"This book outlines a new conception of political aesthetics based on the notion of order as an aesthetic category pertaining to human perception. Engaging with the thought of a range of figures, including Veblen, Honneth, Foucault, Popper and MacIntyre, it explores the nature of political aesthetics as an enquiry into the ways in which politics and our perceptions shape one another and our moral choices. Moving beyond the consideration of politics as a matter of perception, the author employs the concept of recognition to shed fresh light on the normative dimensions of politics, before presenting a series of case studies designed to show the utility of this conception of political aesthetics for explaining contemporary urban social phenomena and political conflicts. As such, Politics and Recognition will appeal to sociologists, philosophers and political social theorists"--
RESEARCH OBJECTIVE: The aim of the article is a critical analysis of Han nah Arendt's views on the role of truth in politics and their validity in the context of contemporary global politics.
THE RESEARCH PROBLEM AND METHODS: The problem of the role of truth in politics has become increasingly relevant today due to the noticeable increase in political undertakings justified by false claims. In the article, the is sue is addressed by analyzing several such actions of global significance, among them the Vietnam War, the Iran‑Contra affair, and the US invasion of Iraq, as well as the public justifications for these actions formulated by the American administrations.
THE PROCESS OF ARGUMENTATION: The argument proceeds from an analysis of the course of political and military events that led to the United States' war against North Vietnam, as well as analogous processes preceding American military involvement in the Middle East and Central America. These analyses are subsequently confronted with Arendt's statements regarding The Pentagon Papers.
RESEARCH RESULTS: While many of Arendt's observations remain valid, there are significant differences between the factually unfounded justifications of political actions critically appraised by Arendt and those of contemporary policies. The differences are especially expressed in the frequency of the resort to false justifications in politics and the invoked doctrinal basis for them.
CONCLUSIONS, INNOVATIONS, AND RECOMMENDATIONS: The overall analysis points to the growing significance of political aesthetics in contemporary politics: the art of political problem‑solving is increasingly replaced by the art of image building. The analysis of selected mendacious justifications in politics suggests also a paradox: excessive focus on the creation of a favourable image in politics, a prerequisite in democratic conditions, not infrequently brings about counterproductive results because political actions, if primarily trimmed for superficial public approval, tend to disappoint democrati cally formulated expectations.
In this paper, I consider whether the critical rationalist philosophy of science may provide a rationale for trusting scientific knowledge. In the first part, I refer to several insights of Karl Popper's social and political philosophy in order to see whether they may be of help in offsetting the distrust of science spawned by the COVID-19 pandemic. In the second part, I address the more general issue of whether the theoretical principles of the critical rationalist philosophy of science may afford a foundation for building trust in science. Both parts of the discussion, confined for the sake of the argument largely to the repudiation of the concept of good reasons for considering a theory to be true, imply that this question would have to be answered negatively. Against this, I argue that such a conclusion is based on a misconception of the nature of scientific knowledge: critical rationalism views science as a cognitive regime which calls for bold theories and at the same time demands a rigorous and continuous distrust towards them, and it is precisely this attitude that should be adopted as a compelling argument for trusting science.
Poland's Political Apparitions: How to Dispel ThemIn this paper I will argue that within the decades since the Velvet Revolution of 1989, the mutual perception of the liberal and leftist political formations negatively affected the prospects of their possible cooperation. A failure of the Polish liberals to cooperate with Poland's Left was among the main reasons for the inability to form a progressive alliance. More importantly, it left a fertile ground upon which populist and authoritarian movements were able to grow. As a result, Poland, initially presented as a role model of the transition from the conditions of the "real" socialism, has become an oppressive despotic regime, just like Turkey and Hungary. I will attempt to explain the emergence of the non-liberal democracy in Poland by stressing in particular the failure of the Polish liberals to take seriously the problems of social and economic exclusion resulting from the economic shock therapy applied during the transformative decades. Pointing to the tradition of the egalitarian liberalism, largely o erlooked in Poland, I will argue that there are both doctrinal resources and practical models which could be tapped by Polish liberals in order to establish a fruitful cooperation with the Poland's Left. Such a programme would have a chance to succeed on the condition of dispelling the phantom of neoliberalism
The global lockdown following the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic is likely to generate all sorts of consequences: psychological, social, economic, and political. To hypothesize about what will emerge from the present situation is at this point both premature and impossible. The impossibility comes primarily from the gravity and vastness of this emergency and from the lack of intellectual resources to deal with the challenge. At the same time, however, the need to get a grasp of the condition in which we have found ourselves is both understandable and irresistible. One way of responding, at least partially, to the demand and its possible consequences may be to refer to the concept of abstract society, an idea formulated 75 years ago by the Austrian-British philosopher Karl Popper.
Opozycja między podejściem partycypacjonistycznym, zakładającym szerokie uczestnictwo obywateli w demokratycznym procesie politycznym, a modelem deliberacjonistycznym, według którego władzę polityczną winny sprawować osoby obdarzone odpowiednimi kompetencjami poznawczymi, pozostaje ważkim tematem współczesnych debat w teorii demokracji. Autor twierdzi, że interpretacje modelu deliberacjonistycznego, uznające wiedzę za wiodące źródło prawomocnego uczestnictwa w sprawowaniu władzy politycznej, są obciążone "błędem kognitywistycznym" oraz wskazuje na niebezpieczeństwa wynikające z przypisania istotnej roli politycznej kompetencjom poznawczym.W opozycji do modelu "epistokratycznego" kładzie nacisk na wagę umiejętności politycznej w zarządzaniu systemami demokratycznymi. Biorąc za punkt wyjścia normatywny ideał demokracji, oparty na egalitarnym założeniu o potencjalnie powszechnej zdolności do kształtowania umiejętności politycznej, twierdzi, że ta potencjalność może się aktualizować przez samym udział w aktywności politycznej.
The opposition between the participationist approach, which favours wide participation of the people in democratic political process, and the deliberationist model, according to which political power should be exercised by people endowed with adequate cognitive competences, remains an important theme of the present debates in the theory of democracy. The author believes that those interpretations of the deliberationist model which perceive knowledge as a primary source of legitimation of participation in the political power, are guilty of a "cognitivist fallacy", and points out to dangers stemming from ascribing a prominent role to cognitive competences. In opposition to the "epistocratic" model, he stressed the importance of political skill in the governance of democratic systems. Taking as a starting point the belief that the normative ideal of democracy is based upon an egalitarian assumption of potentially universal ability to develop the political skill, he claims that this potentiality can be actualized through the very participation in political activity. ; Opozycja między podejściem partycypacjonistycznym, zakładającym szerokie uczestnictwo obywateli w demokratycznym procesie politycznym, a modelem deliberacjonistycznym, według którego władzę polityczną winny sprawować osoby obdarzone odpowiednimi kompetencjami poznawczymi, pozostaje ważkim tematem współczesnych debat w teorii demokracji. Autor twierdzi, że interpretacje modelu deliberacjonistycznego, uznające wiedzę za wiodące źródło prawomocnego uczestnictwa w sprawowaniu władzy politycznej, są obciążone "błędem kognitywistycznym" oraz wskazuje na niebezpieczeństwa wynikające z przypisania istotnej roli politycznej kompetencjom poznawczym.W opozycji do modelu "epistokratycznego" kładzie nacisk na wagę umiejętności politycznej w zarządzaniu systemami demokratycznymi. Biorąc za punkt wyjścia normatywny ideał demokracji, oparty na egalitarnym założeniu o potencjalnie powszechnej zdolności do kształtowania umiejętności politycznej, twierdzi, że ta potencjalność może się aktualizować przez samym udział w aktywności politycznej.
