Freedom

The central focus of this paper is the notion that the home can provide a locale in which people can work at attaining a sense of ontological security in a world that at times is experienced as threatening and uncontrollable. The paper builds on and develops the ideas of Giddens and Saunders on ontological security and seeks to break down and operationalise the concept and explore it through a set of empirical data drawn from interviews with a group of older New Zealand home owners. The extent to which home and home life meets the conditions for the maintenance of ontological security is assessed through an exploration of home as the site of constancy in the social and material environment; home as a spatial context in which the day to day routines of human existence are performed; home as a site free from the surveillance that is part of the contemporary world which allows for a sense of control that is missing in other locales; and home as a secure base around which identities are...

The article aims to analyse the concept of normativity in the philosophy of weak thought developed by Gianni Vattimo. Weak thought refers to the theory of a weakening of being in an era of the end of metaphysics, as well as a challenge to the Cartesian concept of the subject. Such a philosophical theory does not entirely abandon normativity in the moral dimension. Vattimo proposes a weak notion of normativity, i.e. persuasion, without claims to universal applicability. Weak normativity derives from dialogue and respect for tradition, it recommends compliance with specific moral principles, but it does not acknowledge universal ethical obligations. This version of normativity is grounded in cultural heritage, agreement and social contract.

Der Gedanke, der sich in der modernen Idee der Autonomie verdichtet, ist ein doppelter: Die Figur der Autonomie enthält zugleich eine neue Auffassung von Normativität und eine eigene Konzeption von Freiheit. Dem Gedanken der Autonomie zufolge ist ein Gesetz, das wahrhaft normativ ist, eines, als dessen Urheber wir uns selbst betrachten können; und eine Freiheit, die im vollen Sinne wirklich ist, drückt sich in Gestalt eben solcher selbstgegebener Gesetze aus. Die Idee der Autonomie artikuliert so die Einsicht, dass man Freiheit und Gesetz nicht durch ihre Entgegensetzung bestimmen kann, sondern durcheinander erläutern muss. Wirkliche Freiheit ist nicht Freiheit von Gesetzen, sondern Freiheit in Gesetzen; verbindliche Normen sind nicht das, was Freiheit äußerlich beschränkt, sondern das, was Freiheit innerlich verwirklicht. Die Idee der Autonomie, die für die moderne praktische Philosophie seit Rousseau und Kant grundlegend ist, zielt so darauf, Freiheit und Verbindlichkeit in einem Zuge zu artikulieren: durch die Form selbstgegebener Gesetze. Mit Beiträgen von Robert Brandom, Judith Butler, Thomas Khurana, Christoph Menke, Terry Pinkard und Sebastian Rödl.

Carnival versus Thélème: The Question of ‘Freedom’
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The best vantage point for understanding ‘transgressive sacrality’ as a universal phenomenon is the principle of ‘freedom’ (svātantrya), the central concern of Rabelais (1494–1563), Bakhtin (1895–1975), and Abhinavagupta (c. 950–1020).2 The medieval Christian dispensation revolved around the opposition, alternation, and complementarity between the stern, ascetic, otherworldly spiritual ideal of the Church and the periodic extended license of the popular carnival that rejuvenated this world of piety by rendering it topsy-turvy. Through Rabelais—the erudite monk and priest, who embodied the transition to the ‘humanist’ era—the unschooled obscene clamor of the primordial folk and festive marketplace found unvarnished exaggerated expression in early Renaissance literature. No longer capable of appreciating much less endorsing such celebration of the beast in Man, post-Enlightenment critics, severing his essential links with the ‘unofficial’ world of debasing folk humor, had sought to minimize the ‘Rabelaisian’ by reducing its thrust to negative anti-clerical satire or rebuked its capricious author wherever his excesses seemed too gratuitous.3 By rehabilitating carnivalesque laughter as intrinsic, readers, the aspiring new elites, from the surviving oral mass culture (Berrong 52-78).4 Princely Pantagruel himself embodies—especially after meeting the disconcerting Panurge—the values, ideals, temperament and comportment of the Renaissance Man par excellence.
Is ‘aristocratic’ Thélème therefore, pace Bakhtin, a (definitive) repudiation by Rabelais of his own earlier celebration of generalized antinomian license, or rather a (necessary, though guarded) reformulation that permits a better understanding of the presuppositions, parameters, and finality of that elusive ‘liberation’? Juxtaposing the medieval Christian carnival to its still surviving counterpart in the Hindu subcontinent—the traditional excesses of which have not been wholly smothered by the recent cultural passage of its (especially anglophone) elites to Westernizing modernity—may allow us to propose a more dialectical understanding of how such (systemic and not only carnivalesque) transgression could culminate in (inner) spiritual freedom.

In the aftermath of the July 15, 2016 attempted coup, the decision of the Parliament of July 20, 2016 approving the declaration of the state of emergency, enabled the government to enact emergency decree laws.

Civil society in Turkey has been long affected by a number of destabilizing pressures, including renewed tensions over the Kurdish conflict, instability spilling over from neighboring Syria, a series of terrorist attacks by ISIL, the increasing flow of refugees, political deadlocks, an economic decline and most devastating, a coup attempt aftermath. The political instability has paved way for a state of constant readiness to curb basic freedoms, including the freedoms of association, assembly and expression, allegedly for the sake of the preserving “national security” or “public order”.

In recent years, the authorities in Turkey have established a disturbing track-record of suppressing dissent and gradually restricting human rights and fundamental freedoms, including obstructing by various means the work of human rights defenders, restricting the environment in which they operate and often targeting them directly.

Previous scholarly studies have discussed the use of Zen Buddhism
within the person-centred approach of Carl Rogers, demonstrating the feasible influence of Buddhism over Rogers’s theories. The present research delves into the convergence and divergence of person-centred therapy and the Mahāyāna (one of the current mainstreams of Buddhism) philosophy explicated within the Vimalakīrti Nirdeśa Sūtra (a significant Mahāyāna canon); in particular, the bodhisattva spirit and four immeasurables, including loving-kindness, compassion, empathetic joy, and equanimity. Findings indicate that Carl Rogers’s counselling principles and practices comply with the Buddhist teachings of phenomenal vision, actualising tendency, and innate eagerness to alleviate suffering. This discussion also analyses ideas that have
seldom been examined in person-centred principles, such as bodhisattva
altruism, mind purity in nature and impurity caused by bewilderment,
compassion fatigue, causes of suffering, and counselling techniques.
Mahāyāna wisdom potentially offers references to the Rogerian family of
theories, which also sheds light on the use of Buddhist-influenced non-medical interventions.

Dr. Hugh Brody (29th October, 2013) - The other side of Eden. The Ecology, Cosmos and Consciousness Salon, The Institute of Ecotechnics, October Gallery, Bloomsbury, London. (Host)

For tens of thousands of years, over 90% of our life as humans, we lived as hunter-gatherers. Since the rise of agriculture and city-dwelling, this way of life has been devastated and marginalized. As our own way of life faces mounting challenges, studying foraging cultures provides precious perspective - and further highlights the importance of helping living foragers reclaim and defend their land and culture. Tonight, renowned anthropologist and filmmaker Hugh Brody will discuss his 40-year career studying, living with, and fighting for hunter-gatherer peoples, and how these cultures raise huge issues relevant to us all.

Il tema della libertà costituisce nel pensiero ricoeuriano un elemento sorgivo della sua riflessione, che progressivamente diventa un fiume carsico: un che di sommerso che tuttavia riemerge di tanto in tanto nella sua scrittura. Alla luce di questa idea il presente saggio intende sondare la presenza di un pensiero della libertà nell’ampio orizzonte dell’opera ricoeuriana, al fine di evidenziare alcune dinamiche proprie del pensatore francese nell’orizzonte di una riflessione sempre unitaria, anche se mai totalizzante. Il tema della libertà nella sua realizzazione personale diviene così il centro dell’argomentazione a partire dal quale si irradiano le tematiche più care a Ricoeur: dal tema del linguaggio e della metafora, a quello del tempo e della narrazione, fino a giungere alla dimensione etica, legata al tema della volontà e del male e da ultimo sfociante nella questione del riconoscimento, tra giustizia e amore. Il tentativo di questo lavoro è propriamente quello di ricercare nella dimensione della libertà quella tessitura profonda e costante che tiene insieme il vasto orizzonte delle ricerche ricoeuriane.

The themes of ‘freedom’ and ‘resistance’ have histories and philosophical arguments that can be mapped across human history. This thesis uses these thematic concerns to explore the work of Irish artist Samuel Beckett. In so doing, this piece challenges the reader to re-evaluate Beckett’s work away from being a modernist artwork detached from time and context.  Instead, what we need to see in Beckett is his relentless desire to reveal a brutally damaged 20th century that saw individuals exposed to extreme political ideas that led in many cases to physical and mental abuse.  To aid this highly contextualised view of his work, this thesis employs the works of Berlin, Hegel, Marx and Adorno to give a deeper understanding of the philosophical context or to provide prisms through which a modern-day reader might understand Beckett’s narrative form.
This piece illustrates how, by encapsulating philosophical concepts of freedom and resistance, Beckett’s literature not only offers a glimpse into how he saw the world, but also why Jean Paul Sartre argued that he needed to focus on how “a fictional technique always relates back to the novelist’s metaphysics.”

We tend to think of freedom as something that is best protected by carefully circumscribing the boundaries of legitimate state activity. But who came up with this understanding of freedom, and for what purposes? In a masterful and surprising reappraisal of more than two thousand years of thinking about freedom in the West, Annelien de Dijn argues that we owe our view of freedom not to the liberty lovers of the Age of Revolution but to the enemies of democracy.

The conception of freedom most prevalent today—that it depends on the limitation of state power—is a deliberate and dramatic rupture with long-established ways of thinking about liberty. For centuries people in the West identified freedom not with being left alone by the state but with the ability to exercise control over the way in which they were governed. They had what might best be described as a democratic conception of liberty.

Understanding the long history of freedom underscores how recently it has come to be identified with limited government. It also reveals something crucial about the genealogy of current ways of thinking about freedom. The notion that freedom is best preserved by shrinking the sphere of government was not invented by the revolutionaries of the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries who created our modern democracies—it was invented by their critics and opponents. Rather than following in the path of the American founders, today’s “big government” antagonists more closely resemble the counterrevolutionaries who tried to undo their work.

An overview of Augustine of Hippo's views about freedom. I argue that Augustine the bishop was one of the first theological compatibilists, who believed that responsibility is compatible with at least certain kinds of necessity and that human freedom requires determination by divine grace.

The European Union (EU) has closely correlated different aspects of the peace process in Bosnia with progress towards European accession. The ‘power of attraction’ of EU membership would presumably induce the Bosnian authorities to accept the adaptation costs of political and economic transformation. However, the Europeanisation approach has not produced the expected results. The track record of the EU’s policies towards Bosnia represents a paradigmatic case of what would happen if almost nothing works as efficiently as in the case of the countries that joined the EU in 2004 and 2007. The article investigates the causes of EU policy failure in Bosnia and claims that the EU has not effectively responded to three challenges: 1) adjust the process to the needs of an ethnically divided post-war state; 2) preserve the credibility of accession conditionality, and 3) convey the proper messages on how to comply with EU rules. Therefore, the article argues for a more cohesive and consistent EU approach towards Bosnia.

Among the deficiencies demonstrated by the world financial crisis of 2008–9, one was the limited capacity of G-8 to provide for global economic governance. The developed economies quickly realised that they should seek joint solutions and coordinated policies in cooperation with the leading emerging-market economies. As a result, the G-20 turned into the main forum for managing the crisis. This in fact pointed to an early institutional acknowledgement that important changes were underway in the global distribution of power. These changes derive from the substantially higher growth rates of the emerging-market economies in comparison with those of the developed economies, a trend named ‘the rise of the rest’ (Zakaria, 2008, pp. 2–3).

Abstract. This paper proposes an ordering of ideas to create politics that distinguishes itself from conventional politics. It is called extrapolitics. To define extrapolitics, the concept of politics, transhumanism and dialectic - dialogism have been briefly included. The  Politics Path has been schematized as a process of evolution that politics experiments and goes hand in hand with human evolution. A post-politicist proposal was suggested for the proper proliferation of transhumanist objectives, as well as an extension of the conventional political spectrum, one that includes the extra-political spectrum and arguments against human enhancement. It finalizes with the inclusion of two potential phenomena, one harmful and the other one ideal, that define the processes of application of extrapolitical policies, the bio-socio-political singularity and the bio-socio-political inflection, respectively.

Key words: transhumanism, politics, philosophy, extrapolitics, dialogism, ideologies, singularity, postmodernism, complexity.

This article argues that the post-Dayton political organisation of Bosnia represents an exemplary illustration of the difficulties associated with the empirical application of the pluralist model of “consociational democracy”. The country’s political system has been predicated on the existence of consensus and the spirit of cooperation among the three ethnic groups without, however, offering any electoral or political incentives to their leaderships to cooperate. Also, the inclusion of several elements to the Dayton accords of a partition approach to conflict resolution has even encouraged the ethnic leaderships to maintain their nationalistic programs and their endeavours to exploit the aforementioned power-sharing arrangements. Indeed, the structural deficiencies of the Dayton agreement have permitted nationalists to continue implementing their ethnic
agendas and have accounted for the slow progress towards the implementation of the Bosnian peace process. Therefore, this article elaborates on the international policies in Bosnia, aimed at transforming the country into a viable multiethnic state, and highlights the significance of motivations for implementing the peace process.

Philosophy tries to answer the questions regarding the source of being. This endeavour reached the highest point with Aristotle in ancient Greece. Our claim is that Aristotle contructs his ontologic theory as the truth by using a historical fiction. Furthermore, being explicable becomes the most important feature of a theory. In modern period this historical fiction has been used in the opposite way. Being explicable and historical fiction brings a question that whether the truth is constructed or explored by philosopher? Our claim is that although different from each other, both periods show that the metaphysical aspect of philosophy inevitably runs its own destruction. Lastly in this article we discuss this situation within the context of Islamic thought perspective. In this section we emphasize the importance of historical fiction in order to resurrect Islamic thought. Furthermore, through an article of Omer Turker we criticise contemporary Islamic thought in Turkey.

Leibniz defende que há formas de necessidade compatíveis com a moralidade e outras que o não são. Para dar razão desta afirmação analisam-se diversas classificações da necessidade apresentadas por Leibniz, procurando salientar a sua irredutibilidade. Este facto permite pensar que a doutrina da necessidade de Leibniz não pode ser reduzida a um único plano de análise, seja ele lógico ou metafísico, mas deve ter em conta simultaneamente diversos planos de análise. The senses of necessity in Leibniz Leibniz considers that there are forms of necessity that are compatible with morality and forms that are not compatible with morality. In order to understand this thesis we analyze different classifications of necessity proposed by Leibniz, seeking to explore their irreducibility. This irreducibility allows us to propose that Leibniz’ doctrine of necessity is incomprehensible from a unique logical or metaphysical point of view, and it must consider simultaneously different irreducible perspe...

Philosophically, the most interesting objection to the reliance on advance directives to guide treatment decisions for formerly competent patients is the argument from the loss of personal identity. Starting with a psychological continuity theory of personal identity, the argument concludes that the very conditions that bring an advance directive into play may destroy the conditions necessary for personal identity, and so undercut the authority of the directive. In this article, I concede that if the purpose of a theory of personal identity is to provide an answer to the question What is it for a person to persist over time?, then reflection on personal identity poses a potentially serious threat to the moral authority of advance directives. However, as Marya Schechtman observes, questions about how a single person persists through change are not what most of us are interested in when we think about who a person is. Rather, we are interested in what it means to say that a particular...

The book presents an interdisciplinary exploration aimed at renewing interest in Luigi Einaudi’s search for “good government”, broadly understood as “good society”. Prompted by the Einaudian quest, the essays - exploring philosophy of law, economics, politics and epistemology - develop the issue of good government in several forms, including  the relationship between public and private, public governance, the question of freedom and the complexity of the human in contemporary societies.

Dr David Roberts argues that matters normally prioritized as security issues in international politics, such as terrorism and nuclear weapons, cause very limited harm, and that preventable global infant and maternal mortality, counted in the millions, is dismissed from security agendas by policy makers, who are mostly white, mostly male, and mostly secure. He will argue that the security needs of the most vulnerable do not resonate with the people who determine what security those people can have; and that international law does not apply to the public institutions which most undermine human security. Dr Roberts will propose a fast-working solution to this dilemma that will reduce the scale of deaths substantially almost overnight, and will identify the means by which this change can be effected.

The killing of Mahmoud al-Mabhou reportedly by agents of Israel‟s Mossad service in Dubai a year ago1 serves as a quick reminder that extrajudicial executions, assassinations and other targeted killing operations are taking place and are part of a modern democracy‟s arsenal of antiterrorism and counter-terrorism means. Targeted Killing Operations reportedly form part of NATO‟s operational practice: depending on the circumstances they represent just another option of the lawful use of force in an armed conflict or assimilated situations. Consequently, it is argued that International Law does not impose an explicit ban on the lethal neutralization of certain persons in an armed conflict scenario. This opinion provides a provocative view on possible justifications using targeted killing as an actual means of present day security operations – which must not be confused with traditional methods of domestic „policing‟ in a democratic state.

(47) „Der Begriff der ‚menschlichen Freiheit’ nach Schellings Freiheitsschrift“. In: F. Hermanni, D. Koch, J. Petersohn (Hgg.): „Der Anfang und das Ende aller Philosophie ist –  Freiheit“. Schelling in der Sicht neuerer Forschung, Tübingen 2012, S. 187-217.

El concepte de Seguretat Humana és present avui dia en la majoria d'anàlisis de les ciències socials, i es caracteritza per ser un terme amb significats molt variats i amplis. Tot i això, el concepte presenta una força que radicaria, d'una banda, en la seva capacitat per definir una nova realitat en la qual l'Estat no pot continuar el seu monopoli en les qüestions relatives a la seguretat (es passa de la Seguretat Nacional a la Humana), i de l'altra, en el seu potencial per construir sinèrgies i sumar esforços amb l'objectiu d'aconseguir el canvi social.

D'aquesta manera, la idea de Seguretat Humana ha estat capaç d'aglutinar moviments socials, intel·lectuals i diplomàtics a l'hora de situar les persones en el centre dels debats i també de les polítiques, i en ella conflueixen diferents perspectives com el desarmament, el desenvolupament o els drets humans. En aquesta monografia, de manera rigorosa però també molt propera a la realitat dels col·lectius afectats, s'analitza el concepte de Seguretat Humana i Construcció de Pau a Colòmbia a través d'una sèrie d'articles que tracten de forma àmplia totes les propostes i alternatives que s'estan donant avui dia al país. Així, s'analitzen, entre altres temes, la política de Seguretat Democràtica, la seguretat ciutadana i les estratègies d'intervenció policial, la militarització de la societat amb la irrupció d'actors poc visualitzats com els mercenaris, la seguretat alimentària i mediambiental, amb especial incidència en els recursos hídrics, la participació de la societat civil en els processos de pau, i les propostes dels pobles indígenes del Cauca i afrodescendents del Pacífic en Construcció de Pau i Drets Humans.

In this paper I examine Lukács’ claim that the overcoming of reification amounts to the realization of the identity philosophies of Fichte and Hegel. I suggest that Lukács does indeed contrast reification with a Hegelian conception of social freedom that remains plausible today. Reification occurs when the preconditions of freedom and social participation are eroded through practices such as commodification and juridification. I conclude with the claim that reification diminishes freedom, and that criticism of reification is itself a form of freedom.

How do we judge what is right while, at the same time, respect the freedom of others? In considering this question, I bring Simone de Beauvoir and Hannah Arendt into dialogue to better understand how the pursuit of freedom necessitates a willingness to judge others. In my discussion, I explore how these writers treat the themes of ambiguity, oppression, and revolution. By comparing how they relate these themes to freedom, we see how liberty is interconnected with personal accountability, and a willingness to question our beliefs. It is when we are unwilling to engage in an ongoing dialogue, I argue, that we risk losing that which is most precious to us, namely, freedom. I begin by examining Beauvoir’s Ethics of Ambiguity to see how she connects ambiguity with ethical action. Then, I consider how ethical action is sometimes obscured by self-centered desires, which bar us from thinking about how our actions may negate the freedom of others. Next, I look at their different approaches t...

This essay attempts to clarify Leibniz’s theories of freedom and contingency by viewing them against the backdrop of his efforts to reengineer important philosophical concepts. In developing a concept of freedom, Leibniz is above all concerned to preserve divine and human responsibility (Section 1). His account of freedom requires him to reject necessitarianism, that is, the view that all things are absolutely necessary (Section 2). Leibniz therefore carves out two concepts of contingency. The first is centered on the thought that something may be contingent considered by itself – that is, per se – even if it is necessary in light of God’s goodness or will (Section 3). The second is centered on the thought that it may be possible to draw a distinction between contingent and necessary propositions in terms of logic alone (Section 4).

This article explores the place of religion within Australian primary and secondary education. It is divided into three parts. The first examines religion within the Australian legal and constitutional structure. The second considers the accommodation of religion in government (public or state) and nongovernment (private) schools, using the State of South Australia as a representative example. The overarching question addressed in the third part is twofold: (1) Does religion find a place in Australia's schools, both government and nongovernment? (2) To the extent that it does, are there current legal threats to that place—in other words, to the freedom of religious faith in schools? The final section offers some brief concluding observations about the place of religion in Australian life generally, suggesting that there may still be some judicial support for the place of religion in the public sphere, which may auger well for its future in Australian education.

Radio is an old medium that seems to struggle to renew itself. With the switchover from analogue to digital and the necessity to keep up with consumer demand and expectations, radio has been regularly deemed to be obsolete. Radio as a primetime media died, but radio also morphed into something else. During the French occupy movement Nuit Debout in April 2016, people who were walking around Place de la République-the Parisian heart of the protest-might have been surprised to discover Radio Debout ("radio stand up"). Why one should contribute to such a radio when Internet and social networks prevail? With the idea that micro-radio broadcasting holds the potential to empower ordinary people at the local community level, radio-activism is tinkering its way back against the overriding force of computer-mediated technologies. An earlier version of this piece appeared on inaglobal.fr, the online journal of the French National audiovisual institute (INA).

« Revolt on the air - Radio Activism, Protest and French Politics », Explosivepolitics.com, 28/12/2016, http://explosivepolitics.com/blog/revolt-on-the-air-radio-activism-protest-and-french-politics/

The article attempts a comprehensive review of the human security concept in order to question its utility for both research and policy-making. It notes the term’s interdisciplinary and extensively normative content that have facilitated its evolution into a successful security discourse. On the other hand, human security’s wide appeal has as a side-effect an extended conceptual polysemy inhibiting the cumulation of knowledge and the development of a relevant theory. Absence of conceptual clarity has also complicated its policy implementation. The article attempts to break the deadlock and move the debate forward by using the work of John Gerring and Paul A. Barresi on concept formation as an organizing device.