Habermas and Capitalism: an historic overview

The article reconstructs Habermas’ view of capitalism from the 1970s to his most recent writings. It takes its starting point from Wolfgang Streeck’s claim that Habermas has failed to acknowledge that the real enemy of democracy is not bureaucracy but capitalism and that, therefore, he underestimates the role of capitalism in shaping the global order. It first returns to the diagnoses of late capitalism that Habermas developed in the 1970s and early 1980s and then moves on to some of his later writings. This will reveal that there was indeed a shift of emphasis from a critique of capitalism to a critique of technocracy, but not because of Habermas’ unawareness of the role of capitalism in shaping reality. Rather, he has come to objectify capitalism while looking for legal and political tools for reining it in instead of looking for possible alternatives to it.The article reconstructs Habermas’ view of capitalism from the 1970s to his most recent writings. It takes its starting point from Wolfgang Streeck’s claim that Habermas has failed to acknowledge that the real enemy of democracy is not bureaucracy but capitalism and that, therefore, he underestimates the role of capitalism in shaping the global order. It first returns to the diagnoses of late capitalism that Habermas developed in the 1970s and early 1980s and then moves on to some of his later writings. This will reveal that there was indeed a shift of emphasis from a critique of capitalism to a critique of technocracy, but not because of Habermas’ unawareness of the role of capitalism in shaping reality. Rather, he has come to objectify capitalism while looking for legal and political tools for reining it in instead of looking for possible alternatives to it

Republicanismo(s), democracia, poder

Partindo da recente renascença da tradição republicana, o presente trabalho aponta para a pluralidade de tal tradição, para em seguida distinguir entre dois tipos de solução que ela oferece aos problemas da salvaguarda da república e do controle dos efeito negativos das ações dos indivíduos, a saber, a solução internalista e a solução externalista. Ao analisar esta última, serão discutidas questões como: democrática do "one head vote" e a relação entre poder político e poder econômico e socia

Systemic Suffering as a Critical Tool

In this paper, I defend that the concept of systemic suffering represents a useful tool for social criticism. I shall first make some preliminary methodological remarks (1) and present different meanings that have been attributed to the concept of social suffering (2). I will then suggest that we adopt the concept of systemic suffering instead (3). The next step consists in showing how this form of suffering is connected to the existence of non-material aspects that contribute to social reproduction and that can be defined as systemic doctrines (4). Finally, I shall offer some remarks on possible strategies for criticizing systemic suffering (5)

Living Honestly and Killing Honorably. Ehre and Ehrbarkeit in the Metaphysics of Morals

This paper aims to call attention to some interpretative questions concerning a semantic constellation running through the entire Metaphysics of Morals. This semantic constellation has to do with the German root ehr- and refers to such concepts as ehrlich, Ehre, Ehrbarkeit, and Ehrlichkeit, which – although they have different meanings – share a connection to the central idea of the coincidence of honesty and honor, as shown by the Latin terms Kant often uses in the same context (honestas, honeste, etc.). It discusses how Kant uses the concepts of honesty and honor. It tries to answer the question of whether, according to Kant, it is acceptable to die for honor’s sake by analyzing some passages from the Metaphysics of Morals. Based on this analysis, it finally presents some conclusions on the concepts of dignity and agency and on their reciprocal relationship

Welche Zukunft für die Demokratie? Welche Demokratie für die Zukunft?

Otfried Höffes neuestes Buch zum Thema, Demokratie in der heutigen Welt“ – ein Thema, dem der Tübinger Sozialphilosoph schon die vorausgegangenen Bände Demokratie im Zeitalter der Globalisierung (1999) und Wirstschaftsbürger, Staatsbürger, Weltbürger (2004) gewidmet hatte – stellt einen wichtigen Versuch dar, die Frage der Zukunftsfähigkeit der Demokratie zu beantworten

Repubblicanesimo e democrazia liberale: un binomio inconciliabile?

The essay deals with the debate between neo-republicans and liberals. It discusses particularly the positions of Quentin Skinner, Philip Pettit and Maurizio Viroli. While not operating an exhaustive critical examination of the positions of these three thinkers, it focusses an aspect they have in common: the idea that the republican tradition stays in an irreducible conflict with the liberal tradition and with a certain conception of democracy. The essay analizes briefly the three main concepts of republicanism (i.e. republic, civic virtue and republican liberty) also in order to point out to some historical and theoretical problems. It further compares the position of republican thinkers (classical and modern ones) with the position of the liberal-democratic tradition which is their main target of their critics. In this context the essay introduces a further position which the neo-republicans quite curiously leave aside: constitutionalism

Solidariedade e autonomia individual

O artigo discute o papel da solidariedade na sociedade pós-convencional, mostrandocomo ela se entrelaça com a noção de uma autonomia individual amparada em direitosfundamentais. Para este fim, serão considerados dois experimentos mentais pensados porJoel Feinberg e Eamonn Callan, em seguida, se passará à definição que Jürgen Habermas eAxel Honneth deram do conceito de solidariedade e, finalmente, serão apresentadas algumasconsiderações sobre o conceito de autonomia individual.The paper discusses the role of solidarity in post-conventional societyand shows how solidarity is intertwined with the concept of individual autonomyand its guarantee through fundamental rights. The starting point will be offered by two mental experiments introduced by Joel Feinberg and Eamonn Callann;further we shall consider the definition of solidarity given by Jürgen Habermasand Axel Honneth; finally some remarks on the concept of individual autonomyshall be discussed

Farewell to Welfare: An End to Citizenship as We Know It

The crisis of the welfare state has been a widely discussed topic since at least the 1970s both in the social sciences and in political debate. It is not my intention to readdress it or to analyze the many diagnoses of the meaning and scope of the crisis: there is a huge amount of literature on this and I do not aim to add another contribution. Rather I would like to investigate the reasons that led to the wide acceptance among the public in Western Europe (and probably elsewhere) of the dismantling of certain features of the welfare state. To this end, I shall focus on the discourses that justified this process and that have provided a major shift in the political vocabulary from the grammar of (social) rights to the grammar of performance and (state) services. In other words, I shall concentrate on the paradigm change from a Keynesian model of welfare state to a ‘neoliberal’ model of personal responsibility. This change of paradigm threatens the very idea of citizenship as we have known it for centuries

Frankenstein e a vanguarda moral. Do império do direito ao domínio do judiciário

O artigo tece algumas considerações sobre o chamado constitucionalismo da efetividade ou neoconstitucionalismo, limitando-se, contudo a discutir seus aspetos teóricos, sem analisar casos concretos. Primeiramente são apresentados de forma sucinta os princípios centrais do neoconstitucionalismo, em particular na formulação de Luis Prieto Sanchís; em seguida, são avançadas algumas considerações a partir das observações de alguns dos seus críticos, em particular Juan García Amado. As teses destes dois autores são complementadas com algumas observações do autor e de outros autores, que insistem sobre aspectos relevantes para nossa discussão

Filosofia Política II

Filosofia Política IILivro didático de Filosofia Política II produzido para o curso EaD Licenciatura em Filosofia da UFSC. Tópicos abordados: Características fundamentais da filosofia política moderna; A questão da soberania na luta entre monarquia absoluta e parlamentarismo; Montesquieu, Madison e o Estado constitucional; Rousseau e a utopia da cidadania; Kant e o ideal platônico da república; O moderno Estado liberal de direito.Ua