Liberal Democracy: a Euphemism for Anarchism in Today's America?
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The Enlightenment and Democratic Revolutions MAIN IDEA WHY IT MATTERS NOW TERMS & NAMES
4 The Enlightenment and Democratic Revolutions MAIN IDEA WHY IT MATTERS NOW TERMS & NAMES REVOLUTION Enlightenment These revolutions and the • Enlightenment • representative ideas helped bring about the documents they produced have • social contract government American and French inspired other democratic • natural rights • federal system revolutions. movements. • separation of • United Nations powers SETTING THE STAGE The Renaissance continued to affect European thinking throughout the 17th century. The Renaissance emphasis on the individual and on expanding human potential were especially influential. At the same time, Europeans began to explore their physical world. They extended the boundaries of the known world in what came to be called the Age of Exploration. New ideas and discoveries had a great impact on Europeans’ understanding of themselves and the world. TAKING NOTES Enlightenment Thinkers and Ideas Outlining Use an outline During the 17th and 18th centuries, an intellectual movement called the to organize the main ideas and details. Enlightenment developed. Enlightenment thinkers tried to apply the principles of reason and the methods of science to all aspects of society. They built upon I. Enlightenmentg the long history of Western thought. Thinkers and Ideas The philosophers of ancient Greece had established the idea of natural laws A. that could be discovered by careful observation and reasoned inquiry. B. Christianity contributed the belief in the equality of all human beings. (This belief II. The Beggginnings of Democracy in America would later lead to the principle of equal rights in society.) During the Renaissance, thinkers had focused on worldly concerns. They criticized medieval philosophy A. for concentrating on questions that seemed unrelated to human conditions. -
Ba Philosophie; Weltanschauung
BA PHILOSOPHIE; WELTANSCHAUUNG Personale Informationsmittel Michael OAKESHOTT Politische Philosophie 09-1/2 Michael Oakeshott / Edmund Neill. - New York ; London : Con- tinuum, 2010. - X, 143 S. ; 22 cm. - (Major conservative and li- bertarian thinkers ; 8). - ISBN 978-0-8264-2178-4 : £ 65.00 [#1001] In recent years, the English philosopher and political thinker Michael Oakeshott has become the subject of a growing body of critical work and discussion. Numerous monographs on various aspects of his thought have been published.1 It is a sign of the vitality of Oakeshott’s thought that no agreement has been achieved about how best to characterize it. Thus, scholars often emphasize one particular aspect of Oakeshott’s thought to the neglect of others. He is regarded as a skeptic, as a conservative, as a critic or as a defender of modernity, as a political philosopher. Oakeshott's oeuvre is peculiar in that his publications consist mostly of essays and merely two book-length monographs which also do not follow the usual pattern of heavy footnoting. Among recent introductions to Oakeshott’s work the latest addition comes from Edmund Neill who offers a succinct, balanced and therefore valuable account of the major elements of Oakeshott’s thinking.2 His book appears in a series about conservative and libertarian thinkers which, according to se- ries editor John Meadowcroft, „aims to show that there is a rigorous schol- arly tradition of social and political thought that may be broadly described as ‚conservative’, ‚libertarian’ or some combination of the two“. This is indeed a very valuable aim and highly to be commended, as book series explicitly devoted to conservative thought as a serious intellectual enterprise are few and far between. -
Democracy in the United States
Democracy in the United States The United States is a representative democracy. This means that our government is elected by citizens. Here, citizens vote for their government officials. These officials represent the citizens’ ideas and concerns in government. Voting is one way to participate in our democracy. Citizens can also contact their officials when they want to support or change a law. Voting in an election and contacting our elected officials are two ways that Americans can participate in their democracy. Voting booth in Atascadero, California, in 2008. Photo by Ace Armstrong. Courtesy of the Polling Place Photo Project. Your Government and You H www.uscis.gov/citizenship 1 Becoming a U.S. Citizen Taking the Oath of Allegiance at a naturalization ceremony in Washington, D.C. Courtesy of USCIS. The process required to become a citizen is called naturalization. To become a U.S. citizen, you must meet legal requirements. You must complete an interview with a USCIS officer. You must also pass an English and Civics test. Then, you take the Oath of Allegiance. This means that you promise loyalty to the United States. When you become a U.S. citizen, you also make these promises: ★ give up loyalty to other countries ★ defend the Constitution and laws of the United States ★ obey the laws of the United States ★ serve in the U.S. military (if needed) ★ do important work for the nation (if needed) After you take the Oath of Allegiance, you are a U.S. citizen. 2 Your Government and You H www.uscis.gov/citizenship Rights and Responsibilities of Citizens Voting is one important right and responsibility of U.S. -
The Method of Antinomies: Oakeshott and Others Others and Oakeshott Antinomies: of Method the VOLUME 6 | ISSUE 1 + 2 2018 6 | ISSUE VOLUME
University of South Florida Scholar Commons Philosophy Faculty Publications Philosophy 2018 The ethoM d of Antinomies: Oakeshott nda Others Stephen Turner University of South Florida, [email protected] Follow this and additional works at: https://scholarcommons.usf.edu/phi_facpub Scholar Commons Citation Turner, Stephen, "The eM thod of Antinomies: Oakeshott nda Others" (2018). Philosophy Faculty Publications. 309. https://scholarcommons.usf.edu/phi_facpub/309 This Article is brought to you for free and open access by the Philosophy at Scholar Commons. It has been accepted for inclusion in Philosophy Faculty Publications by an authorized administrator of Scholar Commons. For more information, please contact [email protected]. The Method of Antinomies: Oakeshott and Others STEPHEN TURNER Email: [email protected] Web: http://philosophy.usf.edu/faculty/sturner/ Abstract: Michael Oakeshott employed a device of argument and analysis that appears in a number of other thinkers, where it is given the name “antinomies.” These differ from binary oppositions or contradictories in that the two poles are bound to- gether. In this discussion, the nature of this binding is explored in detail, in large part in relation to Oakeshott’s own usages, such as his discussion of the relation of faith and skepticism, between collective goal-oriented associations and those based on contract, and between a legal regime based on neutral rules and one oriented to policy goals . Other examples might include Weber’s distinction between the politics of intention and the politics of responsibility. Moreover, such ambiguous concepts as “rights,” have antinomic interpretations. In each of these cases, the full realization of one ideal led, in practice, to consequenc- es associated with the other: in political practice, neither polar ideal was realizable without concessions to the other. -
The Method of Antinomies: Oakeshott and Others Others and Oakeshott Antinomies: of Method the VOLUME 6 | ISSUE 1 + 2 2018 6 | ISSUE VOLUME
The Method of Antinomies: Oakeshott and Others STEPHEN TURNER Email: [email protected] Web: http://philosophy.usf.edu/faculty/sturner/ Abstract: Michael Oakeshott employed a device of argument and analysis that appears in a number of other thinkers, where it is given the name “antinomies.” These differ from binary oppositions or contradictories in that the two poles are bound to- gether. In this discussion, the nature of this binding is explored in detail, in large part in relation to Oakeshott’s own usages, such as his discussion of the relation of faith and skepticism, between collective goal-oriented associations and those based on contract, and between a legal regime based on neutral rules and one oriented to policy goals . Other examples might include Weber’s distinction between the politics of intention and the politics of responsibility. Moreover, such ambiguous concepts as “rights,” have antinomic interpretations. In each of these cases, the full realization of one ideal led, in practice, to consequenc- es associated with the other: in political practice, neither polar ideal was realizable without concessions to the other. But these features are rooted in the deep history of institutions. They are contingent, not philosophical. They nevertheless preclude con- ventional approaches to political theory. Keywords: Michael Oakeshott, antinomies, meta-politics, democratic theory, Max Weber, Hans Morgenthau, genealogy 54 COSMOS + TAXIS COSMOS Several of Michael Oakeshott’s writings, including On vision of politics is different from relativism in any simple Human Conduct ([1975] 1991), employ an argumentative sense of this term. It is specifically distinct from, and op- device that is shared with several other twentieth century posed to, the idea that there can be an ideological “solu- thinkers, but which has not received much attention on its tion” to the antinomies in question. -
Thomas Jefferson and the Ideology of Democratic Schooling
Thomas Jefferson and the Ideology of Democratic Schooling James Carpenter (Binghamton University) Abstract I challenge the traditional argument that Jefferson’s educational plans for Virginia were built on mod- ern democratic understandings. While containing some democratic features, especially for the founding decades, Jefferson’s concern was narrowly political, designed to ensure the survival of the new republic. The significance of this piece is to add to the more accurate portrayal of Jefferson’s impact on American institutions. Submit your own response to this article Submit online at democracyeducationjournal.org/home Read responses to this article online http://democracyeducationjournal.org/home/vol21/iss2/5 ew historical figures have undergone as much advocate of public education in the early United States” (p. 280). scrutiny in the last two decades as has Thomas Heslep (1969) has suggested that Jefferson provided “a general Jefferson. His relationship with Sally Hemings, his statement on education in republican, or democratic society” views on Native Americans, his expansionist ideology and his (p. 113), without distinguishing between the two. Others have opted suppressionF of individual liberties are just some of the areas of specifically to connect his ideas to being democratic. Williams Jefferson’s life and thinking that historians and others have reexam- (1967) argued that Jefferson’s impact on our schools is pronounced ined (Finkelman, 1995; Gordon- Reed, 1997; Kaplan, 1998). because “democracy and education are interdependent” and But his views on education have been unchallenged. While his therefore with “education being necessary to its [democracy’s] reputation as a founding father of the American republic has been success, a successful democracy must provide it” (p. -
The Restless Liberalism of Alexis De Tocqueville
FILOZOFIA ___________________________________________________________________________Roč. 72, 2017, č. 9 THE RESTLESS LIBERALISM OF ALEXIS DE TOCQUEVILLE JAKUB TLOLKA, London School of Economics and Political Science, London, UK TLOLKA, J.: The Restless Liberalism of Alexis de Tocqueville FILOZOFIA, 72, No. 9, 2017, pp. 736-747 This essay attempts to contextualise the purported novelty of Alexis de Tocqueville’s particular brand of liberalism. It regards the author not as an heir or precursor to any given political tradition, but rather as a compelled syncretist whose primary philosophical concern was the moral significance of the democratic age. It suggests that Tocqueville devised his ‘new political science’ with a keen view to the existential implications of modernity. In order to support that suggestion, the essay explores the genealogy of Tocqueville’s moral and political thought and draws a relation between his analysis of democracy and his personal experience of modernity. Keywords: A. de Tocqueville – Modernity – Liberalism – Inquiétude – Religion Introduction. Relatively few authors in the history of political thought have produced an intellectual legacy of such overarching resonance as Alexis de Tocqueville. Even fewer, perhaps, have so persistently eluded ordinary analytical and exegetical frameworks, presenting to each astute observer a face so nuanced as to preclude serious interpretive consensus. As writes Lakoff (Lakoff 1998), ‘disagreement over textual interpretation in the study of political thought is not uncommon’. However, ‘it usually arises around those who left writings of a patently divergent character’ (p. 437). When we thus consider the ‘extraordinarily coherent and consistent nature’ of Alexis de Tocqueville’s political philosophy, it appears somewhat odd that the academic consensus surrounding that author relates almost exclusively to the grandeur of his intellectual achievement (Lukacs 1959, 6). -
THE RISE of COMPETITIVE AUTHORITARIANISM Steven Levitsky and Lucan A
Elections Without Democracy THE RISE OF COMPETITIVE AUTHORITARIANISM Steven Levitsky and Lucan A. Way Steven Levitsky is assistant professor of government and social studies at Harvard University. His Transforming Labor-Based Parties in Latin America is forthcoming from Cambridge University Press. Lucan A. Way is assistant professor of political science at Temple University and an academy scholar at the Academy for International and Area Studies at Harvard University. He is currently writing a book on the obstacles to authoritarian consolidation in the former Soviet Union. The post–Cold War world has been marked by the proliferation of hy- brid political regimes. In different ways, and to varying degrees, polities across much of Africa (Ghana, Kenya, Mozambique, Zambia, Zimbab- we), postcommunist Eurasia (Albania, Croatia, Russia, Serbia, Ukraine), Asia (Malaysia, Taiwan), and Latin America (Haiti, Mexico, Paraguay, Peru) combined democratic rules with authoritarian governance during the 1990s. Scholars often treated these regimes as incomplete or transi- tional forms of democracy. Yet in many cases these expectations (or hopes) proved overly optimistic. Particularly in Africa and the former Soviet Union, many regimes have either remained hybrid or moved in an authoritarian direction. It may therefore be time to stop thinking of these cases in terms of transitions to democracy and to begin thinking about the specific types of regimes they actually are. In recent years, many scholars have pointed to the importance of hybrid regimes. Indeed, recent academic writings have produced a vari- ety of labels for mixed cases, including not only “hybrid regime” but also “semidemocracy,” “virtual democracy,” “electoral democracy,” “pseudodemocracy,” “illiberal democracy,” “semi-authoritarianism,” “soft authoritarianism,” “electoral authoritarianism,” and Freedom House’s “Partly Free.”1 Yet much of this literature suffers from two important weaknesses. -
Oakeshott Revisited
Prepared for „Workshop on Conservatism“, 6‐7 November 2014, University of Zurich, Ethics Centre, Zollikerstr. 117 (ZOB‐E‐2), 8008 Zurich, Switzerland CONFERENCE DRAFT – Do not cite without permission of the author Christoph M. Michael, Martin‐Luther‐Universität Halle‐Wittenberg, Philosophische Fakultät I, Institut für Politikwissenschaft 06099 Halle (Saale) Germany [email protected]‐halle.de Oakeshott Revisited Beyond nostalgia In 1992, almost two years after Michael Oakeshott’s death and nearly one after the posthumous publication of an enlarged edition of his 1962 collection of essays Rationalism in Politics, Perry Anderson expressed his disconcertment and even surprise over how little public notice Oakeshott’s passing received. After all, to Anderson Oakeshott had been “the most original thinker of post‐war conservatism” and “one of the quartet of outstanding European theorists of the intransigent Right whose ideas now shape – however much, or little, leading practitioners are aware of it – a large pail of the mental world of end‐of‐the‐century Western politics.”1 To those sympathetic to the first part of Anderson’s sentiments it must have seemed disparaging if not outright degrading that Oakeshott’s conservatism should be classified as an “oddly fearful quasi‐hedonism” a mere decade and a half later.2 Prove was being offered in form of the perhaps most widely quoted passage of Oakeshott’s work: 1 Perry Anderson: The Intransigent Right at the End of the Century. In: London Review of Books, Vol. 14, No. 18 (September 24, 1992), pp. 7‐11. Complementing the quartet are Carl Schmitt, Leo Strauss and Friedrich von Hayek. -
Michael Oakeshott 'On Being Conservative'
Podoksik, Ephraim. "Michael Oakeshott ‘On Being Conservative’." Conservative Moments: Reading Conservative Texts. Ed. Mark Garnett. London: Bloomsbury Academic, 2018. 67–74. Textual Moments in the History of Political Thought. Bloomsbury Collections. Web. 2 Oct. 2021. <http://dx.doi.org/10.5040/9781350001565.ch-009>. Downloaded from Bloomsbury Collections, www.bloomsburycollections.com, 2 October 2021, 23:12 UTC. Copyright © Mark Garnett 2018. You may share this work for non-commercial purposes only, provided you give attribution to the copyright holder and the publisher, and provide a link to the Creative Commons licence. 67 CHAPTER NINE Michael Oakeshott ‘On Being Conservative’ Ephraim Podoksik The self- government of men of passionate belief and enterprise is apt to break down when it is most needed. It often suffi ces to resolve minor collisions of interest, but beyond these it is not to be relied upon. A more precise and a less easily corrupted ritual is required to resolve the massive collisions which our manner of living is apt to generate and to release us from the massive frustrations in which we are apt to become locked. The custodian of this ritual is ‘the government’, and the rules it imposes are ‘the law’. One may imagine a government engaged in the activity of an arbiter in cases of collisions of interest but doing its business without the aid of laws, just as one may imagine a game without rules and an umpire who was appealed to in cases of dispute and who on each occasion merely used his judgment to devise ad hoc a way of releasing the disputants from their mutual frustration. -
The Many Sides of John Stuart M I L L ' S Political and Ethical Thought Howard Brian Cohen a Thesis Submitted I N Conformity
The Many Sides of John Stuart Mill's Political and Ethical Thought Howard Brian Cohen A thesis submitted in conformity with the requirements for the degree of Doctorate Graduate Department of Political Science University of Toronto O Copyright by Howard Brian Cohen 2000 Acquisitions and Acquisitions et Bbliogmphïc Services services bibiiimphiques The author has granted a non- L'auteur a accordé une Iicence non exclusive licence allowïng the exclusive permettant à la National Library of Canada to Bibliothèque nationale du Canada de reproduce, loan, distriiute or seil reproduire, prêter, distribuer ou copies of this thesis in microfonn, vendre des copies de cetté thèse sous paper or electronic formats. la forme de microfiche/nlm, de reproduction sur papier ou sur format électronique. The author retains ownefship of the L'auteur conserve la propriété du copyright in this thesis. Neither the droit d'auteur qui protège cette thèse. thesis nor substantial extracts fiom it Ni la thèse ni des extraits substantiels may be printed or otherwise de celle-ci ne doivent être imprimés reproduced without the author's ou autrement reproduits sans son permission. autorisation. This study is an attempt to account for the presence of discordant themes within the political and ethical writings of John Stuart Mill. It is argued that no existing account has adequately addressed the question of what possible function can be ascribed to conflict and contradiction within Mill's system of thought. It is argued that conflict and contradiction, are built into the -
Political Legacy: John Locke and the American Government
POLITICAL LEGACY: JOHN LOCKE AND THE AMERICAN GOVERNMENT by MATTHEW MIYAMOTO A THESIS Presented to the Department of Political Science and the Robert D. Clark Honors College in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Bachelor of Science January 2016 An Abstract of the Thesis of Matthew Miyamoto for the degree of Bachelor of Science in the Department of Political Science to be taken January, 2016 Title: Political Legacy: John Locke and the American Government Professor Dan Tichenor John Locke, commonly known as the father of classical liberalism, has arguably influenced the United States government more than any other political philosopher in history. His political theories include the quintessential American ideals of a right to life, liberty, and property, as well as the notion that the government is legitimized through the consent of the governed. Locke's theories guided the founding fathers through the creation of the American government and form the political backbone upon which this nation was founded. His theories form the foundation of principal American documents such as the Declaration of Independence, the Constitution, and the Bill of Rights, and they permeate the speeches, writings, and letters of our founding fathers. Locke's ideas define our world so thoroughly that we take them axiomatically. Locke's ideas are our tradition. They are our right. This thesis seeks to understand John Locke's political philosophy and the role that he played in the creation of the United States government. .. 11 Acknowledgements I would like to thank Professor Dan Tichenor for helping me to fully examine this topic and guiding me through my research and writing.