Suchergebnisse

The opening words of the 1999 report of the government's Social Exclusion Unit, Bringing Britain Together announced that it met its remit to report to the Prime Minister on how to: "develop integrated & sustainable approaches to the problems of the worst housing estates, including crime, drugs, unemployment, community breakdown, & bad schools etc." In other words, the Social Exclusion Unit was instructed to take a problem-solving approach to the issue. This approach meant that the development of an inclusive society would be understood implicitly in terms of dealing with those areas that are perceived as problems. This seems to suggest that social exclusion "just happens" to people who "suffer from" a collection of problems. The agent or agents of this exclusion are rendered invisible by the very linguistic structure of the definition. This paper argues that it is vital to envisage the agents & victims of exclusion & to describe it in terms of the relationship of face to face. A critique drawing upon the insights of Emmanuel Levinas would refuse to allow us to reduce the otherness of the socially excluded to a project defined in the terms of those who exercise power in social relations. Nor would it allow a definition of social exclusion in terms of it being either "their" problem or the consequence of some impersonal force. A theological critique might lead us to argue that the whole project of problem solving when applied to persons is in & of itself highly suspect. Thus the paper concludes by considering what shape might develop from the bringing of insights from philosophical & theological discourses to this perception of social exclusion. It seeks to argue for a radical passivity before the face of the Other (that is in this case those who live in urban housing estates) arguing that those who engage with social exclusion, the "name" that has been given to this face, are first summoned by the Other to a relationship of total responsibility that rejects the reductionist project of the controlling "I.". Adapted from the source document.

Feminism is sometimes seen either as multiple or singular as though we have to make a choice along ideological as well as philosophical lines. Feminism, I shall argue, is both multiple & singular, since "liberal," "socialist," & "radical" feminisms are distinctive feminisms that can & should be assessed according to the extent to which they contribute positively to the development of a postpatriarchal society. The same holds for the philosophically differentiated varieties of "feminist empiricism," standpoint, & postmodern theory. Each represent differing feminisms within a single body of argument unified by its commitment to the emancipation of women. It is important to distinguish here between the way in which particular theorists regard their endeavors & the practical implications of the positions taken. 19 References. Adapted from the source document.

Discusses the view of politics in the later works of Heidegger as he considered technology the fate of modernity & the final unveiling of the truth of metaphysics. Heidegger explained modernity as a social, political, & economic system that simultaneously absorbs technologies, science, programming production, & consumption. The new Holy Trinity of capital, production, & profit, as he labeled Technology, is rooted in the heart of modern metaphysics. With Adorno & Horkheimer, Heidegger takes a negative & pessimistic view of modernity. Ignoring the political meditation of Heidegger's deconstruction of metaphysics blocks an understanding of the development of modernity into an all-consuming form of Technology & the warning of dangerous challenges ahead as genetic engineering, pharmaceutical, chemical industrial, computer science, & artificial intelligence interests shape a new world. L. A. Hoffman

The doctrine of human rights has come to play a distinctive role in international life. This is primarily the role of a moral touchstone - a standard of assessment and criticism for domestic institutions, a standard of aspiration for their reform, and increasingly a standard of evaluation for the policies and practices of international economic and political institutions. International practice has followed the controlling documents of international law in taking a broad view of the scope of human rights. Many political theorists argue, however, that this view is excessively broad and that genuine human rights, if they are to be regarded as a truly common concern of world society, must be construed more narrowly. I argue against that perspective and in favor of the view implicit in contemporary international practice, using the right to democratic institutions as an example. (American Political Science Review / FUB)

This study seeks to contribute to our understanding of the original political goals of the Enlightenment, especially in its confrontation with the Bible as a source of political guidance. It consists primarily of an exegesis of two seminal works of the period, Pierre Bayle's Various Thoughts on the Occasion of a Comet (1682) & Montesquieu's Spirit of the Laws (1748). With clarity, grace, & power, both works make manifest the grandeur of the Enlightenment's philosophic vision, the staggering ambition of its attempt to overcome the Bible as a political authority, & the ultimate vulnerability of that attempt, the full consequences of which we in the post-Enlightenment era must come to grips with. 41 References. Adapted from the source document.