Hegel,Habermas and the Spirit of Critical Theory

Abstract

This paper explores the complex relation between Hegel and Habermas. Centring the discussion around the key themes of philosophy, modernity and political philosophy, it argues for a gradual re-approachment of Habermas towards Hegel. In the final section on critical theory, it takes up the question of the spirit of this theory to offer a more trenchant critique of Habermas' theoretical short coming from this perspective.     

Natural History: the Life and Afterlife of a Concept in Adorno

Abstract

Theodor Adorno's concept of ‘natural history’ [Naturgeschichte] was central for a number of Adorno's theoretical projects, but remains elusive. In this essay, analyse different dimensions of the concept of natural history, distinguishing amongst (a) a reflection on the normative and methodological bases of philosophical anthropology and critical social science; (b) a conception of critical memory oriented toward the preservation of the memory of historical suffering; and (c) the notion of ‘mindfulness of nature in the subject’ provocatively asserted in Max Horkheimer and Adorno's Dialectic of Enlightenment. These strands are united by the notion of transience and goal of developing a critical theory sensitive to the transient in history. The essay concludes by suggesting some implications of an expanded concept of natural history for issues in the discourse theory of Jürgen Habermas.     

Injustice,Violence and Social Struggle. The Critical Potential of Axel Honneth's Theory of Recognition

Abstract

Honneth's fundamental claim that the normativity of social orders can be found nowhere but in the very experience of those who suffer injustice leads, I argue, to a radical theory and critique of society, with the potential to provide an innovative theory of social movements and a valid alternative to political liberalism.     

西方“整体政府”改革：理论、实践及启示

20世纪90年代中后期,西方各国进行了以"整体政府"为内容的第二轮政府改革运动。在理论上,西方"整体政府"改革既是对新公共管理反思与批判的结果,又是一定意识形态作用的产物,还与各种协作理论密切相关;"整体政府"已成为当代西方各国政府改革的新趋向,并形成了一种区别于传统官僚制和新公共管理模式的新型政府改革模式,即"整体政府"模式。该模式具有深刻的内涵、鲜明的特征和独特的治理结构。在实践上,"整体政府"改革具有丰富的内容,既有改革模式上的共性,又有具体操作中的国别特色,并形成了一种最佳实践模式。这一最佳实践模式具有独特的文化与哲学、新的工作方式、新的责任和激励机制,以及制定政策、设计方案和提供服务的新方式。西方"整体政府"改革对我国当前行政管理体制改革的进路具有三点启示:一是建立"内联"治理结构;二是发展"外协"合作关系;三是转变政府职能,建设和谐行政文化。     

Political Theory,Critical Theory,and the Place of the Frankfurt School

Abstract

This paper explores the paradox of the Frankfurt School's Critical Theory where the notion of "critical theory" became identified with aesthetics and asks whether the disappearance of the political dimension of critical theory was necessary. This disappearance of the political also presents some uncomfortable affinities between it and postmodernism. But in the more sober world after 1989, post-communism poses more relevant questions than post-modernism for an assessment of the history of the Frankfurt School. The political project of the old Frankfurt School has to be revivified - or at least given a decent burial.     

Fragments of a History of the Theory of Self-Consciousness from Kant to Kierkegaard

Abstract

In the development of modern philosophy self-consciousness was not generally or unanimously given important consideration. This was because philosophers such as Descartes, Kant and Fichte thought it served as the highest principle from which we can ‘deduce’ all propositions that rightly claimed validity. However, the Romantics thought that the consideration of self-consciousness was of the highest importance even when any claim to foundationalism was abandoned. In this respect, Hölderlin and his circle, as well as Novalis and Schleiermacher, thought that self-consciousness, itself, was not a principle but must be ranked on a minor or dependent level, and presupposed the Absolute as a superior but inaccessible condition or ground. This reservation did not hinder them from recognising that the foundationalist Fichte was the first to have shown conclusively that from Descartes, via German Rationalism and British Empiricism, up to Kant, self-consciousness was misconceived of as the result of an act of reflection by which a second-order act bent back upon a first-order act that is identical to itself. This conception entailed circular entanglements and infinite regresses, and was too high a price to pay. Whereas Fichte thought pre-reflexive self-awareness was a philosophical principle, the Romantics and their vehement critic Kierkegaard, abandoned the idea of self-consciousness as a foundational starting point of philosophy. Instead, they founded self-consciousness on transcendent Being, a prior non-conceptual consciousness (‘feeling’) and reproached Fichte for having fallen back into the repudiated reflection model of self-consciousness.     

Beyond Negativity: The Effects of Incivility on the Electorate

There is much concern among pundits and political observers that incivility undermines our electoral process. Yet we have little evidence that actually documents whether incivility has such pernicious effects. This article seeks to advance our understanding of the influence of incivility on the electorate. We argue that three dimensions are central to understanding both the perceptions and effects of different types of campaign messages: tone (negative versus positive); civility (civil versus uncivil); and focus (issue versus trait-based message content). Using an experimental manipulation on a large national sample that examines these three dimensions, we find that uncivil attacks in campaigns do not appear to be as worrisome as its detractors fear. While uncivil messages in general—and uncivil trait-based messages in particular—are usually seen by the public as being less fair, less informative, and less important than both their civil negative and positive counterparts, they are no more likely to lead to detrimental effects among the public. In fact, incivility appears to have some modest positive consequences for the political engagement of the electorate. These findings are important, since attacks and counterattacks will continue to shape the American political landscape.     

国家竞争优势理论及其借鉴意义

如何提升国家竞争优势一直是我国政府及各界十分关心的问题，波特有关增强一国国家竞争优势的许多理论思想为我国未来的实践探索提供了有益的借鉴。本对波特的国家竞争优势理论的产生背景、主要理论突破及政策含义进行了简评，并具体分析了该理论对我国的政策含义。     

情绪工作研究的理论综述

情绪工作是近20多年来西方组织行为学研究中一个新兴的研究领域。文章主要介绍了情绪工作的概念,情绪工作的维度与测量工具、情绪工作的影响因素,并进一步分析了情绪工作的未来研究趋向,以期为深入研究情绪工作提供理论基础。     

《有闲阶级论》的理论成就

凡勃伦的《有闲阶级论》是现代消费社会学的开山之作,至今仍是这一领域最值得认真阅读的著作。本文试从三个方面讨论这本经典著作,其一,《有闲阶级论》并非如其表面那样容易阅读,及其理由何在?其二,《有闲阶级论》一书包含三个上下连贯的组成部分:凡勃伦的社会哲学和方法论(一般理论);关于有闲阶级的系统理论;对有闲阶级现象的系统观察;其三,从分析社会学的理论视角看《有闲阶级论》的理论得失。     

优势视角:社会工作理论和实践的发展性模式

优势视角是20世纪80年代在西方社会工作领域内兴起的一种新的研究策略。认为个人、团体、家庭和社区都有优势,所有的环境都充满资源,近年来,优势视角已经被广泛应用到社会工作甚至更多实务领域,但是,相比较而言,大多数文章都是在优势视角理论下研究实务领域的一些问题,而关于单纯的优势视角的理论性研究并不多,所以笔者主要对优势视角的理论和实践方面进行系统性的介绍和说明。     

The decline of the idea of progress

The philosphers of the Englightenment conceived Progress as evidence of mankind's natural perfectibility. In the nineteenth century this image of the future was tarnished by abrupt epistemological changes and technical surprises. An unforeseen consequence of the invention and use of the steam engine was the breaking up of on idea that had acted as a principle for preservingt values, caused by the principle of the dissipation of energy in physics and the revolutionary analyses of the relations of socio-economic inequality in industrial societies. With Freud and Levi-Strauss, Carnot's principle becam the principle for judging history.     

论思想政治工作中的激励机制

"思想政治工作是经济工作和其他一切工作的生命线。""所谓生命线的作用,是指思想政治工作的保证作用。"建立有效的激励机制是做好思想政治工作的重要方法之一。而要更好地发挥激励机制的效能,必须把握好激励环节、激励的指导原则和激励的关键与技巧几个方面。     

官僚制批判研究的新视角——一个文献述评

官僚制批判研究的视角并不统一,根据学科发展的前沿成果来回顾这一公共行政的核心问题,旨在厘清混沌、深化对基本概念的认识。学科式类型化能够凸显表象背后的理论价值,就对理想型官僚体制的批评和反思而言,后现代哲学、政策分析以及公共管理学等视角是公共行政学演进的最新成果。每一个学科视角在研究路径、兴趣焦点、学术事件、核心思想与学术贡献等方面存有各自的回答,尤其是多元的研究方法,即解构哲学、角色互动理论和新管理主义,使得对同一议题的争论呈现不同特色。基于学科最新知识的批判性研究,在不断修正理性官僚制局限的基础上,深化了社会科学对基本组织现象的理解和解释能力,为体察和审视政治、经济与社会领域的基本问题提供了富有启发性的理论结构。     

Decomposing Audience Costs: Bringing the Audience Back into Audience Cost Theory

According to a growing tradition in International Relations, one way governments can credibly signal their intentions in foreign policy crises is by creating domestic audience costs: leaders can tie their hands by publicly threatening to use force since domestic publics punish leaders who say one thing and do another. We argue here that there are actually two logics of audience costs: audiences can punish leaders both for being inconsistent (the traditional audience cost), and for threatening to use force in the first place (a belligerence cost). We employ an experiment that disentangles these two rationales, and turn to a series of dispositional characteristics from political psychology to bring the audience into audience cost theory. Our results suggest that traditional audience cost experiments may overestimate how much people care about inconsistency, and that the logic of audience costs (and the implications for crisis bargaining) varies considerably with the leader's constituency.     

从交往观看哈贝马斯与马克思的全球化理路

全球化是不同国家、民族伴随资本主义的发展相互间不断交往、交融的过程和趋势.不同的交往观必然会有不同的全球化理路.马克思以"物质交往"为核心,以生产力与交往形式的矛盾运动为规律,延伸出"世界历史"的全球化逻辑;哈贝马斯以"语言交往"为核心,认为交往行为中的相互作用起着比劳动更为重要的作用,并建构了一个没有强迫,但又能保持民族国家主权独立的"世界共同体"方案.两个方案各有利弊,但都没逃脱乌托邦的理想色彩.     

剩余价值理论对我国民营经济健康发展的思考

剩余价值理论作为马克思资本论的核心概念,不仅深刻揭示了资本主义生产制度的剥削实质,而且也为我国民营经济的健康发展提供宝贵的启示,以马克思剩余价值理论为视域,从注重发展实体经济,强化金融监管以及维护社会公平正义的三个领域进行阐述,旨在对我国的社会主义建设起到更好的推动作用。     

高校思想政治理论课的历史考察及经验启示

高校思想政治理论课是社会主义大学的本质特征,是对大学生进行思想政治教育的主渠道。面对新形势、新情况和新要求,考察和总结新中国成立以来高校思想政治理论课的发展轨迹及基本经验,对于进一步加强高校思想政治理论课的改革与建设、提高教育教学效果,具有十分重要的意义。