DOCSLIB.ORG

An Integrated View of the Technicity of Action and the Question of Responsibility

Total Page：16

File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb

Download full-text PDF Read full-text
An Integrated View of the Technicity of Action and the Question of Responsibility An Integrated View of the Technicity of Action and the Question of Responsibility What is wisdom in practice (phronesis)? Whatdoes it mean to act responsibly? These questions concern us practicallyasweseek the best courses of action, but also as onlookers at what others do, or even as theoreticians.Often these questions accompanypeople silentlythroughout their lives; sometimes they boil up, precipitatinganexistential crisis. To varying degrees these questions are part of the constitutive ambiguities of action. Action is one with of the flow of life, but can, to some degree, be planned. Capabilities enable us to do things, but they confront us in aseries of incapabilities. Instrumentsaugment our ability to intervene in the world, but also increase the impact of unintended consequences. Ethical considerations informour action,but acting in accord- ance with these values generates secondary effects that maycontradict the initial values. Hence, efficacyisbound to ambiguity,and this does not leave us indif- ferent. In this book, Ihavenot tried to dispel these perplexities of action – instead, I have attempted to grapple with them as part of the meaning of human action. Hermeneutics, in combination with insights from the social sciences,has helped me to do so, as Irestricted my view to one dimension of action: its technicity. If there is something like prudent or responsible action, the preceding chapters have gone some waytowardclarifyingwhat constitutes the practical pursuit of it,while stillleaving aside the question of the ethical values thatshould right- fullyinform our action. Proceeding in this way, Ihaveremained true to two significant lessons that can be learned from Paul Ricœur.The first is that the moment of distantiation from action allows us to examine it as meaningful, while assuming aspectator’s perspective.Thus, the more interpretative meansofhermeneutics and the ex- planatory means of social theory¹ enhance our understandingofaction – ex- plaining more helps us to understand better,accordingtoRicœur’sformula. But this is the caseonlybecause of what the second lesson teaches us: people My point is not to reducesocial theory to the function of explanation, but to accord both in- terpretation and explanation their placeintheeffort of clarification in this book. See, for exam- ple, Paul Ricœur, “La fonction herméneutique de la distanciation,” in Du texte àl’action. Essais d’herméneutique II (Paris:Seuil, 1986), 113–32 / “The HermeneuticalFunction of Distanciation,” in From Text to Action: EssaysinHermeneuticsII,trans. Kathleen Blamey and John Thompson (London: Athlone, 1991), 75 – 88 and “Expliquer et comprendre,” in Du texte àl’action,179– 204) / “Explanation and Understanding,” in FromText to Action, 125–43,respectively. OpenAccess. ©2021ErnstWolff, published by De Gruyter. This work is licensed under the Creative CommonsAttribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 License. https://doi.org/10.1515/9783110725049-012 248 Conclusion: Technicity of Action and Responsibility gettoknow and understand themselves as agents when they attest to the actions of which they werecapable.² One could saythat attestation does at apractical level what distantiation does at atheoretical level. It is by trying to speak, do, narrate and impute action to oneself, and by attestingtothe varyingdegrees to which this succeedsthat one increasinglygains apractical understanding of one’saction. The two lessons belong together in adouble hermeneutics: the scholarlyreflection on action as meaningful is possible when and because ac- tion has alreadybeenpracticallymeaningful for agents. Iwould like to use this Conclusion in threeways. First,Ireflect on the co- herenceofthe entire enterprise as an outline of atheory of the technicity of ac- tion. Second, Itrace the fact that the hermeneutic-descriptive aspect and the ethico-political aspects of action are integrated in relations of mutual implica- tion. Third, Itrace one of the outer limits of the current project.This limitation, which concerns the philosophyofresponsibility, will have to be dealt with in subsequent research. However,Iwould like to offer an outline of the technical nature of responsibility and the dependence of responsibility on anormative supplement,asafinal conclusion of this book. 1The Technicity of Action – aShortSynthesis The main thesis thatthat Ihavedefended and elaborated on in this book is that – practicallyall human action has atechnical aspect,which provides apartial, but fundamental, perspective on human action in general; – the technicityofaction consists of the combination of acquired capabilities and the use of means; and – the meaning of actionastechnical is integrated (but not fused) with the nor- mative meaning that the ethical aspect of action is adjudgedtohave. Iwillingly assume the general anthropological stretch of these theses. At the same time, Icounted on my hermeneutic approach to maintain the historicity of all formsofhuman existenceand to safeguard the project from essentialisa- tion. In such ahermeneutic action theory,both stable and historicalcomponents can be identified. In turning my attention to “technicity”,Ido not start with technical arte- facts, but define everything to be called “technical” in relation to the technicity Cf. Paul Ricœur, Soi-même comme un autre (Paris:Seuil, 1990), 33 – 35 / Oneself as Another, trans. Kathleen Blamey (Chicago,IL: University of Chicago Press, 1992),21–23. 1The Technicity of Action – aShort Synthesis 249 of human agency and action. Correspondingly, Idevote fairlylittle attention to the nature of technical artefacts in this study. However,Iconstantlybore in mind theirrich variety,and Ibroached the question of the mode of existence of technicalobjects by discussing the “autonomy” of means, relative to their pro- ducers and users (see Chapter 1, §4 and Chapter 2, §3,2 [point 1]). In the tradition of philosophyand social theory,there are numerous typolo- gies of technical formsofaction (for example, instrumental or goal-rational forms of action) and of the formsofreason guiding such action (as is the case in utilitarianism or rational action theory).However,inthis study, my approach was first of all resolutely non-typological.³ In this,Ifollow Hans Joas in his work on the creativity of action.⁴ ForJoas, creativity is not acategory of social action that has to be added to completeexistingtypologies of rational or normative ac- tion,⁵ adimension of action that requires an alternative approach to the typolog- ical approaches to human actionand their residual categories. “Creativity”,in Joas’swork, refers to an aspect of all action. In asimilar vein, Iaim to clarify the technical aspect of action. Second,the flux of everydayaction is identifiedasthe primary point of ori- entation in this theory of action. This insight from pragmatism is confirmed with referencetoAnthonyGiddens (see Chapter 5, §3.1). Establishingthe primacy of the flux of action allows us to draw on pragmatist and phenomenological philos- ophies of action in which we can then analyse the relation between continual living-forth (Hinleben)and the myriad of hindrances to asimple flow of action.⁶ See Chapter2,§3.1. Hans Joas, Die Kreativität des Handelns (Frankfurt am Main: Suhrkamp, 1992),inparticular Chapters 3and 4aswell as Ernst Wolff, “‘Technology’ as the Critical Social Theory of Human Technicity,” Journal of Philosophical Research 41 (2016): 333 – 69. Joas, Die Kreativität des Handelns,15f,213f. The phenomenological and hermeneuticapproach Ihavefollowed in this book shows aclear familyresemblancewith the main traits of pragmatist thought: anti-foundationalism,fallibil- ism, the social character of the self, the importanceofresearch and metaphysical pluralism (par- aphrased by Joas in Antje Grimmler,Hans Joas and RichardSennet, “Creativity,Pragmatism and the Social Sciences,” Distinktion 13 (2006): 5–31, here 24–25,explicitlyderivedfrom Richard Bernstein, “The resurgenceofpragmatism,” Social Research 59,no. 4(Winter 1992):813–40. This does not mean that this proximity has always been appreciated by scholarship – as is docu- mented by Patrick L. Bourgeois, “Phenomenology and Pragmatism: ARecent Encounter,” in Phenomenology World-Wide,ed. Anna-Teresa Tymieniecka(Dordrecht: Springer,2002), 568–70. Closer to the theme of the technicity of action, the proximity of pragmatism and phe- nomenology is confirmed by Jens Kertscher, “Washeißteigentlich Primat der Praxis? – WieHei- deggerund Dewey eine erkenntnistheoretische Dichotomie überwinden,” Journal Phaenomeno- logie 32 (2009 – Phänomenologie und Pragmatismus):59–70;and Robert Innes, “Dewey’s Aesthetic Theory and the Critique of Technology,” in Studien zumProblem der Technik (Phäno- 250 Conclusion: Technicity of Action and Responsibility In the order of phenomenological constitution, the technicity of actiondepends on anon-technical, mainlybiological thrust (equivalent to Aristotle’s “orexis”) that lies at the centreofthe flux of action(see Chapter 2, §1 and Chapter 3, §2.1 [point 2]). This implies that our consciousness of action is constitutively sec- ondary to the flux of action; to be precise, it results from disruptions of simple acting.⁷ My examination of five forms of incapability that impact on capability (in Chapter 3, §2.1)clarifies the interplaybetween flow and disruption. Disrup- tions of the flow of action vary in intensity.Often they are quite subtle and barely enough to arouse alight monitoringofaction (another term borrowed from Gid- dens, see Chapter 5, §3.1). Even at the level of the
Load more

Recommended publications
  • Andamios 361 Pablo Beytía* El Profesor Dr. Hans Joas Es
    CREATIVIDAD SITUADA, CONTINGENCIA Y MODERNIDAD. ENTREVISTA A HANS JOAS Pablo Beytía* El Profesor Dr. Hans Joas es sociólogo y filósofo social. Trabaja como miembro permanente del Freiburg Institute for Advanced Studies (FRIAS) y como miembro asociado del Max-Weber-Kolleg de la Universidad de Erfurt, Alemania. Es profesor de Sociología e integrante del Committee on Social Thought en la Universidad de Chicago. También es miembro titular de la Berlin-Branderburgischen Akademie der Wissenschaften y participante no residente del Swedisch Collegium for Advanced Study in the Social Sciences. Fue investigador del Instituto Max Planck de Berlín, del Indiana Institute for Advanced Study y del Wissenschaftskolleg de Berlín. Ha sido profesor de sociología en la universidad Erlangen- Nürnberg (1987-1990), en la Freie Universität Berlin (1990-2002) y en el Max-Weber-Kolleg de cultura e investigación social, instituto que dirigió entre los años 2002 y 2011. Ha sido profesor visitante en diversas universidades, como la de Tübingen (1980-1981), Chicago (1985), Toronto (1986), Uppsala (1994), Wisconsin Madison (1996), New School for Social Research (1997), Duke (1998) y Viena (2002 y 2007). También fue vicepresidente de la Asociación Internacional de Sociología (ISA). En 2010 recibió el Premio de Ciencias de la Universidad de Bielefeld, y en 2012, tanto la medalla Werner Heisenberg de la Fundación Alexander Humboldt, como el título Doctor Honoris Causa por la Universidad de Tübingen. INTRODUCCIÓN A LA OBRA DE HANS JOAS Presentar un esbozo actualizado de la obra de Hans Joas es una tarea tan honrosa como difícil de emprender, que en el mejor de los casos puede * Magíster en Sociología, Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile.
    [Show full text]
  • Cultural Trauma? on the Most Recent Turn in Jeffrey Alexander's Cultural
    07_054799_Joas (JB-D) 30/6/05 10:11 am Page 365 European Journal of Social Theory 8(3): 365–374 Copyright © 2005 Sage Publications: London, Thousand Oaks, CA and New Delhi REVIEW ESSAY Cultural Trauma? On the Most Recent Turn in Jeffrey Alexander’s Cultural Sociology Hans Joas MAX WEBER CENTER, ERFURT AND UNIVERSITY OF CHICAGO Jeffrey Alexander et al., Cultural Trauma and Collective Identity. Berkeley: University of California Press, 2004, 314 pp. (incl. index), $24.95 ISBN 0520235959 (pbk); $65.00 ISBN 0520235940 (hbk) For many years now, Jeffrey Alexander has been – together with Richard Münch – the most fervent proponent of a neo-Parsonian approach in social theory. More than Münch, however, Alexander has distanced himself from Parsons’ own understanding of culture and attempted to integrate recent developments of cultural theory and the potential of the late-Durkheimian writings into his work. More than Parsons’ former co-author Edward Shils, Alexander is sensitive to the disruptive sides of charisma (or the sacred) and the openness of situations in which its repercussions are felt. Whereas Shmuel Eisenstadt, together with Robert Bellah perhaps the greatest student of Parsons, has devoted his life to a thorough revision of Parsonianism in the light of historical sociology, Alexander’s work focuses on the present and the recent past, on the conditions which enable the functioning of civil society and on the ‘social construction’ of moral universalism in the 20th century.1 The keyword for the most recent development of his work is ‘cultural trauma’. This concept, which is by no means plausible without further discussion, is not just seen as a useful addition to the conceptual arsenal of sociology, but as the core assumption of a far-reaching research programme.
    [Show full text]
  • Action Is the Way in Which Human Beings Exist in the World
    Action Is the Way in Which Human Beings Exist in the World Conversation with Professor Hans Joas! with Claus Otto Scharmer Reprinted from http://www.dialogonleadership.org! by permission of professors Scharmer and Joas Hans Joas: The major underlying question I would say is that I try to understand human action in its creativity. I try to understand how we have to see social life and how we have to see historical development if we base our understanding of science and history on such an understanding of human action. COS: Could you outline that a little bit further? Hans Joas: I try to understand what human action is or, if you put it in more scientific terms, what the dominant ways to conceptualize human action are. For instance, so-called rational action dominates the discipline of economics and vast fields of political science. A normativist understanding of action dominates sociology. Why aren’t these adequate ways to understand human action? Distinct from them, I try to understand human action in its creativity and how that affects our understanding of societies. I’m a little bit hesitant to use the term society, because I mean all forms of social life. My main orientation is to develop this understanding of action out of the thinking of historical American pragmatism. I mean major figures of thinking who produced their work in the late 19th, early 20th century, like William James, John Dewey, George Herbert Mead, and others. They were very interdisciplinary thinkers, and I would say their thinking was deeply permeated by the spirit of democracy, which is not true for most other intellectual traditions.
    [Show full text]
  • From Martin Buber’S Iand Thou to Mikhail Bakhtin’Sconcept of ‘Polyphony’ 21
    Dialogue as a Trans-disciplinary Concept Studia Judaica Forschungen zur Wissenschaft des Judentums Begründet von Ernst Ludwig Ehrlich Herausgegeben von Günter Stemberger, Charlotte Fonrobert und Alexander Samely Band 83 Dialogue as a Trans-disciplinary Concept Martin Buber’s Philosophy of Dialogue and its Contemporary Reception Edited by Paul Mendes-Flohr DE GRUYTER An electronic version of this book is freely available, thanks to the support of libra- ries working with Knowledge Unlatched. KU is a collaborative initiative designed to make high quality books Open Access. More information about the initiative can be found at www.knowledgeunlatched.org This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 4.0 License. For details go to http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/. ISBN 978-3-11-037915-0 e-ISBN (PDF) 978-3-11-040222-3 e-ISBN (EPUB) 978-3-11-040237-7 ISSN 0585-5306 Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data A CIP catalog record for this book has been applied for at the Library of Congress. Bibliographic information published by the Deutsche Nationalbibliothek The Deutsche Nationalbibliothek lists this publication in the Deutsche Nationalbibliografie; detailed bibliographic data are available on the Internet at http://dnb.dnb.de. © 2015 Walter de Gruyter GmbH, Berlin/Munich/Boston Printing and binding: CPI books GmbH, Leck ♾ Printed on acid-free paper Printed in Germany www.degruyter.com TableofContents Paul Mendes-Flohr Introduction: Dialogue as aTrans-DisciplinaryConcept 1 Jürgen
    [Show full text]
  • Curriculum Vitae
    Hans Joas Curriculum Vitae * November 27, 1948, Munich, Germany. Ernst Troeltsch Professor for the Sociology of Religion, Faculty of Theology, Humboldt University of Berlin Full Professor of Sociology and Social Thought, University of Chicago, and Member of the Committee on Social Thought Married to Heidrun Joas-Böhme, one child (born 1976) 1968 – 1971 studying sociology, philosophy, history, German literature at the University of Munich 1971 – 1972 studying the same disciplines at the Free University of Berlin 1972 “Diploma” in sociology 1973 – 1977 “Wissenschaftlicher Assistent” (Research and teaching fellow), Department of Sociology, Free University of Berlin 1979 “Dr. phil.” 1979 – 1983 Research Fellow, Max Planck Institute for Human Development and Education, Berlin (1980–1981 Visiting Professor, University of Tübingen) 1981 “Habilitation” 1984 – 1987 Heisenberg Fellow of the German Research Council (Deutsche Forschungs- gemeinschaft) 1985 (Spring quarter) Visiting Professor, Department of Sociology, University of Chicago 1986 (Summer quarter) Visiting Professor, Department of Sociology, University of Toronto 1987 – 1990 Professor of Sociology, University of Erlangen-Nuremberg 1990 – 2002 Professor of Sociology, Free University of Berlin 1993 – 1995 Executive Director, John F. Kennedy Institute for North American Studies, Berlin 1992 (Spring semester) Fellow, Swedish Collegium for Advanced Study in the Social Sciences and Visiting Professor, University of Uppsala 1994 (Fall semester) Fellow, Indiana University Institute for Advanced
    [Show full text]
  • Ebulletin-Final Layout 1
    In Conversation with Professor Hans Joas In Conversation with Professor Hans Joas Interviewed by Dr. Sarbeswar Sahoo (Indian Institute of Technology Delhi) Hans Joas , ( [email protected] ) a German sociolo - Prof. Joas has edited six books in English, including gist and social theorist, is Permanent Fellow at the The Axial Age and Its Consequences (with Robert N. Freiburg Institute for Advanced Studies, Albert-Lud - Bellah, Harvard University Press, 2012). wigs University, Freiburg, Germany and a Professor of Sociology at the University of Chicago, where he HJ: Hans Joas also belongs to the influential interdisciplinary Com - mittee on Social Thought. He was the Director of the SS: Sarbeswar Sahoo Max Weber Center for Advanced Cultural and Social Studies at the University of Erfurt from 2002-2011. SS: Thank you very much for agreeing to give this Prof. Joas has held academic positions in several uni - interview. I would like to start the conversation by versities including the University of Tübingen, the asking you about your academic training. Could you University of ErlangenNuremberg, and the Free Uni - please tell us something about your undergraduate versity, Berlin. He has also spent time as visiting pro - and graduate training? fessor in New York, Indiana, Madison, North Carolina, Berlin, Vienna, Toronto, Sweden, and HJ: The terms undergraduate and graduate do not re - South Africa. Prof. Joas has served as Vice President ally apply to the German higher education system. I of the International Sociological Association from finished high school in 1968 and became a student 2006-10. He has received Honorary Doctorates in first at the University of Munich and then from the Catholic Theology from the University of Tübingen spring of 1971 I was at the Free University in Berlin.
    [Show full text]
  • PDF) 978-3-11-037661-6 E-ISBN (Epub) 978-3-11-038729-2
    Imagining Human Rights Imagining Human Rights Edited by Susanne Kaul and David Kim ISBN 978-3-11-037619-7 e-ISBN (PDF) 978-3-11-037661-6 e-ISBN (EPub) 978-3-11-038729-2 Dieses Werk ist lizenziert unter der Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial- NoDerivatives 3.0 Lizenz. Weitere Informationen finden Sie unter http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/3.0/. Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data A CIP catalog record for this book has been applied for at the Library of Congress. Bibliographic Information published by the Deutsche Nationalbibliothek The Deutsche Nationalbibliothek lists this publication in the Deutsche Nationalbibliografie; detailed bibliographic data are available on the internet at http://dnb.dnb.de. © 2015 Walter de Gruyter GmbH, Berlin/Boston Cover Photo: Kalliopi Lemos, Wooden Boat with Seven People, 2011, from the exhibition Navigating in the Dark; Photography Rowan Durrant Typesetting: Dörlemann Satz GmbH & Co. KG, Lemförde Printing and binding: Hubert & Co. GmbH & Co. KG, Göttingen ♾ Printed on acid-free paper Printed in Germany www.degruyter.com Acknowledgments This volume originates in a conference titled “The Imagination of Human Rights” and held at Bielefeld University. Funded by the Zentrum für interdisziplinäre Forschung (ZiF) and the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG), the event took place on June 28–30, 2013. We would like to thank these institutions for their invaluable support. During the conference, the Bielefeld Institut für Weltge- sellschaft and the Department of History co-sponsored the public debate between Hans Joas and Samuel Moyn and we want to acknowledge their support as well. We express our sincere gratitude to the ZiF team especially director Ulrike Davy.
    [Show full text]
  • An Interview with Hans Joas
    Carl-Göran HeideGren An interview with Hans Joas An interview with Hans Joas This interview took place at Lund University on January 18, 2017. In the interview Joas talks about the continuities and orientations of his own work, explains some of his key conceptual and theoretical insights, and comments on the state of sociology today. Keywords: Hans Joas; Social theory; Pragmatism; Axial age; Sociology of religion Hans Joas torde vara välkänd för svenska sociologer, och inte bara genom sina skrifter. Han har gästat Sverige många gånger genom åren; tillbringat längre perioder vid SCAS i Uppsala och gästföreläst på flera svenska universitet och högskolor. För närvarande innehar han Ernst-Troeltsch-honorärprofessuren vid teologiska fakulteten på Humboldt-universitetet i Berlin. Han är gästprofessor i Sociology and Social Thought vid University of Chicago och har tidigare varit Permanent Fellow vid Freiburg Institute for Advanced Studies, samt under flera år föreståndare för Max-Weber-Center for Advanced Cultural and Social Studies i Erfurt. Den följande intervjun med Hans Joas genomfördes i samband med en gästföreläsning vid Lunds universitet den 18 januari 2017. En tanke med intervjun var att försöka fånga upp de långa linjerna i Joas författarskap och verksamhet som sociolog, såväl kontinuiteten som nya teman. Efter intervjun återfinns en för- teckning över Joas bokpublikationer, samt en artikel som omnämns i intervjun. Intervjun har transkriberats av Uzma Kazi, bearbetats av Carl-Göran Heidegren och Hans Joas. Carl-Göran Heidegren [CGH]: Among your early work is a very well known book on Mead. You followed up with books on the creativity of action and the genesis of values.
    [Show full text]
  • Soudan2020.Pdf (1.383Mb)
    This thesis has been submitted in fulfilment of the requirements for a postgraduate degree (e.g. PhD, MPhil, DClinPsychol) at the University of Edinburgh. Please note the following terms and conditions of use: This work is protected by copyright and other intellectual property rights, which are retained by the thesis author, unless otherwise stated. A copy can be downloaded for personal non-commercial research or study, without prior permission or charge. This thesis cannot be reproduced or quoted extensively from without first obtaining permission in writing from the author. The content must not be changed in any way or sold commercially in any format or medium without the formal permission of the author. When referring to this work, full bibliographic details including the author, title, awarding institution and date of the thesis must be given. SPELLS OF OUR INHABITING: TRANSITIONING FROM THE SPECTRE OF GNOSTIC ESTRANGEMENT TO A PHILOSOPHY OF ENTANGLED OVERFLOWING Clara SOUDAN PhD in Philosophy The University of Edinburgh 2019 This thesis has been submitted in fulfilment of the requirements for a postgraduate degree (e.g. PhD, MPhil, DClinPsychol) at the University of Edinburgh. Please note the following terms and conditions of use: This work is protected by copyright and other intellectual property rights, which are retained by the thesis author, unless otherwise stated. A copy can be downloaded for personal non-commercial research or study, without prior permission or charge. This thesis cannot be reproduced or quoted extensively from without first obtaining permission in writing from the author. The content must not be changed in any way or sold commercially in any format or medium without the formal permission of the author.
    [Show full text]
  • Social Theory and the Sacred: a Response to John Milbank
    ___________________________________ ___________________________________ Social Theory and the Sacred: A Response to John Milbank Hans Joas — University of Berlin / University of Chicago In the middle of the 1960s, Talcott Parsons — theology to be the master discourse of the future. undoubtedly the world's most important sociologist He repudiates the claims of sociology to present an in the first decades after the Second World War and adequate view of reality and thus to define a place at that time at the peak of his influence and even for the sacred, and tries to get beyond what he reputation — took part in a debate about the calls the `false humility' of theologians today. The relationship between theology and sociology. His social sciences, according to Milbank, are bound to contribution, later published in a volume called a project of secular reason — without being able to America and the Future of Theology,1 was a fervent self-reflectively understand what the historical plea for the significance of sociology in front of a conditions for the constitution of this seemingly theological audience. But not everybody in this self-evident notion and sphere of the `secular' were. audience seems to have accepted his arguments. “Once, there was no `secular'”3 is the forceful The theological commentator at the debate, Oliver opening sentence of his book. Not only sociology, Read Whitley, made it abundantly clear in his but also liberal political philosophy, political response that the wedding of the two disciplines economy, Hegelian and Marxist philosophy of which Parsons had suggested should not take place history, and postmodern philosophy and cultural immediately.
    [Show full text]
  • And Social Theory
    Hans Joas and Social Theory The University of Chicago Press Chicago and London Introduction: Steps toward a Pragmatist Theory of Action This volume includes a number of my studies on American pragma- tism, on the history of its reception, which has been far from free of mis- understandings, and on its possible significance for contemporary social theory. These studies, which were written over the course of the last few years and several of which have already appeared in this or that volume in Germany and elsewhere, document a learning process, one full of twists and turns, the aim of which has meanwhile come more sharply into focus. The current clearer view of the goal, however, does not diminish the value of the terrain that has been covered up to this point. Conse- quently, the present collection does not involve one continuous text run- ningfrom beginning to end, but rather a series of studies, each of which is complete in itself. The resulting mosaic-like structure nevertheless clearly reveals a recognizable, distinct pattern. All these studies start from the premise that American pragmatism possesses an incredible modernity. Admittedly, there are sharp differ- ences between the works of Charles Sanders Peirce, William lames, John Dewey, and George Herbert Mead, and each respective oeuvre is in some way tied to the period in which its author lived and to certain pecu- liarities of American culture. Nevertheless, from the end of metaphysical certainties these thinkers have drawn conc1usions whose radicalism has to date not been sufficiently acknowledged. Indeed, they avoided replacing metaphysical assumptions with new certainties based on some philosophy of history, or theory of Reason, and did not regard the end of these certainties as a cause for desperation.
    [Show full text]
  • Transcendence and Transformation: Charles Taylor and the Promise of Inclusive Humanism in a Secular Age
    University of New Mexico UNM Digital Repository Philosophy ETDs Electronic Theses and Dissertations 6-9-2016 Transcendence and Transformation: Charles Taylor and the Promise of Inclusive Humanism in a Secular Age. Phillip Williamson Schoenberg Follow this and additional works at: https://digitalrepository.unm.edu/phil_etds Part of the Philosophy Commons Recommended Citation Schoenberg, Phillip Williamson. "Transcendence and Transformation: Charles Taylor and the Promise of Inclusive Humanism in a Secular Age.." (2016). https://digitalrepository.unm.edu/phil_etds/8 This Dissertation is brought to you for free and open access by the Electronic Theses and Dissertations at UNM Digital Repository. It has been accepted for inclusion in Philosophy ETDs by an authorized administrator of UNM Digital Repository. For more information, please contact [email protected]. Phillip Williamson Schoenberg Candidate Philosophy Department This dissertation is approved, and it is acceptable in quality and form for publication: Approved by the Dissertation Committee: Iain Thomson, Co-Chairperson Russell B. Goodman, Co-Chairperson Kelly Becker Piotr Gutowski TRANSCENDENCE AND TRANSFORMATION: CHARLES TAYLOR AND THE PROMISE OF INCLUSIVE HUMANISM IN A SECULAR AGE By PHILLIP WILLIAMSON SCHOENBERG B.A., Philosophy, San José State University, 2004 M.A., Philosophy, San José State University, 2006 DISSERTATION Submitted in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy Philosophy The University of New Mexico Albuquerque, New Mexico May, 2016 Dedication To Amanda Por un beso de la flaca daría lo que fuera por un beso de ella aunque sólo uno fuera. Aunque sólo uno fuera. iii Acknowledgements I have been blessed, as they say, with many friends without whom the present project could never have come to be.
    [Show full text]