Reconciliation Arguments in John Rawls’s Political Philosophy

Abstract

Recently debates about the worth of “ideal theory” have directed attention to the functions that an account of a perfectly just society can serve. One function is that of “reconciliation”: learning that a seemingly undesirable feature of the social world would exist even in the perfectly just society can show us the value that it has in the present as well. John Rawls has emphasized reconciliation as among the roles of political philosophy. For instance, Rawls claims that his theory of justice can reconcile us to the pluralism of liberal democracies. In this essay, I argue that Rawls’s political theory also can reconcile the inhabitants of liberal democratic societies to the fact that such societies may be cognitively confusing on account of their complexity. Then I contend that Rawls’s work offers valuable theoretical resources for analysing a society’s transparency or lack thereof.     

Autonomy and Psychic Socialization: From Non-Alienated Labour to Non Surplus Repressive Sublimation

Abstract

The work of Herbert Marcuse, unlike that of certain of his col leagues at the Institut für Sozialforschung, is most often maligned as being excessively positive and identitarian. His work on Freud, for example, is criticized for being grounded in a crude biological determinism which points towards an ultimate reconciliation of both psychic and social conflict. This essay will attempt to counter such readings by critically juxtaposing Marcuse's concept of non-repressive sublimation with Cornelius Castoriadis's understanding of psychic socialization. It will be suggested that the affinities between Marcuse and Castoriadis's appropriations of Freudian metapsychology reveals the degree to which the former can be read as a radical democratic thinker affirming the values of autonomy and creativity. This reading demonstrates that Marcuse has much to contribute to contemporary debates on the role of the aesthetic and the sensuous in democratic theory.     

History,memory and nation building in the post-Soviet colonial space

This is an article on Bolshevik nationalities policy and ethnic engineering, asking who, in fact, decided which populations belonged together as ethnic groups (narodnost') and thus had the right of national self-determination, and how the level of autonomy was determined for each ethnic unit. Scholars have dealt with Russian and Soviet nationalities issues for decades already, but they have turned their attention mainly to the larger nationalities (at the level of SSR, and to a lesser degree the levels of ASSR and autonomous oblast). I argue that the lower levels of national territorial autonomy in the Soviet Union (national okrug, raion, volost', and selsovet) are worthy of greater academic attention, at least from the ethnological point of view. Having this kind of low-level territorial autonomy has often been a question of to be or not to be for the small ethnic groups concerned, and hence the subject is connected with the question of preservation of cultural and linguistic diversity in Russia.     

The Dangerous Ideal of Autonomy

The ideal of autonomy has a positive and a negative aim. Its positive aim is to create the conditions in which more and more people can be more and more autonomous. Its negative aim is to prevent actions that cause serious harm and are normally both immoral and criminal. These two aims are incompatible. Increasing autonomy increases the frequency of crimes and decreasing the frequency of crimes requires decreasing autonomy. The incompatibility of these two aims has radical implications for much current thinking about criminal justice.     

论美国乡村自治法律制度——以《纽约乡村法》为例

乡村自治作为美国地方自治制度的当然组成部分,却一直缺少联邦和州层面的专门法,这与其高度的地方自治形成了鲜明的反差。事实上,以《纽约乡村法》为代表的美国乡村自治法律,无论是成文法,还是不成文法,均有成熟的法理念支持,而且有完善的法律体系。主要体现在,村民自主与政府特许相结合的社团村设立模式、村民选任与村长聘任兼备且功能完整的议事执行机构、高度自治并成良性循环的内生公共秩序、充分独立的立法权和财税权、公平正义的民意表达程序、强制手段和惩戒措施并重的权利救济机制。这种乡村自治法律制度的立法样板,对我国村民自治法律制度的完善具有重要的借鉴作用。     

Blinking Subjects; Blinking Justice? – Law,Medicine and the PVS Patient

This paper argues that in medical discourse, there is insufficient unanimity of opinion with regards to the time at which an accurate diagnosis of PVS can be made and that clearly, there is an incomplete medical knowledge of the PVS condition. The judiciary chooses neither to question medical opinion that patients can be considered to be in PVS despite a failure to satisfy the diagnostic criteria, nor medical opinion that patients in `near PVS' will never recover. It is apparent from an examination of the judgements given in PVS cases that the law does not ascribe such individuals with full human status. Such a legal position is particularly problematic in ethical terms when applied in cases involving patients who are in a `near PVS' position, and in the light of evidence that some PVS diagnoses are inaccurate. The application of the best interests test in PVS cases results in the adoption of a paternalistic, objective approach that fails to respect the former competent individuals whom PVS patients once were. If, alternatively, the substituted judgement test were to be adopted, the principle of individual autonomy would become central to the question of whether PVS patients' treatment should be withdrawn. Furthermore, the application of this test would also ensure that PVS patients continue to be viewed as `persons'.     

论民法理念及其现实意义

民法理念是民法的最高价值与终极宗旨,具体表现为私权神圣和私法自治,其形成有着经济与人文基础。由于长期的封建历史传统、商品经济不发达、公法优位、泛道德主义与重刑主义严重等原因,我国没有形成私法传统,缺失民法理念。民法理念对于引导民法典的制定、培育私法文化、促进经济发展与政治文明具有重要的意义。     

保险人明确说明义务批判

保险合同法可以体系化地解读为意思自治、给付均衡与合理期待三个核心原则的组合。立法者希望籍说明义务来消减信息不对称,贯彻意思自治。但在建构制度规范时,并未考虑信息传送方的履行成本,对信息接收方的识别成本与关注焦点也存在认识误区。这种过度理想化的设计已被实践证明是失败的。立法应废止实质性的明确说明义务,代之以形式化的信息提供义务。对于意思自治的不足,可以通过提升给付均衡度和更有效保障被保险人对获取保险产品的合理期待加以填补。     

论中国工会学的学科自主性

自主性是学科体系和知识体系的内在特性,强化学科自主性是贯穿于改革开放以来中国工会理 论研究的基本线索,是工会学作为独立学科的本质性规定。工会学的研究对象、学科基础和知识疆域有其自身 的独特性,这种独特性是由中国工会的历史传统、价值内核、指导思想、组织原则、结构特征和制度精神等因 素共同决定的,这是设置工会学学科的基本依据。在马克思主义理论一级学科下设置工会学学科,是中国工运 事业和工会工作的一件大事,这对于开辟马克思主义工会学说中国化时代化新境界,推进中国特色社会主义工 会发展道路守正创新,构建中国工会自主知识体系具有重大的现实意义和深远的历史意义。     

建国60年来中国地方行政区划和府际关系的变革与展望

地方行政区划和府际关系的重构是20世纪以来中国现代国家制度建设工程的重要内容．关系到国家的政治稳定和地方社会经济的可持续发展。建国60年来,中国地方行政区划和府际关系的调整和改革,基本上延续了传统中国的治理逻辑和治理术,即以属地管辖和行政内部发包制为特征、由职权同构和行政分权构成的多层级的地方政府结构为基本治理结构。为适应工业化、市场化和城市化的现实要求,中国地方行政区划和府际关系必须根据法治政府、责任政府和公共服务型政府的制度设计,对既有的地方治理结构进行改革和调整。以民主化和地方自治促进和改善地方治理,使地方行政区划和府际关系以及相应的产权、财税权和人事权等制度走向法治化、制度化和规范化。