From neoliberalism to neocommunitarianism: opposing justifications in a dispute over privatized electricity infrastructure

It is becoming increasingly clear that neoliberal ideological efforts to depoliticize politics have come to incorporate arguments once associated with radical communitarian, localist and existential critiques of capitalism. This article contributes to cross-disciplinary discussion of how and on what terms this process of assimilation has taken place. It first describes the rise of neocommunitarian politics and policy-making in the privatized electricity system of a “first-mover” neoliberal state, Australia. It then examines in detail a dispute over a proposed upgrade to a piece of electricity system infrastructure in a formerly industrial, working-class and immigrant, now post-industrial, bourgeois-bohemian and gentrified suburb of inner-Melbourne, Victoria. The study reveals a shift over time in the strategy of the protest group convened to resist the proposed upgrade. Originally using NIMBY-like arguments to oppose the upgrade, the group gradually transformed its strategy into a more general critique of privatization and marketization, and of the use of neocommunitarianism by state and market interests to promote economic growth. Generalizing from this case study, we suggest that such a transformation in protest strategy signals the possibility of a new culture of awareness that neocommunitarianism is little more than a response by states and markets to public rejection of free-market reforms. Moreover, the transformation of the protesters' strategy heralds the possibility of a renewal in critical thought and practice, one that is repoliticizing politics by challenging the marketizing and privatizing of public goods.     

Adorno and the Problems of a Critical Construction of the Historical Present

Abstract

This paper argues that Adorno's metaphysics can be rescued from the constellation of his messianic materialism. The recovery of metaphysics in this context also means that it is rescued as the basis of possible critique. Rescue here entails that the ideas of truth, freedom, justice and democracy should be seen as transcending whatever is empirically given, while remaining immanently operative within society. These ideas can still be drawn on for a critique of the present, thus renewing the original project of critical theory.     

家务劳动的女权主义批判考察

家务劳动是人类社会的基本劳动方式之一.但在现代社会,这种劳动的无酬性使之日益被社会所轻视.同时,家务劳动承担上的社会性别失衡性使得女性的发展被进一步阻碍.20世纪以来,女权主义对家务劳动进行了深入的探讨与批判.对这些批判性理论的考察将有助于我们吸取其合理价值,促进我国的法制建设.     

The Unmasking of the Metaphysicians or the Deconstructing of Metaphysics?

Abstract

This essay argues that Popper's work, seen from the vantage point of increasing historical distance, can be viewed as the first attempt to understand the grand narrative as the adjustment of metaphysics to the modern world. When viewed from such a distance enduring questions regarding holism, identity, essentialism, and truth can once again be thrown into relief, together with the pressing issues of the paradox of freedom and sovereignty.     

The Case of the Hypocritical

This paper analyzes the idea of critique as an idea, in relation to the problematic fiction of legal foundations. In doing so, it refers to the work of Giorgio Agamben and Jean-Luc Nancy. In particular, Jean-Luc Nancy’s concept of the lapsus of right (jus) is explored in relation to the fiction of a Law of law and the notion of the Right to have rights. The paper argues for the conception of an immanent critique of law that seeks to have done with foundational judgments as primary to critique. To have done with judgment as primary is crucial as judgment is the way in which philosophies of law have attempted to establish their own justification while claiming that such a ground or justification comes from an external source. Instead, what is to be reconceived and in a preliminary way is that critique and its concepts are intimate to their problems and vice versa. I wish to thank each of the participants to this issue for their effort and their kind collaboration and V. Kelley for her invaluable assistance in the final editing process. I thank C. Douzinas for introducing me to the work of Jean-Luc Nancy and P. Fitzpatrick and S. Motha for sharing their paths of reading. Especial thanks to A.␣Schütz, E. Loizidou, N. Moore, J.á. Bellido Anon and A. Bottomley for discussions on disagreement. Gratitude is owed to J.-L. Nancy for inspiring thoughts and writings and for the sweetness in response to my suggestion that there are no antidotes to the poisons we write. This is for the wonderful Elene.     

The Critical Instance ‘After’ The Critique of the Subject

The central argument of this piece involves the idea that insofar as␣critique, with its two basic tropes of question and judgment, has been central to the ȁ8classical’ configuration of subjectivity, the critical instance ȁ8after’ the critique of the subject is to be found re-situated on a different philosophical terrain where the question of the question is re-thought and the logic of judgment displaced by an ethic of encounter. It is on this terrain that we can then start sketching the emergence of a different set of critical instances: critical ontologies, critical analytics and critical erotics.     

发现唯有小说才能发现的——评《批判与想象——王小波小说研究》

韩袁红女士不仅在学术上是王小波作品的研究者,在生活中也有着对其作品发自内心的热爱。她的《批判与想象——王小波小说研究》是国内第一部研究王小波小说的专著。抱着对小说发现之发现的目的,作者不仅对王小波的小说进行学术上的客观阐释,也在尽力向我们展示王小波小说及其本人超越时空的魅力。对上述两方面进行总结,对这种发现做出分析,有助于对王小波小说进行深入研究,通过正确评介让更多的人接受它。     

Authoritarianism and the planetary mission of queer of color critique: a short reflection

ABSTRACT

This contribution to a journal special issue on comparative populisms investigates the necessity and possibility of queer of color critique’s engaging authoritarian formations in the contemporary moment. Initiated as an examination of neoliberal formations, queer of color critique must – the paper argues – train its interests on and develop its theorizations around the emergence of fascist formations around the globe. To do so, it turns to the anti-fascist work of the Frankfurt School as well as the lesser known anti-fascist writings and insights coming from the black radical tradition, scholarship within North American indigenous studies, and anti-racist feminist cultural production.     

康德哲学的基本特点

本文认为 ,批判性、先验性和调和性是康德哲学的三个基本特点。康德第一次给“批判”一词赋予了新的哲学含义 ,从认识论的角度对“先验”一词作了特殊的哲学界定 ,列宁将康德的哲学性质及其特点明确规定为调和性。     

The Representation of Females in Criminological Research

Abstract

Content analysis of criminological research articles published in various American and British journals between 1895 and 1997 is used to assess concerns about the representation of females in the study of crime and delinquency. Findings reveal a severe and long-term underrepresentation of females in criminological research. This appears to be related to the tendency of numerically dominant male researchers to focus on male subjects. However, research on and about females has not been conducted primarily by female researchers nor has the focus of such research been mainly on such a “female” offense as prostitution. Implications of these findings are discussed.