Consisting of two essays, this work by a Harvard professor offers his thoughts on the idea of a social contract regulating people's behavior toward one another.

Die Behauptung eines angeblichen Endes der Geschichte hat sich nicht nur als voreilig erwiesen, sondern angesichts der Krisen des 21. Jahrhunderts besteht darüber hinaus die moralische und politische Verpflichtung, die Geschichte der Zukunft als praktische Aufgabe zu verstehen. Um diese Perspektive philosophisch zu reflektieren, bedarf es einer neuen Geschichtsphilosophie, die weniger in die Vergangenheit gerichtet ist, als vielmehr die Lebensverhältnisse der Gegenwart und die zu erwartenden Bedingungen in der Zukunft in den Blick nimmt. Weil damit auch die ethische Verantwortung für (...) zukünftige Generationen angesprochen ist, zielt die vorliegende Untersuchung auf eine Synthese von Geschichtsphilosophie und Zukunftsethik. Für die Ethik der Zukunft folgt daraus, dass sie bestimmte Einsichten in die narrative Struktur und orientierende Funktion historischen Bewusstseins in ihre eigene Grundlegung integriert. Für die Philosophie der Geschichte hat dies zur Konsequenz, dass sie sich mit der Zukunftsperspektive an der theoretischen Lösung ökonomischer, sozialer und ökologischer Probleme beteiligt. Dazu gehören Themen wie die je nach Handlungsfeldern unterschiedlichen Reichweiten der Langzeitverantwortung, die Pflicht zur Kompensation historischer Schuld, das Recht armer Länder auf nachholende Entwicklung, der kulturelle Maßstab intergenerationeller Gerechtigkeit und das ergänzende Modell eines generösen kollektiven Erbes. Das Ziel besteht in einer Geschichtsphilosophie der Zukunft in praktischer Absicht. (shrink)

Os temas “filosofia da história” e “ética do futuro”, inferem que a responsabilidade para com as futuras gerações deve ser entendida como um problema concreto da filosofia da história. O argumento implica uma hipótese que sugere que o futuro, como tal, é história, ou que pertence à própria história. O conceito é, obviamente, um contra-senso, uma vez que entendemos a história como uma entidade que inclui os eventos já ocorreram. Este é o caso específico da historiografia, que reúne e apresenta (...) em um nível discursivo, eventos passados. No entanto, para tratar do futuro e da reflexão ética como um problema específico da filosofia da história, apesar do exposto, procederei aqui por meio da distinção entre um entendimento forte e um fraco entendimento da filosofia da história. (shrink)

Im vorliegenden Buch werden historische und systematische Aspekte des besonderen Verhältnisses von Aufklärung und Geschichte verbunden. In der historischen Epoche der Aufklärung ist die Philosophie der Geschichte entstanden, die damit zugleich ein Thema aufgeklärten Denkens wurde. Dieses Programm einer Aufklärung über die Geschichte oder historischen Aufklärung ist bis heute aktuell geblieben. Im Anschluss an den neuen Dialog zwischen Aufklärungsforschung und postmoderner Kritik wird eine an zeitlichen, räumlichen und kulturellen Differenzen orientierte Lesart der Geschichtsphilosophie vorgestellt. Daran knüpft die Behandlung gegenwärtiger Problemfelder (...) wie Teleologie und Evolutionstheorie, Universalgeschichte und Globalisierung, Zukunftserwartung und Ethik der Zukunft an. Beabsichtigt ist eine kritische Geschichtsphilosophie in praktischer Perspektive. (shrink)

We do not live in a just world. This may be the least controversial claim one could make in political theory. But it is much less clear what, if anything, justice on a world scale might mean, or what the hope for justice should lead us to want in the domain of international or global institutions, and in the policies of states that are in a position to affect the world order. By comparison with the perplexing and undeveloped state of (...) this subject, domestic political theory is very well understood, with multiple highly developed theories offering alternative solutions to well-defined problems. By contrast, concepts and theories of global justice are in the early stages of formation, and it is not clear what the main questions are, let alone the main possible answers. I believe that the need for workable ideas about the global or international case presents political theory with its most important current task, and even perhaps with the opportunity to make a practical contribution in the long run, though perhaps only the very long run. (shrink)

In 1972, the young philosopher Peter Singer published "Famine, Affluence and Morality," which rapidly became one of the most widely discussed essays in applied ethics. Through this article, Singer presents his view that we have the same moral obligations to those far away as we do to those close to us. He argued that choosing not to send life-saving money to starving people on the other side of the earth is the moral equivalent of neglecting to save drowning children because (...) we prefer not to muddy our shoes. If we can help, we must--and any excuse is hypocrisy. Singer's extreme stand on our moral obligations to others became a powerful call to arms and continues to challenge people's attitudes towards extreme poverty. Today, it remains a central touchstone for those who argue we should all help others more than we do. As Bill and Melinda Gates observe in their foreword, in the age of today's global philanthropy, Singer's essay is as relevant now as it ever was. This attractively packaged, concise edition collects the original article, two of Singer's more recent popular writings on our obligations to others around the world, and a new introduction by Singer that discusses his current thinking. (shrink)

Mit dieser Untersuchung, die den Titel "Philosophie und Globalisierung" trägt und die als "die erste ebenso umfassende wie differenzierte historische Rekonstruktion und Diskussion der zeitgenösischen Problemlage zwischen Philosophie und Globalisierung" charakterisiert werden kann, wird der Versuch unternommen, aufzuklären, wie das Verhältnis der Philosophie im und zum Problemfeld der Globalisierung zu sehen und zu beurteilen ist. Dabei wird,Globalisierung' nicht nur als zentrales Phänomen der weltweiten ökonomischen, technischen, kommunikativen, politischen und kulturellen Vernetzungen des 20. Jahrhunderts verstanden, sondern, gegenüber einer solchen unhistorischen Verkürzung, (...) als ein historisch weiträumiger und langwieriger Prozeß, in den die (wesentlich universalistische) Philosophie z.T. theoretisch vorgreifend, auf Erfahrung und Probleme reagierend und reflexiv verflochten ist. Die eigentliche Vorgeschichte dieser epochal-spezifischen Verflechtung beginnt im Spätmittelalter und führt dann in den geschichtlichen Raum über die Entdeckungs- und Globalisierungsphasen der Moderne seit dem 16. Jahrhundert und der Aufklärung bis in die verschärften und qualitativ neuen Manifestationen des 20. Jahrhunderts. Die eigentliche Problemstellung der Untersuchung zielt auf die Funktion und Bedeutung der Philosophie in diesem Komplex und ihre historisch-strukturell wesentlichen Entwicklungsphasen. Dabei werden verschiedene Möglichkeiten des Verhältnisses der Philosophie in und zu den Globalisierungsprozessen und ihren Regulierungsproblemen unterschieden. (shrink)

A stimulating appraisal of a crucial contemporary theme, this comprehensive analysis of globalizaton offers a distinctively cultural perspective on the social theory of the contemporary world. This perspective considers the world as a whole, going beyond conventional distinctions between the global and the local and between the universal and the particular. Its cultural approach emphasizes the political and economic significance of shifting conceptions of, and forms of participation in, an increasingly compressed world. At the same time the book shows why (...) culture has become a globally contested issue - why, for example, competing conceptions of ′world order′ have political and economic consequences. (shrink)

Worldwide, human lives are rapidly improving. Education, health-care, technology, and political participation are becoming ever more universal, empowering human beings everywhere to enjoy security, economic sufficiency, equal citizenship, and a life in dignity. To be sure, there are some specially difficult areas disfavoured by climate, geography, local diseases, unenlightened cultures or political tyranny. Here progress is slow, and there may be set-backs. But the affluent states and many international organizations are working steadily to extend the blessings of modernity through trade (...) and generous development assistance, and it won't be long until the last pockets of severe oppression and poverty are gone. Heavily promoted by Western governments and media, this comforting view of the world is widely shared, at least among the affluent. Pogge's new book presents an alternative view: Poverty and oppression persist on a massive scale; political and economic inequalities are rising dramatically both intra-nationally and globally. The affluent states and the international organizations they control knowingly contribute greatly to these evils - selfishly promoting rules and policies harmful to the poor while hypocritically pretending to set and promote ambitious development goals. Pogge's case studies include the $1/day poverty measurement exercise, the cosmetic statistics behind the first Millennium Development Goal, the War on Terror, and the proposed relaxation of the constraints on humanitarian intervention. A powerful moral analysis that shows what Western states would do if they really cared about the values they profess. (shrink)

At the beginning of the 21st century stand the dates 9th November 1989 and 11th September 2001. The one date marks the commencement of the second European revolution, which puts the free market economy, demilitarisation, and pluralist democracy in the place of the arms race and Soviet state socialism. The other date reminds us of the vulnerability of technologically advanced civilisations of wealth and the gap between the so-called ‹West› and the affliction, feelings of hate and the possibilities to use (...) violence of those parts of the world with which, since the end of the cold war, the processes of modernity have definitely caught up. The one date can be read as a ‹historic sign› in the sense of the Kantian hope of legal progress and peaceful-federal world citizenship; the other as crass denial of such ideas. Those, like the American Robert Kagan, who are critical of Kant and who argue against the prohibition of war as reflected in international law and in the European refusal to conduct ‹world order wars›, like to refer to Hobbes’s ‹state of nature›. Closer inspection however quickly revelas that the alternative ‹Hobbes vs. Kant› is misguided in several ways and that political realism and Kantian ‹Weltinnenpolitik› do not constitute contradictory opposites. This is, the lesson of the example case of Iraq. (shrink)

This article proposes the political organisation of interstate integration – characterised by functional differentiation and unbundled multi-level territoriality – as a political ideal type. The theoretical foundations and empirical conditions of this new form of political organisation are explored focussing on basic security threats, such as nuclear armament, transnational terrorism, and organised crime. The empirical conditions of multilateral democratic integration are not essentially different from the conditions of democratic state-building and not limited to Europe. The political reality of multilateral integration (...) is often misperceived in political theory. This is due, either to the uncritical presupposition of a traditional political ontology, defined by an essentialist understanding of the unitary state; or by an apolitical discourse on flows and scapes that loses sight of the specific features of political authority in the postnational realm. (shrink)

The article discusses the question about the criteria for a just society and a just world society. The guidelines for this discussion are offered, on the one hand by Peter Singer’s utilitarianism, on the other hand by John Rawls’s theory of justice. In unfolding their criteria, both authors proceed with the same method. However, as far as the content of their assertions is concerned, they reach different conclusions. In general, the Rawlsian position is more differentiated. As far as issues of (...) international justice are concerned, it is however in need of elaboration. As a short excursus on Amartya Sen shows, a theory of international justice cannot do without utilitarian arguments. (shrink)

In this paper ‹cosmopolitanism with respect to justice› and ‹nationalism with respect to culture› are identified as two main trends in contemporary political philosophy. Both of them are closely connected to processes of globalisation. It is argued that cultural nationalism does not qualify as ‹liberal› nationalism and that it contradicts the requirements of global justice. However, despite its illiberal implications, cultural nationalism cannot easily be rejected. Nationalists rightly insist on the value of cultural belonging and on the meaning of special (...) obligations. (shrink)