From the theory of ‘deliberative democracy’ to the politics of the ‘third way’, the present Zeitgeist is characterized by attempts to deny what Chantal Mouffe contends is the inherently conflictual nature of democratic politics. Far from being signs of progress, such ideas constitute a serious threat to democratic institutions. Taking issue with John Rawls and Jürgen Habermas on one side, and the political tenets of Blair, Clinton and Schröder on the other, Mouffe brings to the fore the paradoxical nature (...) of modern liberal democracy in which the category of the ‘adversary’ plays a central role. She draws on the work of Wittgenstein, Derrida, and the provocative theses of Carl Schmitt, to propose a new understanding of democracy which acknowledges the ineradicability of antagonism in its workings. (shrink)

The aim of this paper is to provide an addendum to a paper by Rose with the same title which has appeared in an earlier issue of this Journal [2]. Our new result is: Theorem. A ring of characteristic zero which admits elimination of quantifiers in the language {0, 1, +, ·} is an algebraically closed field.

De nombreux ouvrages - travaux historiques, mémoires, romans ou témoignages - évoquent la condition des Africaines en Afrique du Sud, qui représentent 70% de la population féminine et n'ont cessé de subir les manifestations de la discrimination et du sexisme. Le livre de Jacklyn Cock (1980) est une étude approfondie sur le statut social et économique des Africaines. Dès l'enfance la jeune fille est victime d'un préjudice qui détermine le reste de son existence. La famille puis l'école...

Social entrepreneurship is perceived as a legitimate and innovative solution to social problems. Yet, when one looks at the literature one finds that the social problems that the SE movement seeks to address and how these problems are identified and defined are not studied. This lack of attention to the defining of social problems in SE has implications for the domain for problems do not exist unless they are recognized and defined, and those that define problems have influence on how (...) these will eventually be addressed. Our paper presents an analysis of framing activities in SE done by the actors involved in the development and promotion of the SE movement. Our analysis reveals that these actors are concerned with creating an ecosystem to support social entrepreneurs. Critical analysis of discourses of these actors reveals a powerful mobilization discourse, one that supports social entrepreneurs as the agents of change. We also find that as the SE movement emerged at the beginning of a cycle of protest against capitalist systems, their framing of SE as system changing of these very systems therefore finds strong resonance with a wide variety of actors. (shrink)

Chantal Mouffe is one of the most influential political theorists at work today. Her work has influenced political parties across Europe and continues to inform the direction of left politics. In this work, Mouffe argues that liberal democracy misunderstands the problems of ethnic, religious and nationalist conflicts because of its inadequate conception of politics.

Since September 11, we frequently hear that the struggle is between good and evil and that politics is at an end. Should we welcome or fear a 'Third Way' beyond left and right? In this timely and thought provoking book, Chantal Mouffe argues that third way thinking ignores fundamental, conflictual aspects of human nature and that far from expanding democracy, globalization is undermining the combative and radical heart of democratic life. Going back first to Aristotle, she identifies the historical (...) origins of the political. She also reflects on the Enlightenment and the social contract, arguing that in spite of its good intentions, it fatally suppressed the radical core of political life. She uses many contemporary examples, including the Iraq war, racism and the rise of the far right, to argue that far from ending dangerous extremism, the political void created by the search for consensus inflames it. (shrink)

This paper is part of a larger project defending of the foundations of microeconomics against recent criticisms by philosophers. Here, we undermine one source of these criticisms, arising from philosophers' disappointment with the performance of microeconomic tools, in particular game theory, when these are applied to normative decision theory. Hollis and Sugden have recently articulated such disappointment in a sophisticated way, and have argued on the basis of it that the economic conception of rationality is inadequate. We argue, however, that (...) their claim rests upon a misunderstanding of the concept of a game as it is used in microeconomics. (shrink)

Since September 11th, we frequently hear that political differences should be put aside: the real struggle is between good and evil. What does this mean for political and social life? Is there a 'Third Way' beyond left and right, and if so, should we fear or welcome it? This thought-provoking book by Chantal Mouffe, a globally recognized political author, presents a timely account of the current state of democracy, affording readers the most relevant and up-to-date information. Arguing that liberal (...) 'third way thinking' ignores fundamental, conflicting aspects of human nature, Mouffe states that, far from expanding democracy, globalization is undermining the combative and radical heart of democratic life. Going back first to Aristotle, she identifies the historical origins of the political and reflects on the Enlightenment, and the social contract, arguing that in spite of its good intentions, it levelled the radical core of political life. Contemporary examples, including the Iraq war, racism and the rise of the far right, are used to illustrate and support her theory that far from combating extremism, the quest for consensus politics undermines the ability to challenge it. These case studies are also highly effective points of reference for student revision. _On the Political _is a stimulating argument about the future of politics and addresses the most fundamental aspects of democracy that will aid further study. (shrink)

Revisiting the generally accepted notion of psycho-physical parallelism in Spinoza, Chantal Jaquet offers a new analysis of the relation between body and mind. Looking at a range of Spinoza's texts, and using an original methodology, she analyses their unity in action through affects, actions and passions.

One of the main reasons that liberal democratic societies are not ill-prepared to confront the present challenge presented by disaffection with democratic institutions, is that the type of political theory currently in vogue is dominated by an individualistic, universalistic, and rationalistic framework. This erases the dimension of the political and impedes envisaging in an adequate manner the nature of a pluralistic democratic public sphere. This paper examines the most recent paradigm of liberal democracy: 'deliberative democracy', in order to bring to (...) the fore its shortcomings. Then, the authos puts forward some element for the elaboration of an alternative model that she proposes to call 'agonistic pluralism'. (shrink)

Comment adapter l’éthique journalistique aux réseaux sociaux ? Comment respecter son devoir de réserve sur les réseaux sociaux ? Faut-il respecter ce devoir de réserve même sur les réseaux sociaux ? Quelle transparence les journalistes doivent afficher sur les réseaux sociaux ? Cet article suggère des pistes de réflexion.

The themes of citizenship and community are today at the center of a fierce debate as both left and right try to mobilize them for their cause. For the left such notions are crucial in all the current attempts to redefine political struggle through extending and deepening democracy. But, argue the contributors to this volume, these concepts need to be made compatible with the pluralism that marks modern democracy. Rather than reject the liberal tradition, they argue, the aim should be (...) to radicalize it. These essays set out to examine what types of “citizen” and “community” might be required by such a radical and plural democracy. From a range of disciplines and a fruitful diversity of theoretical perspectives, the contributors help us to address the following challenge: how to defend the greatest possible pluralism without destroying the very framework of the democratic political community. Despite their differences, a vision emerges from these essays which is sharply at odds both with the universalistic and rationalistic conception to be found in the work of Habermas, and with postmodern celebrations of absolute heterogeneity. For this book is an exploration of politics—of a politics where power, conflict and antagonism will always play a central role. (shrink)

Although Wittgenstein is often held co-responsible for the so-called death of man as it was pronounced in the course of the previous century, no detailed description of his alternative to the traditional or Cartesian account of human being has so far been available. By consulting several parts of Wittgenstein's later oeuvre, Subjectivity after Wittgenstein aims to fill this gap. However, it also contributes to the debate about the Cartesian subject and its demise by discussing the criticism that the rethinking of (...) subjectivity received, for it has been argued that the anti-Cartesian turn in continental philosophy has lead to a loss of a centre for both ethics and politics. By further exploring the implications of the Wittgensteinian account of human being, this book makes it clear that a non-Cartesian view on the subject is not necessarily ethically and politically inert. Moreover, it argues that ethical and political arguments should not automatically take precedence in a debate about the nature of man. (shrink)

Spinoza breaks with Descartes’ conception of the psychophysical union and deeply changes the ontological statute of men. He considers no longer that human beings in Nature are a dominion within a dominion and share with God the privilege of being substances. In Descartes, the union of an immaterial or non‐extended substance and a material or extended substance remains beyond understanding, since the problem of whether they are able to interact arises. By identifying the mind to the idea of the body, (...) the author of the Ethics provides guidance on how to conceptualize their relationship. The psychophysical parallelism fails to explain both identity and differences in Spinoza. It presupposes homologies and one‐to‐one correspondences between ideas and things, mind and body, and leads to conceptualizing the various modal expressions according to a linearly identical model. The psychophysical union in Spinoza sounds like a duet that puts an end to duality without reducing it to a mechanical identity. (shrink)

La lecture de Fourier que nous voudrions privilégier trouve sa légitimité dans un questionnement contemporain sur l'économie, sa nature et sa place. Nous voudrions montrer que Fourier a l'audace de remettre en question les présupposés de l'économie de son siècle. Il pressent, dès les linéaments du développement du capitalisme industriel et marchand, les aberrations et excès de celui-ci : embryon d'une économie en démesure, menacée par des dérèglements et crises récurrentes. Nous avons pris l'...

La lecture de Fourier que nous voudrions privilégier trouve sa légitimité dans un questionnement contemporain sur l'économie, sa nature et sa place. Nous voudrions montrer que Fourier a l'audace de remettre en question les présupposés de l'économie de son siècle. Il pressent, dès les linéaments du développement du capitalisme industriel et marchand, les aberrations et excès de celui-ci : embryon d'une économie en démesure, menacée par des dérèglements et crises récurrentes. Nous avons pris l'...

This article brings to the fore the shortcomings of the type of pluralism advocated by John Rawls both in Political Liberalism and in The Law of Peoples. It is argued that by postulating that the discrimination between what is and what is not legitimate is dictated by rationality and morality, Rawls’s approach forecloses recognition of the properly political moment. Exclusions are presented as being justified by reason and the antagonistic dimension of politics is not acknowledged. This article also takes issue (...) with Rawls’s ‘realistic utopia’, asserting that despite the reference to ‘decent’ hierarchical societies, it amounts to a universalization of the western liberal model. (shrink)

RESUMENLa estética y la mística con dos modalidades de la experiencia que parecen coincidir en el proceso de unificación que pretenden lograr. No obstante, sus caminos son divergentes: en la experiencia mística el acuerdo con lo otro se establece a partir de la disolución de las diferencias, mientras que la experiencia estética procede con las diferencias, procura integrarlas diseñando un orden. Desde los parámetros de la estética india, dos autores pertenecientes a la escuela de Cachemira dan cuenta, respectivamente, de la (...) identidad entre los ámbitos estético y místico, y de la crítica que corresponde hacerle a dicha identificación.PALABRAS CLAVEESTETICA-MISTICA-INDIAABSTRACTAesthetics and Mysticis are two forms of experience wich seems to coincide in the unifiction that both pretend to accomplish. Notwithstanding, they follow different ways: in the mystic experience, the union arises from the dissolution of differences, whereas the aesthetic experience works with differences and tries to integrate them by designing an order. From the parametres of Indian Aesthetics, two authors of the Kashmir School propound, respectively, the identity between Aesthetics and Mysticism and the basis for a criticism of this identificationKEYWORDSAESTHETIC-MYSTICISM-INDIA. (shrink)

Deconstruction and pragmatism constitute two of the major intellectual influences on the contemporary theoretical scene; influences personified in the work of Jacques Derrida and Richard Rorty. Both Rortian pragmatism, which draws the consequences of post-war developments in Anglo-American philosophy, and Derridian deconstruction, which extends and troubles the phonomenological and Heideggerian influence on the Continental tradition, have hitherto generally been viewed as mutually exclusive philosophical language games. The purpose of this volume is to bring deconstruction and pragmatism into critical confrontation with (...) one another through staging a debate between Derrida and Rorty, itself based on discussions that took place at the _College International de Philosophie_ in Paris in 1993. The ground for this debate is layed out in introductory papers by Simon Critchley and Ernesto Laclau, and the remainder of the volume records Derrida's and Rorty's responses to each other's work. Chantal Mouffe gives an overview of the stakes of this debate in a helpful preface. (shrink)

A significant part of Wittgenstein's later writings deal with psychological phenomena. Again and again he tries to show that thoughts, feelings, etc., cannot be understoodas objects or processes in some private inner realm. According to Wittgenstein the souldoes not reside inside of us, but should rather be located in between of us. Thus offering a new way of portraying several dichotomies (such as those between the inner and the outer, the public and the private, and the self and the other), (...) Wittgenstein can be said to rethink our concept of the subject. Or should we rather say that he proposes to reduce the soul to the body, the personal to the communal — in other words, that he in fact tries to 'unthink' subjectivity? To answer this question, this article confronts Wittgenstein's 'psychology' with his 'theology'. For contrary to what he writes on the psyche, Wittgenstein stresses in his writings on religion the individual instead of the collective and the private instead of the public. By showing that Wittgenstein's theology is actually compatible with his psychology, it is argued that Wittgenstein cannot besaid to proclaim the 'death' of the subject. (shrink)

Although Wittgenstein is famously skeptical about the possibility of making substantial philosophical claims, he can be said to offer significant insights into the difference between inner and outer as well as the difference between self and other.1 He consistently reminds us that inner and outer are intimately connected instead of only causally related, as well as that the self—far from being a wholly independent entity—always already finds itself constituted by its relationships with others. In thus contesting the Cartesian view on (...) subjectivity, however, Wittgenstein may appear to simply reduce the inner to the outer and the self to the other.. (shrink)

Dans cet ouvrage de 430 pages – dont neuf consacrées à un index des auteurs anciens et modernes – Geneviève Clerico, Bernard Colombat et Jean Soubiran ont réuni 22 textes écrits par Françoise Desbordes de 1981 à 2000 et généralement publiés antérieurement dans des revues scientifiques ou actes de colloques. Ces études ne concernent pas la rhétorique, domaine privilégié de l’activité scientifique de F.D., ni les analyses textuelles, les contributions de F.D. à ces disciplines ayant fait l’obje..

Dans cet ouvrage de 430 pages – dont neuf consacrées à un index des auteurs anciens et modernes – Geneviève Clerico, Bernard Colombat et Jean Soubiran ont réuni 22 textes écrits par Françoise Desbordes de 1981 à 2000 et généralement publiés antérieurement dans des revues scientifiques ou actes de colloques. Ces études ne concernent pas la rhétorique, domaine privilégié de l’activité scientifique de F.D., ni les analyses textuelles, les contributions de F.D. à ces disciplines ayant fait l’obje...

Cet ouvrage a été réalisé à partir de la thèse soutenue par l’auteur le premier décembre 2006 à Paris IV. Le titre met bien en évidence les multiples systèmes de la langue dans lequel intervient le terme étudié, que l’on a pu caractériser de « Protée syntaxique ». Dès l’introduction, le problème est bien posé et la démarche bien explicitée avec l’annonce d’un plan justifié par la place donnée à la perspective historique – ce qui ne surprend pas chez un (...) jeune chercheur qui s’est intéressé à pl.. (shrink)

Cet ouvrage a été réalisé à partir de la thèse soutenue par l’auteur le premier décembre 2006 à Paris IV. Le titre met bien en évidence les multiples systèmes de la langue dans lequel intervient le terme étudié, que l’on a pu caractériser de « Protée syntaxique ». Dès l’introduction, le problème est bien posé et la démarche bien explicitée avec l’annonce d’un plan justifié par la place donnée à la perspective historique – ce qui ne surprend pas chez un (...) jeune chercheur qui s’est intéressé à pl... (shrink)

Le système spinoziste comprend une infinité d'expressions de la Nature et offre aux modes finis que nous sommes la possibilité d'appréhender la puissance d'agir sous un angle physique, mental, ou encore psychophysique, selon qu'elle est ...

Entretien réalisé par Chantale Mailhot avec Madeleine Akrich, ingénieure et sociologue, créatrice du cours « Controverses environnementales », et avec Liliana Doganova, chargée de recherche, cofondatrice – avec Brice Laurent, également chargé de recherche et ingénieur au corps des mines – de l’option « Affaires publiques et Innovation » à l’École des Mines de Paris.

In this article, I suggest that the challenge of the Anthropocene is an ontological challenge arising from modern humans’ abstraction from our environment, rooted in the substance ontology of Euro-Cartesian metaphysics. By comparative philosophical analysis of the cosmological foundations of the San Bushmen’s ontology in southern Africa, this article suggests that being rooted in hunter-gatherer metaphysics is a key component of our species' ability to symbiotically adapt by fostering the relational practice of ontological ambiguity, fluidity, and mutability that facilitates a (...) process of transspecies becoming. Through both animistic and European philosophical perspectives, I suggest that the posthumanist practice of becoming by process of ontological flux reinforces an Earth-centered epistemology that can assist postmodern humans in transitioning from an ontological impasse that has resulted in environmental fragmentation to a relational ontology that re-establishes an ecological web of transspecies kinship. (shrink)

While Cavell is well known for his reinterpretation of the later Wittgenstein, he has never really engaged himself with post-Investigations writings like On Certainty. This collection may, however, seem to undermine the profoundly anti-dogmatic reading of Wittgenstein that Cavell has developed. In addition to apparently arguing against what Cavell calls ‘the truth of skepticism’ – a phrase contested by other Wittgensteinians – On Certainty may seem to justify the rejection of whoever dares to question one’s basic presuppositions. According to On (...) Certainty, or so it seems, the only right response to someone with different certainties is a reproach like ‘Fool!’ or ‘Heretic!’. This article aims to show that On Certainty need not be taken to prove Cavell wrong. It explains that Wittgenstein, in line with the first two parts of The Claim of Reason, does not reject scepticism out of hand but rather questions the sceptic’s self-understanding. Using arguments from Part Three of The Claim, the article moreover argues that a confrontation with divergence calls for self-examination rather than self-righteousness. Precisely because Wittgenstein acknowledges ‘the groundlessness of our believing’ or, in Cavellian terms, ‘the truth of skepticism’, he is not the authoritarian thinker that some have taken him to be. (shrink)

Chromosome ends have been implicated in the meiotic processes of the nematode Caenorhabditis elegans. Cytological observations have shown that chromosome ends attach to the nuclear membrane and adopt kinetochore functions. In this organism, centromeric activity is highly regulated, switching from multiple spindle attachments all along the chromosome during mitotic division to a single attachment during meiosis. C. elegans chromosomes are functionally monocentric during meiosis. Earlier genetic studies demonstrated that the terminal regions of the chromosomes are not equivalent in their meiotic (...) potentials. There are asymmetries in the abilities of the ends to recombine when duplicated or deleted. In addition, mutations in single genes have been identified that mimic the meiotic effects of a terminal truncation of the X chromosome. The recent cloning and characterization of the C. elegans telomeres has provided a starting point for the study of chromosomal elements mediating the meiotic process. (shrink)

Deconstruction and pragmatism constitute two of the major intellectual influences on the contemporary theoretical scene; influences personified in the work of Jacques Derrida and Richard Rorty. Both Rortian pragmatism, which draws the consequences of post-war developments in Anglo-American philosophy, and Derridian deconstruction, which extends and troubles the phonomenological and Heideggerian influence on the Continental tradition, have hitherto generally been viewed as mutually exclusive philosophical language games. The purpose of this volume is to bring deconstruction and pragmatism into critical confrontation with (...) one another through staging a debate between Derrida and Rorty, itself based on discussions that took place at the _College International de Philosophie_ in Paris in 1993. The ground for this debate is layed out in introductory papers by Simon Critchley and Ernesto Laclau, and the remainder of the volume records Derrida's and Rorty's responses to each other's work. Chantal Mouffe gives an overview of the stakes of this debate in a helpful preface. (shrink)

The development of the new means of communication and the overwhelming presence of the media in all realms of life represent a challenge for democratic politics. In this presentation I want to argue that such a challenge can only be grasped and met by discarding the rationalist perspective dominant in liberal democratic political thought. Indeed, such a perspective impedes us from acknowledging the nature of the political struggle and the centrality of symbols in the construction of political identities.As the recent (...) growth of right-wing populist movements testifies, new political identities are currently being created and there is no doubt that the media are playing an important role in their diffusion. It would be a serious mistake however to present the media as the main culprit, and to see such movements as a consequence of `media politics'. The success of those movements would not be possible without a political rhetoric that managed to mobilize a wide range of signifiers. Had it not been able to articulate those signifiers into a chain of equivalence against the existing order, right-wing populism could not have made such important inroads in several European countries.From a theoretical point of view, what this reveals is the utter irrelevance of the rationalist approach to politics and the importance of the so-called `post-modern approach'. It shows that, despite what authors like Habermas pretend, the critique of Enlightenment rationalism does not constitute a threat to the modern democratic project. On the contrary, it is only by taking account of such a critique that it is possible to defend and deepen democratic institutions. If there is anything that endangers democracy nowadays, it is precisely the rationalist approach, because it is blind to the nature of the political and denies the central role that passions play in the field of politics. Only by drawing out all the implications of the critique of essentialism will it be possible to understand the process of construction of collective political identities and their discursive mode of articulation. (shrink)

This book familiarizes the English-speaking reader with the debate on the originality of Gramsci’s thought and its importance for the development of Marxist theory. The contributors present the principal viewpoints regarding Gramsci’s theoretical contribution to Marxism, focussing in particular on his advances in the study of the superstructures, and discussing his relation to Marx and Lenin and his influence in Eurocommunism. Different interpretations are put forward concerning the elucidation of Gramsci’s key concepts, namely: hegemony, integral state, war of position and (...) passive revolution. (shrink)