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Full-Text Articles in Social and Behavioral Sciences

Languages Of The Unheard: Why Militant Protest Is Good For Democracy, Stephen D'Arcy Dec 2013

Languages Of The Unheard: Why Militant Protest Is Good For Democracy, Stephen D'Arcy

Stephen D'Arcy

A normative democratic theory of sound militancy is proposed, drawing on the ideas of Martin Luther King, but rejecting his non-violence standard in favour of a democratic standard. This normative standard is then applied to civil disobedience, disruptive direct action, sabotage, black blocs, rioting and armed struggle.


Reconciling Positivism And Realism: Kelsen And Habermas On Democracy And Human Rights, David Ingram Oct 2013

Reconciling Positivism And Realism: Kelsen And Habermas On Democracy And Human Rights, David Ingram

David Ingram

It is well known that Hans Kelsen and Jürgen Habermas invoke realist arguments drawn from social science in defending an international, democratic human rights regime against Carl Schmitt’s attack on the rule of law. However, despite embracing the realist spirit of Kelsen’s legal positivism, Habermas criticizes Kelsen for neglecting to connect the rule of law with a concept of procedural justice (Part I). I argue, to the contrary (Part II), that Kelsen does connect these terms, albeit in a manner that may be best described as functional, rather than conceptual. Indeed, whereas Habermas tends to emphasize a conceptual connection between …


The Structural Injustice Of Forced Migration And The Failings Of Normative Theory, David Ingram Oct 2013

The Structural Injustice Of Forced Migration And The Failings Of Normative Theory, David Ingram

David Ingram

I propose to criticize two strands of argument - contractarian and utilitarian – that liberals have put forth in defense of economic coercion, based on the notion of justifiable paternalism. To illustrate my argument, I appeal to the example of forced labor migration, driven by the exigencies of market forces. In particular, I argue that the forced migration of a special subset of unemployed workers lacking other means of subsistence (economic refugees) cannot be redeemed paternalistically as freedom or welfare enhancing in the long run. I further argue that contractarian and utilitarian approaches are normatively incapable of appreciating this fact …


Of Sweatshops And Human Subsistence: Habermas On Human Rights, David Ingram Oct 2013

Of Sweatshops And Human Subsistence: Habermas On Human Rights, David Ingram

David Ingram

In this paper I argue that the discourse theoretic account of human rights defended by Jürgen Habermas contains a fruitful tension that is obscured by its dominant tendency to identify rights with legal claims. This weakness in Habermas’s account becomes manifest when we examine how sweatshops diminish the secure enjoyment of subsistence, which Habermas himself (in recognition of the UDHR) recognizes as a human right. Discourse theories of human rights are unique in tying the legitimacy of human rights to democratic deliberation and consensus. So construed, their specific meaning and force is the outcome of historical political struggle. However, unlike …


Poverty Knowledge, Coercion, And Social Rights: A Discourse Ethical Contribution To Social Epistemology, David Ingram Oct 2013

Poverty Knowledge, Coercion, And Social Rights: A Discourse Ethical Contribution To Social Epistemology, David Ingram

David Ingram

In today’s America the persistence of crushing poverty in the midst of staggering affluence no longer incites the righteous jeremiads it once did. Resigned acceptance of this paradox is fueled by a sense that poverty lies beyond the moral and technical scope of government remediation. The failure of experts to reach agreement on the causes of poverty merely exacerbates our despair. Are the causes internal to the poor – reflecting their more or less voluntary choices? Or do they emanate from structures beyond their control (but perhaps amenable to government remediation)? If both of these explanations are true (as I …


Does Political Islam Conflict With Secular Democracy? Philosophical Reflections On Religion And Politics, David Ingram Oct 2013

Does Political Islam Conflict With Secular Democracy? Philosophical Reflections On Religion And Politics, David Ingram

David Ingram

Abstract: This paper rebuts the thesis that political Islam conflicts with secular democracy. More precisely, it examines three sorts of claims that ostensibly support this thesis: (a) The Muslim religion is incompatible with secular democracy; (b) No Muslim country has instituted secular democracy; and (c) No movement seeking to advance its agenda as aggressively as political Islam does can do so with the degree of moderation required of a political party that is committed to secular democracy. Theologians, philosophers, and political scientists have debated (a) through (c) within the jurisdiction of their respective fields. I propose to combine these debates …


Vico’S New Science Of Interpretation: Beyond Philosophical Hermeneutics And The Hermeneutics Of Suspicion, David Ingram Oct 2013

Vico’S New Science Of Interpretation: Beyond Philosophical Hermeneutics And The Hermeneutics Of Suspicion, David Ingram

David Ingram

The article situates Vico's hermeneutical science of history between a hermeneutics of suspicion (Ricoeur, Habermas, Freud) and a redemptive hermeneutics (Gadamer, Benjamin). It discusses Vico's early writings and his ambivalent trajectory from Cartesian rationalism to counter-enlightenment historicist and critic of natural law reasoning. The complexity of Vico's thinking belies some of the popular treatments of his thought developed by Isaiah Berlin and others.


“Apetito Para Las Madelinas? Proust, Portelli Y La Memoria Histórica En Colombia” (Appetite For Madelines: Proust, Portelli And Historical Memory Reconstruction In Colombia), Andrés Henao Castro Aug 2013

“Apetito Para Las Madelinas? Proust, Portelli Y La Memoria Histórica En Colombia” (Appetite For Madelines: Proust, Portelli And Historical Memory Reconstruction In Colombia), Andrés Henao Castro

Andrés Fabián Henao-Castro

No abstract provided.


“La Marcha De Las Putas, Baudelaire Y Walter Benjamin” (The Protest Of The Whores, Baudelaire And Walter Benjamin), Andrés Henao Castro Jun 2013

“La Marcha De Las Putas, Baudelaire Y Walter Benjamin” (The Protest Of The Whores, Baudelaire And Walter Benjamin), Andrés Henao Castro

Andrés Fabián Henao-Castro

No abstract provided.


“Marx, Wendy Brown Y El Matrimonio Entre Las Parejas Del Mismo Sexo” (Marx, Wendy Brown And Same-Sex Marriage), Andrés Henao Castro May 2013

“Marx, Wendy Brown Y El Matrimonio Entre Las Parejas Del Mismo Sexo” (Marx, Wendy Brown And Same-Sex Marriage), Andrés Henao Castro

Andrés Fabián Henao-Castro

No abstract provided.


“Wittgenstein, El Mito De Filomela Y Las Bordadoras De Mampuján” (Wittgenstein, Philomela’S Myth And The Weavers Of Mampuján), Andrés Henao Castro Apr 2013

“Wittgenstein, El Mito De Filomela Y Las Bordadoras De Mampuján” (Wittgenstein, Philomela’S Myth And The Weavers Of Mampuján), Andrés Henao Castro

Andrés Fabián Henao-Castro

No abstract provided.


“Kafka, La Excepcionalidad Y El ‘Fuero Militar’” (Kafka, Exceptionality And “Military Privileges”), Andrés Henao Castro Mar 2013

“Kafka, La Excepcionalidad Y El ‘Fuero Militar’” (Kafka, Exceptionality And “Military Privileges”), Andrés Henao Castro

Andrés Fabián Henao-Castro

No abstract provided.


Citizen Responsibility For War In Imperfect Democracies, Lisa Rivera Mar 2013

Citizen Responsibility For War In Imperfect Democracies, Lisa Rivera

Lisa Rivera

Are individual citizens of imperfect democracies morally responsible for unjust wars waged by their state? Moral responsibility for unjust wars involves both retrospective and social responsibility. Citizens of imperfect democracies are retrospectively responsible when they choose to vote for a leader they know will wage an unjust war. This situation may occur very rarely. For example, US citizens did not have this political option at the outset of the Vietnam and Iraq Wars. However, even when citizens are not retrospectively responsible they have the social responsibility to engage in collective action to address the harms unjust war causes.


Democratic Participation, Engagement, And Freedom, Cillian Mcbride Dec 2012

Democratic Participation, Engagement, And Freedom, Cillian Mcbride

Cillian McBride

It is commonly supposed that democracies should encourage greater political participation and civic engagement. This article identifies two distinct perspectives on political participation and civic engagement: a ‘freedom-centred’ model and an ‘ethical’ model. The ‘freedom-centred’ model defended here draws on the republican concept of freedom as non-domination, together with the political liberal notion of fair deliberative proceduralism, while the ethical model draws on Aristotelian, perfectionist, sources. It is argued that the ‘ethical’ model is overly concerned with the ‘moral renewal’ of modern social life, and is insensitive to problems of domination posed by its account of civic reciprocity and trust. …


Deleuze & Guattari And Minor Marxism, Eugene W. Holland Dec 2012

Deleuze & Guattari And Minor Marxism, Eugene W. Holland

Eugene W Holland

This paper suggests a version of Marxism - a minor Marxism - derived from Deleuze & Guattari's political philosophy.