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Sentimental Empiricism: Politics, Philosophy, And Criticism In Postwar France, Davide Panagia

Politics

Sentimental Empiricism reconsiders the legacy of eighteenth and nineteenth century empiricism and moral sentimentalism for the intellectual formation of the generation of postwar French thinkers whose work came to dominate Anglophone conversations across the humanities under the guise of “French theory.” Panagia’s book first shows what was missed in the reception of this literature in the Anglophone academy by attending to how France’s pedagogical milieu plays out church and state relations in the form of educational debates around reading practices, the aesthetics of mimesis, French imperialism, and republican universalism. Panagia then shows how such thinkers as Jean Wahl, Simone de …

Plato's Republics: A Dramatic Interpretation Of The Early Cities In Plato's "Republic", Simeon Burns

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

This dissertation will demonstrate a new methodological approach to reading Plato’s Republic. I develop and apply a dramatic, dynamic hermeneutic to Book II and part of Book III in the text. This method holds that each speech is the product of a preceding agreement or disagreement between two speakers. Agreements lead to the argument’s advancement and disagreements result in a regression to a previous agreement from which to restart the exchange. The focus section is largely on the early exchange Socrates has with Adeimantus. I argue that Socrates is an unwilling participant in the famous discussion on the meaning …

An Exploration Of Secular And Christian Political Thought, Elizabeth Bradley

Undergraduate Honors Theses

Through the evaluation and comparison of Machiavellian, Nietzschean, and Christian political thought, this thesis argues that Christian thinkers effectively meet the challenges posed to them by Modern philosophers. Modern philosophers reject the teaching that ethical principles have a transcendent origin in God and instead believe that morality is merely a matter of human convention. Christian philosophy was once dominant in influencing political thought. Modern thinkers such as Machiavelli and Nietzsche wrote with the express purpose of challenging and replacing Christian thought. The Christian political tradition promotes more noble qualities in leaders than the modern philosophies which proposed to challenge it. …

Makeshift Memory: Nostalgia As Collective Solidarity In The Egyptian Muslim Brotherhood And Post-Imperial England, Catherine White

Senior Theses

It is a deeply human experience to long for times, people, and places of the past, even pasts we ourselves did not experience. This feeling, which we most often call nostalgia (but has earned many names throughout history) has profound influence especially in how we perceive our collective histories and use these histories to guide us forward. This experience of nostalgia is the underpinning for many of our sources of solidarity (or who we feel loyal or obligated to). However, when we feel these profound connections to the distant past, we often lose the reality of that past in the …

Politics For Angels, William Kanwischer

Honors Projects

How many idealizing assumptions may we make when doing political philosophy? May we assume our citizens more rational than they are, or our governments more efficient than in reality? These questions lie at the center of the debate between ideal and non-ideal theorists. Ideal theorists believe it permissible to engage in counterfactual assumptions about citizens and states when doing political philosophy, and non-ideal theorists think the opposite. In this paper, I will argue against a particular defense of ideal theory given by David Estlund, who argues that the low probability that a standard of justice will be met does not …

Caring Without Sharing: Philanthropy's Creation And Destruction Of The Common World, Amy B. Schiller

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

This dissertation explores multiple ways philanthropy builds and undermines the common world. Political science treatments of philanthropy have focused mainly on its role in the development of civil society, with a recent turn towards critiques of philanthropy as an instrument of elite power and tension between private wealth and democratic governance. In this dissertation, I examine how philanthropy can foster enduring spaces of human flourishing, or reduce beneficiaries to objects of pity, surveillance and domination. I trace philanthropy's evolution from ancient to contemporary contexts and propose a framework for philanthropy to, under certain conditions, build and care for the common …

What Do Women Want? The Feminist Pursuit Of Happiness, Hannah Ruth Ellen

Honors Theses

“What do Women Want?” My thesis asks whether women can genuinely seek freedom while also hoping for happiness. I look closely at how male theorists define happiness and liberty for themselves and for others, and in particular for feminized others. My two central chapters focus on theories of individual happiness, happiness sought through another or others, and the ways feminist thinkers reimagine happiness in relationship to women’s freedom. I apply feminist critiques to the concept of psychodynamic therapy as an anti-revolutionary tool designed to isolate and silence women into believing that coping with oppression is equivalent to genuine happiness. I …

The Grammar Of Politicization And Depoliticization : Arendt's Republicanism And The Translation Of Revolutionary Politics And Judgment Into Political Institutions, Daniel Kuchler

Legacy Theses & Dissertations (2009 - 2024)

For Arendt, political freedom is both a spontaneous rejection of rule and the foundation of institutions. In my dissertation, I argue that both aspects are linked together by her concept of political judgment. This reading of Arendt contrasts with a strand of political theory that seems to argue that public-participatory politics, as found in revolutions, cannot be translated into lasting institutions: Wolin and Rancière argue that any attempt at establishing institutions undermines the participatory character of politics. Habermas and Pettit on the other hand argue for establishing lasting institutions, but they do so at the expense of a rich concept …

Chapter 4 (Draft): John Locke And The Hobbesian Hypothesis: How A Very Similar Colonial Prejudice Found Its Way Into The Natural Rights Justification Of Private Property, Karl Widerquist, Grant Mccall

Karl Widerquist

This chapter is a preliminary draft of Chapter 4 of the book, "Prehistoric Myths in Modern Political Philosophy." The role of this chapter is to show that what we call "the Hobbesian Hypothesis" is an essential premise in John Locke's justification of private property. The Hobbesian hypothesis, in this context, is the claim that everyone is better off in a society with private land and resource ownership (even if they own no land or resources) than they could reasonably except to be in a society in which these resources remained unowned and people lived as hunter-gatherers. This chapter does not …

Chapter 3 (Draft) The Hobbesian Hypothesis: How A Colonial Prejudice Became An Essential Premise In The Most Popular Justification Of Government, Karl Widerquist, Grant Mccall

Karl Widerquist

This chapter is a draft of Chapter Three of the book that Grant McCall and I are writing. The book is called, "Prehistoric Myths in Modern Political Philosophy." This chapter shows now Hobbes introduce an empirical claim into his most influential justification of the state. We call this claim the Hobbesian hypothesis: everyone is better off under the authority of a sovereign government than everyone would be outside of that authority. The chapter argue that this hypothesis is a strong, counterfactual, empirical claim about people in small-scale stateless societies that has not been well-established by empirical evidence.

Myths About The State Of Nature And The Reality Of Stateless Societies, Karl Widerquist, Grant Mccall

Karl Widerquist

Albert Camus' Political Thought: From Passion To Compassion, Angel López-Santiago

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

The present work analyzes the political thought of Albert Camus, specifically the challenges of the justice ideal, and Camus' prioritization of the concepts of limits and compassion. Although Camus is not usually considered part of the traditional canon of political philosophy, I organized his thought into three major areas: a sub-theory of the human being, a sub-theory of institutions, and a sub-theory of political change. This method, I demonstrate, is ideal for extracting and organizing the political ideas of non-traditional political writers. In the case of Camus, he advocates for an international and democratic `civilization of dialogue' as part of …

The Big Casino, Karl Widerquist

Karl Widerquist

This paper uses an analogy to illustrate two things: (1) the economy is and will always be a casino, and (2) in existing societies and most libertarian, liberal, and socialist visions of society individuals are effectively forced to participate in the casino economy. It argues justice requires that individuals must be free from forced participation in such an economy and that the best way to free people from forced participation is the provision of a Basic Income Guarantee.

Beyond Anti-Semitism, Rebecca Gould

Rebecca Gould

Focusing on internal contradictions within the Israeli left, this essay considers the impact of the historical legacy of anti-Semitism on everyday thinking about Israel and the Palestinian territories. Contesting the view that to criticize Israel is to engage in anti-Semitic defamation, it offers an historical account of how Israel's actions in the West Bank have come to be immunized from conscientious criticism. It also documents how progressive media outlets in contemporary Israel have silenced or otherwise marginalized Israel's most active critics.

Why We Demand An Unconditional Basic Income: The Ecso Freedom Case, Karl Widerquist

Karl Widerquist

Philippe Van Parijs’s (1995) Real Freedom for All: What (If Anything) Can Justify Capitalism makes a very thorough and challenging philosophical argument for basic income. But I believe that it has two important limitations that inhibit it from giving a compelling explanation why basic income supporters believe that support for the disadvantage must be not only universal but also unconditional and enough to meet an individual’s basic needs. This essay briefly discusses those limitations and then proposes an alternative argument for basic income that I believe relies on a more compelling concept of freedom, defined below as “Freedom as Effective …

How The Sufficiency Minimum Becomes A Social Maximum, Karl Widerquist

Karl Widerquist

This article argues that, under likely empirical conditions, sufficientarianism leads not to an easily achievable duty to maintain a social minimum but to the onerous duty of maintaining a social maximum at the sufficiency level. This happens because sufficientarians ask us to give no weight at all to small benefits for people above the sufficiency level if the alternative is to relieve the suffering of people below it. If we apply this judgment in a world where there are rare diseases and hard-to-prevent accidents that cause people to fall below the sufficiency threshold, all of our discretionary spending will have …

Opinion Polls And Presidential Campaign In Colombia, Fernando Estrada

Fernando Estrada

The polls, these surveys do not withstand any rigorous testing. And contrary to expand the formation of public opinion, impaired. To overcome this defect should propose means fewer surveys and more discussions. Presidential campaigns should seek democratic enlargement, and a less massive media exposure to foot the surveys. Simplify

Democracy In Dangerous Places: Colombia. Vote With Paramilitary Preferences, Fernando Estrada

Fernando Estrada

This paper discusses the problem of paramilitary violence in Colombia and its effects on democracy. The elections were part of the purpose of self defense and constituted a disguised form to retain its drug trafficking economy. The impacts on institutional technology have been negative: representative democracy, the electoral system and voting, they were not the same. With paramilitary violence changed the electoral map in areas contested by the traditional political parties. Voting with paramilitary preferences mean the biggest challenge is constitutional democracy in Colombia.

Antinomies Of Capitalism (Review Of Globalization Its Discontents Joseph Stiglitz, Fernando Estrada

Fernando Estrada

We present the central arguments of the critics on the limits and scope of globalization on the work

The Leviathan Of Thomas Hobbes, Fernando Estrada

Fernando Estrada

This interpretation of the Leviathan of Thomas Hobbes line of work includes a project from Concept of the Political by Carl Schmitt. It offers a reading from modern political theory as opposed to rational version of the book of Hobbes. The Leviathan from mythological nature preserves from the Biblical and Talmudic tradition, which opens an understanding of the modern State from the medieval stories. Hobbes is one of the first theorists that paves the way for liberalism, but disputed that his work reflects not strictly liberal thought, but the problems of political power during the Monarchies

The Tragedy Of Forced Displacement, Fernando Estrada

Fernando Estrada

o far in 2009, due to the intensification of armed conflict, approximately 15 thousand Colombians crossed some border areas of Colombia with Ecuador, Panama and Venezuela. The Lower Putumayo (Putumayo), area of application of Plan Colombia, was the region most affected by armed confrontation and thus it presented a greater number of Colombians uprooted. From this region generated the most significant exodus to Ecuador (about 7 million people).

Diagrams Of Argumentation, Fernando Estrada

Fernando Estrada

This article is aimed at viewing the evidence in the legal and political debate. A relatively little attention in the literature expert. Relying on the philosophy of science and a little less in legal theory, we note that the explanations under inductive legal and political knowledge, and the arguments about evidence and proof, connections are based on probabilistic and assumptions rebuttable and not on speculations embodied theoretical goal. The support base to represent the legal debate - now has strong political component of formal logic and empirical research.

Recent Changes In The Armed Conflict In Colombia, Fernando Estrada

Fernando Estrada

Analyst in the strategy and operations of guerrillas and paramilitaries, have suggested that the Colombian conflict analysis should show the differences between clusters paramilitary. Not only because after the 80s, drug trafficking has played a decisive role, but because the geography of territories and control combinations have not been studied sufficiently. Geography of armed conflict should also provide tools to understand the impact of war on natural resources, for example. We sustain that while the drug economy has filtered the structure of semi-groups, promoting market competition and private security protection, drug trafficking does not explain absolutely all sources of violence …

Pierre Bordieu From Latin American, Fernando Estrada

Fernando Estrada

This brief paper is a tribute of the French thinker Pierre Bordieu. Plot some political economy issues and relate aspects of the remarkable influence thinker.

Paramilitary Language In The Colombian Armed Conflict, Fernando Estrada

Fernando Estrada

The war in Colombia presents, among other characteristics, a high content of oratorical and rhetoric; the different armed actors are disputed, besides territories, the power of the public opinion, with what each violent action is usually accompanied by a discursive or symbolic justification. The present rehearsal offers an analysis of the paramilitary speech, starting from the declarations and interviews to Carlos Castaño, main boss of the selfdefenses. The paramilitary rhetoric is studied here from the theory of the speech acts of Austin-Searle, the theory of the argument of Chaïm Perelman, and the recent works has more than enough Metaphors of …

Sulle Basi Motivazionali Delle Lotte Sociali. Honneth Versus Fraser, In "Iride", Xxiii, N. 60 (2010), Pp. 448-452., Marco Solinas

Marco Solinas

No abstract provided.

A Dilemma For Libertarianism, Karl Widerquist

Karl Widerquist

'Wars The Like Of Which One Has Never Seen', Tracy B. Strong

Research Resources

'WARS THE LIKE OF WHICH ONE HAS NEVER SEEN': READING NIETZSCHE AND POLITICS

Tracy B. Strong

Labyrinth Of Modernity, Interpretation Of The Old Regime And The Revolution Of Alexis De Tocqueville (Laberinto De La Modernidad. Interpretación Del Antiguo Régimen Y La Revolución De Alexis De Tocqueville) Spanish, Fernando Estrada, José Daniel Parra

Fernando Estrada

CIPE in this book presents an interpretation of the Old Regime and the Revolution of Alexis de Tocqueville.

Meditations On Machiavelli (Meditaciones En Maquiavelo) Spanish, Fernando Estrada, José Daniel Parra

Fernando Estrada

The presentation of Machiavelli in the field of studies of Finance, Government and International Relations is twofold. First, show that we can better understand the problems of our time in the footsteps comprehensive than classical authors have left us. A student can recognize progressive power that were taking concepts such as politics, power, status, conflict, political parties, institutions, representation and social movements, from writing original authors as Florentine thinker.