Pre-judice and identity

The multifarious relations between the general and the particular, between distance and proximity and between 'belonging' and 'difference', relations that pertain to the realm of judgement, are of central significance in recent debates in the social sciences and their concepts of 'identity'. Therefore, Friese explores the implicit or explicit concepts of 'identity' in anthropological theorizing that assume not just the unity and coherence of the subject and its alleged belonging to a well-defined social configuration - be it a group, an ethnos, a nation - but presuppose the stability and continuity of its structural features. In order to gain distance from such theoretical edifices and a stable ontology of the social world, she brings into play approaches that resist the construction of unequivocal and stable identities by conceptualizing social relations in terms of mutual 'othering' and temporality. By referring to these approaches, perspectives are opened up that question not only the presuppositions of (theoretical) 'pre-judice', but also the assumptions of the new 'politics of identity'. What is proposed is a rewriting of the project of Enlightenment and an abandonment of any politics that is based on the heteronomy of judgement and that aims at establishing unquestioned ontologies of belonging and identity.     

Economics and distributive ethics

This essay, adapted from his Inaugural Lecture as the Simon Professor at Lafayette, was dedicated to the memory of Aaron Wildavsky.     

Romantic guilt and identity

Abstract

There is a kind of guilt that looks archaic, but which arises at the moment of Romanticism. One way of understanding it is as a response to a plight bequeathed by Kant. Kant's account of the subject secures the subject as such, but not the particular individual. The particular individual for Kant presents a risk, the risk of turning away from the good will defined by the categorical imperative to embrace one's own, particular good. Ultimately for Kant this entails the risk of radical evil. The peculiarity of Romantic guilt is that it seems to grant one ontological assurance for one's particular individuality. This paper explores and seeks to define the phenomenon of Romantic guilt as a possible aspect of tensions in lived experience, in particular between the universalism and moral autonomy associated with the rationalist, Enlightenment strain in liberalism, and the particularism and rootedness of cultural belonging associated with Romanticism. Romantic guilt emerges as having a constitutive function in relation to the self. The paper concludes with suggestions about ways in which further research might trace Romantic guilt in a collective form in nationalism and modernity.     

Animal ethics and the political

Some of the most important contributions to animal ethics over the past decade or so have come from political, as opposed to moral, philosophers. As such, some have argued that there been a ‘political turn’ in the field. If there has been such a turn, it needs to be shown that there is something which unites these contributions, and which sets them apart from previous work. We find that some of the features which have been claimed to be shared commitments of the turn are contested by key theorists working in the field. We also find that the originality of the turn can be exaggerated, with many of their ideas found in more traditional animal ethics. Nonetheless, we identify one unifying and distinctive feature of these contributions: the focus on justice; and specifically, the exploration of how political institutions, structures and processes might be transformed so as to secure justice for both human and nonhuman animals.     

组织认同与行动理性

组织认同以理性为主导,是一种选择性结果,不是自然形成的。组织认同中的理性,是一种由个体出发的主观行动理性。西蒙关于"管理人"的假设,肯定人的行为是有意识的和合乎逻辑的,同时又强调了人的选择能力是有限的,更符合对组织中人的理解。行动理性人具有的主观理性表现出独特性,自我性和情境性三个特点。     

European citizenship and political identity

A common European identity is necessary to support European citizenship. National identity does not represent a suitable model for European identity because it relies on elements of kinship, like ancestry, culture, language and traditions, which are not shared by all European citizens at the same time. Only a model of collective identity based on political association could bring together all the different European cultural and national identities. However, if we reject the national, culturally homogeneous model of identity in favour of an entirely political one, we are faced with the task of defining the substance of European political identity. The main purpose of this paper is to outline the essential elements of a European political identity, by looking at Europe's political and constitutional history and at the practice of citizenship in the European Union. European political identity and citizenship will be confronted with two major issues affecting the fields of identity and citizenship: pluralism and exclusion.     

Social identity and voting behavior

This paper uses the unique social structure of Arab communities to examine the effect of social identity on voter turnout. We first show that voters are more likely to vote for a candidate who shares their social group (signified by last name) as compared to other candidates. Using last name as a measure of group affiliation, an inverted U-shaped relationship between group size and voter turnout has been found (borderline significant) which is consistent with theoretical models that reconcile the paradox of voting by incorporating group behavior.     

The ethics of resigning

Resigning from office is a critical ethical decision for individuals. Resignation also remains one of the basic moral resources for individuals of integrity. The option to resign reinforces integrity, buttresses responsibility, supports accountability, and can provide leverage and boundary drawing. I argue that the moral reasons to resign flow from three related moral dimensions of integrity. Individuals in office promise to live up to the obligation of the office. This promise presumes that individuals have the capacity to make and keep promises, the competence to do the tasks of office, and the ability to be effective. This article examines how failure in each of these areas generates strong moral reasons to resign. ©1999 by the Association for Public Policy Analysis and Management.     

Towards a democracy-centred ethics

Abstract

The core idea of this paper is that we can use the differences between democratic and undemocratic governments to illuminate ethical problems. Democratic values, rights and institutions lie between the most abstract considerations of ethics and meta-ethics and the most particularised decisions, outcomes and contexts. Hence, this paper argues, we can use the differences between democratic and undemocratic governments, as we best understand them, to structure our theoretical investigations, to test and organise our intuitions and ideas, and to explain and justify our philosophical conclusions. Specifically, as we will see, a democracy-centred approach to ethics can help us to distinguish liberal and democratic approaches to political morality in ways that reflect the varieties of democratic theory, and the importance of distinguishing democratic from undemocratic forms of liberalism.     

Why policy analysis and ethics are incompatible

Commentators in the field of policy analysis have argued persuasively for the inclusion of ethical evaluations in the analytic process, yet most practitioners in the policy field avoid analyzing moral issues. Standard explanations for this neglect of ethics tend to be inadequate; assertions that normative analysis is unnecessary, impractical, impossible, or undesirable are demonstrably weak. Political factors, on the other hand, provide a clearer understanding of the neglect of ethics. Ethical inquiry is shunned because it frequently threatens the professional and political interests of both analysts and policymakers. The administrator, the legislator, the bureaucracy, and the profession of policy analysis itself all resist the potential challenges of moral evaluation.     

Adopting new technologies

John Carey is director of Greystone Communications, a telecommunications research and planning firm in Dobbs Ferry, New York. He also serves as consultant to the Gannett Center for Media Studies at Columbia University and is an affiliated research fellow at Columbia’s Center for Telecommunications and Information Studies.