. The development of self-moving machines should free us from the slavery of hard work, yet the legal and political superstructure of capitalism means that the growth of automation produces new forms of precarious wage-slavery. Alasdair MacIntyre's Aristotelian notion of practice is discussed vis-à-vis the Marxian notion of alienated labour. Given the conceptual structure – alienated labour (which prevents us from flourishing) versus non-alienated labour (as essential for human flourishing) – the article poses the question of whether we can apply this in our attempt to assess the ongoing process of automation.

Aristotle has traditionally been aligned with conservative social and political philosophy. The conservative reception has been challenged by Alasdair MacIntyre and the Marx-inspired reading of Aristotle. Following MacIntyre's arguments, this paper sketches an alternative conception of the critical theory beyond the Frankfurt School's critique of the contemporary culture and the modern society. Critical theory is understood as an attempt to provide both historical analysis and normative critique of the contemporary society and its culture. It argues that normativity should be understood not in Kantian, but in Aristotelian terms. The articulation of Aristotelian conceptions of human flourishing and aretē, rather than that of the bürgerlich conception of Kantian duty, should be at the centre of contemporary theorising. The author claims that Aristotle's practical philosophy allows us to conceptualise ethics beyond the dominant conceptions of ethical normativity prevalent in the capitalist modernity, while Marx is important because his analysis provides us with theoretical tools for the historically informed critique of the social and economic structures of the modern society.

The paper examines Fyodor Dostoevsky's ethical views – especially as exemplified in the dictum "each of us is guilty of everything against all, and I am more than all" – in light of their political implications. It focuses on two related issues. First, Emma­nuel Levinas's philosophical interpretation of Dostoevsky's "I am more than the others" is contrasted with its interpretation by Sigmund Freud, who famously argued that Dostoevsky's fixation on guilt was the consequence of his neurotic intention to murder his father. Freud's claim has been refuted by Dostoevsky's bibliographers. To understand the meaning of "I am more than all," its semantic-narrative context in The Brothers Karamazov is therefore discussed. Second, the paper then examines the political implications of Dostoevsky's ethics of redemption. Given that there are at least three traditions of theorizing the political – classical-Aristotelian, Schmittian, and liberal – the paper examines how Dostoevsky's ethics of redemption can be positioned vis-à-vis these conceptualizations and which of them it can enrich the most.

The paper examines Fyodor Dostoevsky's ethical views– especially as exemplified in the dictum "each of us is guilty of everything against all, and I am more than all"– in light of their political implications. It focuses on two related issues. First, Emma­nuel Levinas's philosophical interpretation of Dostoevsky's "I am more than the others" is contrasted with its interpretation by Sigmund Freud, who famously argued that Dostoevsky's fixation on guilt was the consequence of his neurotic intention to murder his father. Freud's claim has been refuted by Dostoevsky's bibliographers. To understand the meaning of "I am more than all," its semantic-narrative context inThe Brothers Karamazovis therefore discussed. Second, the paper then examines the political implications of Dostoevsky's ethics of redemption. Given that there are at least three traditions of theorizing the political– classical-Aristotelian, Schmittian, and liberal– the paper examines how Dostoevsky's ethics of redemption can be positioned vis-à-vis these conceptualizations and which of them it can enrich the most. ; Straipsnyje nagrinėjamos Fiodoro Dostojevskio etinės pažiūros– pirmiausia jo teiginio "kiekvienas iš mūsų dėl visko kaltas prieš visus, o aš labiau už visus"– klausiant, ką jos reiškia mūsų svarstymams apie politiškumą. Jame dėmesys sutelkiamas į du susijusius klausimus. Pirma, Emmanuelio Levino filosofinė Dostojevskio "aš labiau už visus" interpretacija yra priešinama Sigmundo Freudo interpretacijai, anot kurios, Dostojevskio dėmesys kaltės temai buvo jo neurotiško ketinimo nužudyti savo tėvą pasekmė. Šį Freudo teiginį paneigė Dostojevskio bibliografai. Norint suprasti teiginio "aš labiau už visus" reikšmę, aptariamas jo semantinis-naratyvinis kontekstas romaneBroliai Karamazovai. Antra, straipsnyje nagrinėjama Dostojevskio atpirkimo etikos reikšmė politinės teorijos diskusijoms apie politiškumą. Atsižvelgiant į tai, kad egzistuoja mažiausiai trys politiškumo teorizavimo tradicijos– klasikinė-aristoteliška, šmitiška ir liberali,– straipsnyje klausiama, kaip Dostojevskio atpirkimo etika gali būti pozicionuojama šių konceptua­lizavimų atžvilgiu ir kurį iš jų ji gali labiausiai praturtinti.

[full article and abstract in Lithuanian; abstract in English]
The paper analyzes Thomas Mann's literary work from the perspective of critical theory. By briefly discussing an alternative conception of critical theory, it emphasizes the importance of Karl Marx, Aristotle, and normativity to social and political theory. The paper argues that we need to conceptualize normativity in Aristotelian rather than Kantian terms, that is, by reinterpreting the tradition of the Greek notion of aretē (excellence). Hence the importance of Aristotle's ethical reflections on the flourishing of human life and of the political community. Marx is important because he provided a historically informed analysis and critique of the socioeconomic structures of modern society. Marx also gave birth to a new paradigm for social sciences and humanities, a paradigm alternative to positivism and phenomenology. Its main premise is that social and political theory must articulate the normative notion of social emancipation and criticize society and its social structures by drawing on this notion of emancipation. Thomas Mann is interesting and important from the point of view of critical theory; among other things, he provides a literary critique of the European bourgeois society and its way of life. As an illustration, Thomas Mann's dialectic of eroticism and death in the life of the bourgeois iron cage is also analyzed (the dialectic that we find in Buddenbrooks, Death in Venice, and The Magic Mountain).

[full article and abstract in Lithuanian; abstract in English] The paper analyzes Thomas Mann's literary work from the perspective of critical theory. By briefly discussing an alternative conception of critical theory, it emphasizes the importance of Karl Marx, Aristotle, and normativity to social and political theory. The paper argues that we need to conceptualize normativity in Aristotelian rather than Kantian terms, that is, by reinterpreting the tradition of the Greek notion ofaretē(excellence). Hence the importance of Aristotle's ethical reflections on the flourishing of human life and of the political community. Marx is important because he provided a historically informed analysis and critique of the socioeconomic structures of modern society. Marx also gave birth to a new paradigm for social sciences and humanities, a paradigm alternative to positivism and phenomenology. Its main premise is that social and political theory must articulate the normative notion of social emancipation and criticize society and its social structures by drawing on this notion of emancipation. Thomas Mann is interesting and important from the point of view of critical theory; among other things, he provides a literary critique of the European bourgeois society and its way of life. As an illustration, Thomas Mann's dialectic of eroticism and death in the life of the bourgeois iron cage is also analyzed (the dialectic that we find inBuddenbrooks,Death in Venice, andThe Magic Mountain). ; [straipsnis ir santrauka lietuvių kalba; santrauka anglų kalba] Straipsnisanalizuoja T. Manno literatūrinę kūrybą alternatyviai suprastos kritinės teorijos požiūriu. Glaustai pristačius kritinės teorijos apmatus, akcentuojama K.Marxo, Aristotelio ir normatyvumo reikšmė socialinei ir politinei teorijai. Teigiama, kad normatyvumą būtina konceptualizuoti ne kantiškai, bet aristoteliškai, pabrėžiant graikiškosaretē– etinio tobulumo– tradicijos reikšmę. Iš čia Aristotelio etinių svarstymų apie klestintį žmogaus ir politinės bendruomenės gyvenimą svarba. Marxas yra reikšmingas, nes pateikia istoriškai informuotą socialinių ir ekonominių modernios visuomenės struktūrų kritiką. Sykiu Marxas duoda pradžią kritinei teorijai kaip pozityvizmui ir fenomenologijai alternatyviai socialinių ir humanitarinių mokslų paradigmai. Jos pagrindinė prielaida yra tezė, jog socialinė ir politinė teorija turi brėžti socialinės emancipacijos gaires bei kritikuoti visuomenę ir socialines struktūras šių gairių požiūriu. Thomas Mannas yra įdomus ir reikšmingas taip suprastai kritinei teorijai, nes pateikia estetinę XX a. Europos biurgeriškos visuomenės kritiką. Kaip iliustruojantis pavyzdys pasitelkiama T. Manno mirties ir erotikos dialektika biurgeriškame geležinio narvo pasaulyje, kurią aptinkame T. Manno romanuose ir novelėse– pirmiausiaBudenbrokuose,Mirtyje VenecijojeirUžburtame kalne. Dvi svarbiausios straipsnio tezės yra: pirma, kritinei teorijai aristoteliškai artikuliuotas normatyvumas yra būtinas, antra, net jei T. Manno biurgeriškos visuomenės kritika ne visuomet sociologiškai ir etiškai tiksli, jo veikalai yra reikšmingas literatūrinis šaltinis šios tikrovės supratimui ir kritikai. Sykiu straipsnyje artikuliuota kritinės teorijos samprata leidžia gi­liau pažvelgti į T. Manno kūrybą, suprantant ją ne tik kaip XIX a. ir XX a. biurgeriškos visuomenės ir kultūros refleksijos šaltinį, bet ir kaip šios tikrovės socialinių ir ideologinių prieštaravimų dalį.

The paper analyzes Thomas Mann's literary work from the perspective of critical theory. By briefly discussing an alternative conception of critical theory, it emphasizes the importance of Karl Marx, Aristotle, and normativity to social and political theory. The paper argues that we need to conceptualize normativity in Aristotelian rather than Kantian terms, that is, by reinterpreting the tradition of the Greek notion of aretē (excellence). Hence the importance of Aristotle's ethical reflections on the flourishing of human life and of the political community. Marx is important because he provided a historically informed analysis and critique of the socioeconomic structures of modern society. Marx also gave birth to a new paradigm for social sciences and humanities, a paradigm alternative to positivism and phenomenology. Its main premise is that social and political theory must articulate the normative notion of social emancipation and criticize society and its social structures by drawing on this notion of emancipation. Thomas Mann is interesting and important from the point of view of critical theory; among other things, he provides a literary critique of the European bourgeois society and its way of life. As an illustration, Thomas Mann's dialectic of eroticism and death in the life of the bourgeois iron cage is also analyzed (the dialectic that we find in Buddenbrooks, Death in Venice, and The Magic Mountain).

The paper analyzes Thomas Mann's literary work from the perspective of critical theory. By briefly discussing an alternative conception of critical theory, it emphasizes the importance of Karl Marx, Aristotle, and normativity to social and political theory. The paper argues that we need to conceptualize normativity in Aristotelian rather than Kantian terms, that is, by reinterpreting the tradition of the Greek notion of aretē (excellence). Hence the importance of Aristotle's ethical reflections on the flourishing of human life and of the political community. Marx is important because he provided a historically informed analysis and critique of the socioeconomic structures of modern society. Marx also gave birth to a new paradigm for social sciences and humanities, a paradigm alternative to positivism and phenomenology. Its main premise is that social and political theory must articulate the normative notion of social emancipation and criticize society and its social structures by drawing on this notion of emancipation. Thomas Mann is interesting and important from the point of view of critical theory; among other things, he provides a literary critique of the European bourgeois society and its way of life. As an illustration, Thomas Mann's dialectic of eroticism and death in the life of the bourgeois iron cage is also analyzed (the dialectic that we find in Buddenbrooks, Death in Venice, and The Magic Mountain).

This paper examines similarities and differences between the genealogical approach to social critique and the Marxist critique of ideology. Given the key methodological aspects of Michel Foucault's genealogy—the fusion of power and discourse and the Nietzschean notion of the aesthetization of life—the paper argues that Hollywood kitsch maybe interpreted as a new dispositif. A key task of the genealogy of kitsch is to analyze the effects of fake Hollywood narratives: how they form and normalize us, what kind of subjectivities they produce, and what type of social relations they create. "La La Land", a 2016 American musical, is discussed as a way of illustration. Theorists of the Frankfurt School also advanced their critiques of the popular culture and its forms of kitsch; yet they followed Marx and his conception of ideology. The paper concludes that the differences between genealogy and the critique of ideology are philosophical. Foucault rejected the Marxist conception of history and the notion of ideology as false consciousness. Kitsch, for a genealogist, is formative rather than repressive; it makes people pursue banal dreams. For a Marxist critic, popular culture as a form of ideology dulls our critical capacities and, therefore, leaves the status quo of alienation intact.

Gregory Sandstrom. Human Extension: An Alternative to Evolutionism, Creationism and Intelligent Design. Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan, 2014. – 97 p. ISBN 978-113-746-488-0

This article aims to provide an alternative conception of the politics of emancipation against the background of Aristotelian and Marxist theories. It links emancipatory politics with a specific notion of faith as a fundamental feature of being in the world, one enabling the interpellation of dominant ideologies and distorted political power structures. Aristotle's conception of the zoon politikon is reinterpreted in terms of an intersubjectivity based on human cooperation, and its three essential aspects – symmetry/symmetry, teleology and structures of meaning – are analysed. Once these concepts have been articulated, a philosophical critique of neoliberal capitalism becomes possible: the logic of capital circulation becomes irrational when seen from the viewpoint of intersubjective cooperation, given that capitalism is based on profit maximisation, on subordinating labour to capital, on control over the entire production process through the private ownership of the means of production, and on the commodification of human life. The article ends with a brief account of economic democracy. ; Straipsnyje analizuojama alternatyvi išsilaisvinimo politikos samprata remiantis Aristotelio ir Karlo Marxo idėjų analize. Teigiama, kad ši samprata turi būti siejama su specifine tikėjimo, esminės veikimo ir orientavimosi pasaulyje funkcijos, samprata, padedančia kritiškai žvelgti į dominuojančias ideologijas ir deformuotas politinės galios institucijas. Aristotelio zoon politikon koncepcija yra pakartotinai interpretuojama kaip žmogiškai būčiai esminė intersubjektyvi kooperacija. Straipsnyje analizuojama ontologinė kooperacijos samprata aptariant tris svarbiausius jos komponentus: asimetriją/simetriją, tikslinamą ir įprasminimo/prasmės struktūras. Išskleidus šias sąvokas tampa įmanoma filosofinė neoliberalaus kapitalizmo kritika. Tariant, kad kapitalizmas yra grįstas pelno maksimizavimo institucionalizavimu, prasmingo darbo/veiklos pajungimu abstrakčiam kapitalui, privačios gamybos priemonių nuosavybę turinčiųjų gamybos proceso visiška kontrole ir daugialypių žmogiškų santykių suprekinimu, kapitalo cirkuliacijai būdinga logika yra iracionali, vertinant intersubjektyvios kooperacijos požiūriu. Straipsnio pabaigoje pateikiama glausta ekonominės demokratijos samprata.