Political Disagreement and Socratic Civic Competence

Contemporary democratic theories that draw on Socrates for inspiration have addressed his method of investigation too narrowly because there has been insufficient attention to the need for authority, which Socrates also identifies. Because his appeals to authority initially appear antidemocratic, we cannot overlook this aspect of his thought. I describe a virtue, civic competence, which is the excellence of citizens who critically engage with the norms of the community, but who also recognise that authority is politically necessary. Deliberation requires elenctic-like scrutiny, but also a willingness to accept some arguments as authoritative. My overarching claim is that failure to exhibit such character traits can appear in more than one form, a point neglected in recent literature, and that not all such forms are antidemocratic. Civic competence is susceptible to corruptions that may never result in citizenship that is simply undemocratic. I define two corruptions of civic competence: 'disagonism' and 'eristicism'. The former treats disagreement as signalling either confusion or wickedness and deliberation as a process of clarifying and tidying discourse. The latter treats disagreement as ineliminable and deliberation as gaming with words in order to defeat an opponent in argument.     

Political Philosophy and Empowering Citizens

This paper defends the idea of empowering citizens by means of teaching them political philosophy. First, I explain and define empowerment as an experience leading to the development of critical and philosophical capabilities. Several challenges to using philosophy to empower citizens are then discussed and rejected. This group of challenges is called the 'divorce theory', because, according to them, philosophy and politics should be distinguished, as if divorced from each other, so that they can live happily side by side, but not together. Finally, empowerment is normatively defended and distinguished from paternalism, and examine the relationships between empowerment through political philosophy and deliberative democracy.     

政治哲学与行政哲学的比较分析--从另一种角度探讨行政哲学

政治决定行政,行政是整个政治过程的一个有机组成部分.政治哲学是对政治生活的哲学反思,行政哲学是对行政生活的哲学反思,政治与行政之间的有机联系必然会在政治哲学与行政哲学之间的关系中体现出来.因此,比较政治哲学与行政哲学之间的异同点,并借鉴理论形态已经相当成熟的政治哲学在研究对象、研究内容、研究方向、研究方法等方面的经验,对处于初创时期的行政哲学的发展具有重要的推动作用.     

马克思政治哲学新探——中国特色马克思学一个新的生长点

马克思政治哲学资源丰富,从狭义层面看,主要包括了市民社会思想、国家观、政党观和群众观等内容。全球化时代的到来,我们深入探析马克思政治哲学思想,不仅可以找寻到解答问题的广阔视角,而且也为中国特色马克思学的研究找到了一个新的生长点。     

Difference and the Concept of the Political in Contemporary Political Philosophy

A striking feature of contemporary political philosophy is the emergence of the nature of the political itself as a central theme of discussion. There are various reasons for this development, but all of them merely reinforce the problem posed in its most stark form by postmodern theory. This is the problem of determining what concept of the political, if any, can accommodate the extreme diversity that is the main feature of contemporary western life. That is the question with which the present paper is concerned.
The three currently influential concepts of the political are analysed, after which it is suggested that a fourth concept, which is a revised and reformulated version of the classical idea of civil association, provides the basis for a concept of the political best suited to modern conditions of increasing diversity.     

作为一种政治哲学的生态马克思主义

作为一种政治哲学,生态马克思主义不仅构成了对当代资本主义社会条件下生态环境困境或危机的系统性批判,而且指向一种特定而明确的绿色政治变革目标、议程和战略或"替代性愿景",即生态的社会主义政治及其未来.就其发展阶段而言,它至少已经历了经典马克思主义、欧美生态马克思主义、当代中国的生态马克思主义等理论形态.相应地,生态马克思主义已不再简单是一个普通的国外马克思主义理论流派,而是一种普遍性的绿色或批判性政治哲学.它所关涉的是包括我们自己在内的人类社会究竟如何构建并争取一个值得生活其中的生态化社会或未来.     

“美”:一种政治哲学解读

价值是政治哲学的主题."美"作为政治哲学不可或缺的价值向度,是人类精神层面表现出来的与直观、情感相联系而又超越直观、情感的政治认知能力和政治实践能力."美"根源于人的存在,人的存在的双重生命构成了对"美"进行政治哲学诠释的逻辑基础;"美"在与政治理性的合理性张力关系中,确立其空间存在和功能定位;"美"在与政治道德的合理性张力关系中,确立其形式存在和功能定位;"美"在与政治自由的合理性张力关系中,彰显其现实存在的必要性和未来发展指向性.     

The Problem of Political Science: Political Relevance and Scientific Rigor in Aristotle's “Philosophy of Human Affairs”

Treatments of Aristotle's moral‐political science have largely disregarded the methodological statements that he delivers as he embarks on his “philosophy of human affairs” in book I of the Nicomachean Ethics. A consideration of these statements, however, lends critical support to the view that Aristotle sought to give the sharpest possible expression to ordinary moral‐political opinion. Moreover, apart from revealing the by‐no‐means ordinary reasons that induced Aristotle to do so (and to do so in contrast to Plato), such a consideration sheds light on the source of the vagueness or ambiguity that defines moral‐political opinion as such. Indeed, the methodological statements are perhaps the first entries in the old quarrel of “relevance versus rigor.” And, through them, Aristotle suggests how political scientists today might walk a fine line between “politics,” on one hand, and “science,” on the other, without losing sight of the ultimate tension between them.     

对公共政策制定的政治哲学思考

公共政策制定是社会政治生活中公共决策系统的经常性活动。在现代社会,由于公共政策的巨大作用和影响,公共政策制定问题引起了广泛的关注。从政治哲学的角度审视,以公意为价值取向、以政治权力为基本依托,以政治秩序为最终归宿,才能建立起人民期待的合理、公正、有效的公共政策,从而进一步推进决策的科学化、民主化。     

马克思早年政治哲学三题辨正

国内学界通常认为马克思早年先后经历了宗教批判、政治批判和社会批判三个阶段;他早年的政治哲学立场是卢梭式的民主主义立场;其哲学基础是“市民社会决定国家”的唯物主义命题。通过对马克思早年所有文本的研究,可以发现“真正民主制国家”意义上的政治批判才是马克思早年的理论活动的中心;而马克思的立场与卢梭等近代哲学家的立场是完全对立的;虽然市民社会是国家的基础,但在官僚制国家与真正民主制国家中,市民社会和国家的关系完全不同。     

Between Psychoanalysis and Political Philosophy: Towards a Critical Theory of Political Myth

Abstract

This paper focuses on a specific aspect of political imaginaries: political myth. What are political myths? What role do they play within today's commoditized political imaginaries? What are the conditions for setting up a critique of them? We will address these questions, by putting forward a theory of political myth which situates itself between psycho analysis and political philosophy, in line with the tradition of critical theory that many still associate with the name of the Frankfurt School. We will first discuss the notion of political myth by illustrating the contribution of both disciplines to its understanding and then, through a discussion of the notion of social unconscious, we will apply this analysis to a contemporary example of political myth, that of a clash of civilizations.     

政治学的双重分野——政治科学与政治哲学的概念辨析

政治科学和政治哲学是政治学研究方法的双重分野,是同一对象不同的研究视角.政治科学和政治哲学的使用都是有条件的,因此把政治哲学与政治科学进行错位思考是危险的.处于"多重转型"期的中国政治学研究需要处理好政治学、政治科学与政治哲学等问题,从而科学地确立中国特色的政治学理论体系.     

'Inevitable and Unacceptable?' Methodological Rawlsianism in Anglo-American Political Philosophy

This article attempts two parallel tasks. First, it gives a sympathetic explication of the implicit working methodology ('Methodological Rawlsianism') of mainstream contemporary political theory in the English-speaking world. And second, principally in footnotes, it surveys the recent literature on justification to see what light these debates cast on the tenets of this methodology. It is worth examining methodological presuppositions because these can have a profound influence on substantive theories: many of the differences between philosophical traditions can be traced to their methodologies. My aim is to expose the central features of methodological Rawlsianism in order to challenge critics of this tradition to explain exactly where and why they depart from the method. While I do not defend it at length, I do suggest that methodological Rawlsianism is inevitable insofar as it is basically a form of common sense. This fact should probably lower expectations about the amount of progress consistent methodological Rawlsians are likely to make in grounding comprehensive normative political theories.     

论马克思主义政治哲学的逻辑形态

马克思主义政治哲学以辩证唯物主义和历史唯物主义为理论指导,以无产阶级政治实践为理论基石,批判地继承了西方近代政治哲学的合理因素,融阶级性和实践性于一体,构建了"政治价值--政治实践--政治文明""三环结构"的理论体系,从而创立了政治哲学的科学形态,构成了内导无产阶级政治实践发展的逻辑力量.在这一理论坐标中,政治价值是政治存在应然形态的价值浓缩,是引发人类政治实践活动的原始动因;政治实践是政治价值运动形态的感性延伸,是政治主体追求政治价值的物质活动;政治文明是人类政治实践活动的价值沉淀,是政治生活能动创造的积极成果.     

Global Democracy: A Symposium on a New Political Hope

The idea that the values and norms of democracy can also be applied to global politics is increasingly debated in academe. The six authors participating in this symposium are all advocates of global democracy, but there are significant differences in the way they envision its implementation. Some of the contributors discuss if and how substantial changes undertaken by states, mostly in their foreign policies, may also generate positive consequences in global politics. Other contributors address the nature of the international arena and the possible reforms it should undergo starting with the reform of international organizations. The debate combines theoretical aspects with normative proposals that could also be advanced in the political arena and offers a wide range of perspectives on the attempts to achieve a more democratic global political community.