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Full-Text Articles in Social and Behavioral Sciences
Authentic Identities, Andrew Pierce
Authentic Identities, Andrew Pierce
Andrew J. Pierce
Authenticity has played a central role in modern philosophical discourse, where it has often been interpreted individualistically. But concerns about authenticity also arise in relation to questions of group membership, and become especially pressing in the case of minority and/or disadvantaged groups. In this essay, I develop an alternative conception of authenticity based on the intersubjective relation of trust. Such a relational conception is better equipped to deal with both the authenticity of individuals, and that of groups, which, I ultimately argue, are two sides of the same coin.
Reconstructing Race: A Discourse-Theoretical Approach To A Normative Politics Of Identity, Andrew Pierce
Reconstructing Race: A Discourse-Theoretical Approach To A Normative Politics Of Identity, Andrew Pierce
Andrew J. Pierce
This paper aims to get clear on the normative implications of the idea that race is a “social construction,” not just for political practice in non-ideal societies where racial oppression remains, but in “ideal” (presumably non-racist) societies as well. That is, I pursue the question of whether race and/or racial identity would have any legitimate place in an ideally just society, or to state it another way, whether the concept of race can be extricated from the history of racial oppression from which it arose. The position I defend is a version of what has come to be called a …
Formal Democracy, Structural Violence, And The Possibility Of "Perpetual Peace.", Andrew Pierce
Formal Democracy, Structural Violence, And The Possibility Of "Perpetual Peace.", Andrew Pierce
Andrew J. Pierce
In this paper, I revisit and evaluate Kant’s prerequisites for “perpetual peace,” including the claim, central to contemporary political rhetoric, that formal democracy produces peace. I argue that formal democracy alone is insufficient to address the kinds of deep-rooted structural violence that ultimately manifest in terrorism and other forms of direct violence. I claim that the attempt to eliminate structural violence, and so achieve real “perpetual peace,” requires a more substantive sort of democracy, of which the United States and the West remain poor examples. It requires a political critique that goes deeper than just the critique of state power …