Habermas on "The Political"

" In a new book edited by Eduardo Mendieta and Jonathan VanAntwerpen, entitled "The Power of Religion in the Public Sphere" (Columbia University Press), you will find essays by Jürgen Habermas, Charles Taylor, Judith Butler and Cornel West. Here are some excerpts from Jürgen Habermas's contribution ""The Political": The Rational Meaning of a Questionable Inheritance of Political Theology" (pp. 15-33): "In the welfare state democracies of the latter half of the twentieth century, politics was still able to wield a steering influence on the diverging subsystems; it could still counterbalance tendencies toward social disintegration. (....)...

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Habermas receives Brunet Prize for Human Rights

Jürgen Habermas received the International Brunet Prize for Human Rights 2008 at a ceremony on May 9, 2009, in Pamplona, Spain. The prize was awarded by the Fundación Jaime Brunet and the Public University of Navarre (UPNA). The chairman of the Government of Navarra, Miguel Sanz, the president of Parliament, Elena Torres, and the rector of UPNA and president of the Foundation Brunet, Julio Lafuente, participated at the ceremony. Read Habermas's acceptance speech (in German) here. In his acceptance speech Habermas stressed that the human rights are the result of "political resistance against arbitrariness, repression and humiliation....

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New Blog on Habermas and Rawls

My blog will bring news on the two philosophers - Jürgen Habermas (1929-) and John Rawls (1921-2002). The blog will mainly have comments on new books and articles and information about conferences and other events. It will be written in both English and German. The blog will be a supplement to the Habermas website www.habermasforum.dk, which I am co-editing. For an extensive bibliography on Habermas see this websi...

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Charlie Chaplin

Charles Spencer Chaplin was born on April 16 at 1889 in Walworth, London. His childhood similar with Charles Dickens novel, because Chaplin live under destitution with his brother, Sydney. His parents are hall musicians. They divorce when Chaplin was vey young. His mother attacked mental disruption illness and her turn into psyche hospital. Although his father is a famous musician, Chaplin’s idol is his mother. When he was young, Chaplin often watches his mother performance. These experiences make him decide his live become an artists like her mother. To reach his goal, Chaplin join with Eight Lancashire Lads group. Then, Chaplin gets his...

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William Hewlett

If we hear ‘Hewlett’ maybe our imagination is imagine of famous print brand named Hewlett-Packard (HP). It’s true that one of Hewlett Packard founder is William R. Hewlett. Hewlett was born on May, 20 at 1912 in¬¬ Ann Arbor, Mich. At 1939, Hewlett establish Hewlett-Packard (HP) Company together with David Packard who died at 1996. This company was build only with $538 investment. Of course Hewlett-Packard name taken from their name. In Hewlett-Packard Company, Hewlett hold important commission, but after 1978, Hewlett quit from his commission as Chief Executive Officer. During his student, Hewlett take some academic title from many colleges....

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Thomas Alfa Edison

Thomas Alva Edison was born in Milan, Ohio on February 11, 1847. His parents were Samuel and Nancy Edison. Thomas's three older brothers and sisters died before he was born from very harsh winters. He had brother named Pitt and two sisters named Marion and Harriet Ann. His parents named him Thomas because of his great uncle. When he was young, everyone called him Al. Al asked a lot of questions and was VERY curious. When young Thomas was six, he started a fire in his father's barn and burned it to the ground. He was charged with arson. To show that he was truly sorry, Samuel Edison spanked his son in front of the whole town the next day. Thomas...

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Louis Pasteur

Louis Pasteur , Master of France chemical and biology, is a very excellence person in medicine history. Pasteur donate many of important idea for science, but the most protrude at himself is a his argue about basil disease theory and preventive technique development by injection. Pasteur was born in Dole city at 1822, east France. As a Paris student, he deepens his knowledge in science and medicine scope. When he study at France, His genius not really visible, even one of his professor, categorized Pasteur as intermediate person in chemical. After he gain a doctor academic, Pasteur proof that his professor utterance is a big mistake....

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Galileo Galilei (1)

Galileo Galilei was born in Pisa, Italy on February 15, 1564. He was the first of 7 children. Although his father was a musician and wool trader, he wanted his clearly talented son to study medicine as there was more money in medicine. So, at age eleven, Galileo was sent off to study in a Jesuit monastery. After four years, Galileo had decided on his life's work: he announced to his father that he wanted to be a monk. This was not exactly what father had in mind for his gifted son, so Galileo was hastily withdrawn from the monastery. In 1581, at the age of 17, he entered the University of Pisa to study medicine, as his father wished. Shortly...

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Isaac Newton (1)

In 1642, the year Galileo died, England on Christmas Day. His father had died three months earlier, and baby Isaac, very premature, was also not expected to survive. It was said he could be fitted into a quart pot. When Isaac was three, his mother married a wealthy elderly clergyman from the next village, and went to live there, leaving Isaac behind with his grandmother. The clergyman died, and Isaac’s mother came back, after eight years, bringing with her three small children. Two years later, Newton went away to the Grammar School in Grantham, where he lodged with the local apothecary, and was fascinated by the chemicals. The plan was that...

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James Watt (1)

James watt is from Scotland he invent steam engine, the key to industrial revolution. Actually, watt is not the first person that made steam engine, same scheme also made by hero from iskandarya in early cristian's years. In 1682 thomase savery made his paten to his water pump machine and in 1712 english man thomas newcomen also made his same paten that more perfect but still newcomen machine is less eficient and low quality because only can use to waterpump for coal mine. Watt became intersting in steam engine in 1764 when he fixed newcomen machine, even he only have one year study in tools but he had big talent to create something big, he...

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G.A. Cohen: Essays in Political Philosophy

On the Currency of Egalitarian Justice, and Other Essays in Political Philosophy by G. A. Cohen (Princeton University Press, 2011) 288 pages Description G. A. Cohen was one of the most gifted, influential, and progressive voices in contemporary political philosophy. At the time of his death in 2009, he had plans to bring together a number of his most significant papers. This is the first of three volumes to realize those plans. Drawing on three decades of work, it contains previously uncollected articles that have shaped many of the central debates in political philosophy, as well as papers published here for the first time. In these...

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Sales Philosophy - What You Believe Determines How Well You Sell

I have a simple sales philosophy: provide value first and make a friend at all costs. Now, what's YOURS? Do you believe every word of it? You should, if you want to be a great salesperson. EVERY salesperson should have a sales philosophy that they firmly believe in. It represents your values and defines who you are as a company and as a salesperson. It also affects how you approach your customers and how effective you are at making the sale. "I think I already have a sales philosophy..." You may think you have a good sales philosophy, but chances are it needs improvement. Does it accurately represent YOU? Is it as effective as you think...

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Review of Rawls's "Lectures on the History of Political Philosophy"

Review article by Michael L. Frazer (Harvard):The Modest Professor: Interpretive Charity and Interpretive Humility in John Rawls’s Lectures on the History of Political Philosophy [pdf](Published in "The European Journal of Political Theory" vol. 9. no. 2, 2010).Excerpt:"Given the extraordinary level of his philosophical achievements, John Rawls was by all accounts a remarkably modest man. Those who knew him personally recall Rawls’s humil­ity as perhaps his most characteristic trait. [....] Steven B. Smith has even argued that Rawls’s "very modesty and lack of speculative curiosity are what exclude him from the ranks of the great philosophers". [....] This essay will focus, not on the role that Rawls’s modesty played in the presentation of his own ideas, but on the role it plays in his interpretations...

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Neues Buch über Richard Rorty

Pragmatismus als KulturpolitikBeiträge zum Werk Richard RortysHrsg. von Alexander Gröschner & Mike Sandbothe(Suhrkamp Verlag, 2011)252 SeitenKurzbeschreibungRichard Rorty (1931–2007) gehört zu den prägenden Denkern des 20. Jahrhunderts, hat einflußreiche Beiträge zur Auflösung der Grundprobleme der modernen Philosophie geleistet und dem Begriff des Pragmatismus eine kulturpolitische Bedeutung gegeben. Der Band versammelt namhafte Wegbegleiter Rortys sowie international renommierte Philosophen und Kulturwissenschaftler, die Rortys intellektuelle Entwicklung nachzeichnen und zeigen, wie lebensnah Philosophie sein kann, wenn sie sich kulturpolitisch...

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New issue of "Public Reason"

A new issue of the online journal "Public Reason" (Vol. 2, No 2) is available. It includesModus Vivendi, Consensus, and (Realist) Liberal Legitimacy Enzo Rossi (University of Wales)“Scales of Justice” and the Challenges of Global GovernmentalityIna Kerner (Humboldt University of Berlin)The Basis of Universal Liberal Principles in Nussbaum’s Political Philosophy Matthias Katzer (University of Siegen)Dussel’s Critique of Discourse Ethics as Critique of IdeologyAsger Sørensen (University of Aarhus)Amartya Sen, The Idea of Justice (pdf)Reviewed by Stefan Bird-Pollan (University of Kentuc...

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Mendieta on Habermas's forthcoming book on religion

In a new essay on Habermas's thoughts on "Rationalization, modernity and secularization", Eduardo Mendieta gives us some information about Habermas's forthcoming book on religion:"In autumn 2008, Habermas gave a series of lectures at Yale, which were followed the next autumn by another set of lectures, and a seminar at Stony Brook University on "Political Theology". That same autumn a workshop was organized on Habermas's recent work on religion for which he made available several large manuscripts of what appears to be the working draft for a book on religion. The workshop yielded a large manuscript of essays engaging Habermas's comprehensive rethinking of some of his earlier ideas and formulations on religion. One of the centrepieces of this working draft is a critique of modernization theory...

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New introduction to John Rawls

Rawls ExplainedFrom Fairness to Utopiaby Paul Voice(Open Court, 2011)176 pagesDescriptionThis book introduces the reader to the political theories of the American philosopher John Rawls. Rawls Explained sets out Rawls’s complex arguments in a way that makes them accessible to first-time readers of his hugely influential work. This book is both clear in its exposition of Rawls’s ideas and is true to the complex purposes of his arguments. It also attends to the variety of objections that have been made to Rawls’s arguments since it is these objections that have shaped the progression of his work.Contents [preview]IntroductionPart I: A Theory of...

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Neues Buch: Transnationalisierung der Volkssouveränität

Transnationalisierung der VolkssouveränitätRadikale Demokratie diesseits und jenseits des Staates(Ingeborg Maus zum 70. Geburtstag)Hrsg. von Oliver Eberl(Franz Steiner Verlag, 2011)354 S.KurzbeschreibungMehr als zweihundert Jahre nach der Französischen Revolution stellt sich die Frage, wie ihre zentrale staatstheoretische Errungenschaft, die Theorie der Volkssouveränität, den Herausforderungen der Globalisierung widerstehen oder zur Demokratisierung der internationalen Beziehungen beitragen kann. Volkssouveränität heißt, dass alle Macht zur Verfassung- und Gesetzgebung in den Händen des Volkes liegt. Gesetzgebung durch das Volk und Rechtsstaatlichkeit...

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Martha Nussbaum on Perfectionist Liberalism and Political Liberalism

In the new issue of "Philosophy & Public Affairs" (vol. 39, no. 1, 2011), Professor Martha Nussbaum has an article on "Perfectionist Liberalism and Political Liberalism". There is free access to the article (and to every issue of Philosophy & Public Affairs in its online library) if you registrer for a free 30-day trial.An early draft of the article is available here.Excerpts:"As I define perfectionist liberalism, following [Charles] Larmore, it is a species of a genus of liberal views that might be called “comprehensive liberalisms,” liberalisms that base political principles on some comprehensive doctrine about human life that covers not only the political domain but also the domain of human conduct generally. Most forms of comprehensive liberalism are perfectionist, involving a...

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Habermas: "A Pact for or against Europe?"

In "Süddeutsche Zeitung" April 7, Jürgen Habermas on Germany and Europe:"Ein Pakt für oder gegen Europa?"An Gründen für eine Gemeinschaft fehlt es nicht, wohl aber einem politischen Willen - und an Verantwortung.This is a speech given by Habermas on April 6 at a meeting on "Europe and the re-discovery of the German nation-state" arranged by the Berlin office of the European Council on Foreign Relations (ECFR). Habermas criticised political elites for shirking their responsibility of delivering Europe to its citizens, instead relying on opportunism that threatens to “sink 50 years of European history”. Former foreign minister Joschka Fischer also took part in the discussion. See Habermas's full speech here (pdf).See the reports on Habermas's speech in- The Irish Times, April 7- The Financial...

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At Rutgers: Symposium on Sen's "The Idea of Justice"

The Institute for Law and Philosophy at Rutgers University will host a two-day symposium on Amartya Sen's "The Idea of Justice" (Harvard University Press, 2009) on April 15-16, 2011.The program:Friday, April 15Samuel Freeman (Pennsylvania): "Perfect Justice and the Well-Ordered Society"Erin Kelly (Tufts)“Public Reason as a Collective Capability” (pdf)David Estlund (Brown): "The Best and the Rest: Optimizing and Comparing in Theories of Justice" Saturday, April 16Henry Richardson (Georgetown)"Mapping Out Improvements in Justice: Comparing vs. Aiming" (pdf)Gerald Gaus (Arizona):"Social Contract and Social Choice" (pdf)Debra Satz (Stanford): "The Idea of Justice: What Approach, Which Capabilities?"Professor Amartya Sen will also attend the symposium. The proceedings will be published in a special...

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Habermas on the Habermas-Rawls Debate

"Habermas and Rawls - Disputing the Political" (Routledge, 2011), edited by James Gordon Finlayson & Fabian Freyenhagen, includes a new article by Jürgen Habermas in which he comments on John Rawls's political theory and on the other contributions in the book.Here are some excerpts from Habermas's "Reply to My Critics" (pp. 283-304):"How far are morality, law and politics amenable to rational justification and how do they relate to the normative content of the ethical-existential life orientations and worldviews of individuals and communities? For my part, I follow Kant in assuming that, with the concept of autonomy, the practical reason shared by all persons offers a reliable guide both for morally justifying individual actions and for the rational construction of a legitimate political...

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Book on the Habermas-Rawls Debate

Habermas and RawlsDisputing the PoliticalEd. by James Gordon Finlayson& Fabian Freyenhagen(Routledge, 2011)315 pagesDescriptionHabermas and Rawls are two heavyweights of social and political philosophy, and they are undoubtedly the two most written about (and widely read) authors in this field. However, there has not been much informed and interesting work on the points of intersection between their projects, partly because their work comes from different traditions — roughly the European tradition of social and political theory and the Anglo-American analytic tradition of political philosophy. In this volume, contributors re-examine the...

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How to Earn a Graduate Degree in Philosophy

If you want to further your philosophical studies or prepare for a career in law, humanities or politics, a gradate degree in philosophy will help you. After receiving your undergraduate degree, pursuing a master's degree is usually the next option for students who enjoy reading, studying and applying the tenets of philosophy to everyday life. Instructions 1. Choose a specific area of study. You may want to isolate your focus to social activism, or study the works of past masters like Plato if you are more oriented to research and academia. You may want to eventually teach philosophy or humanities. 2. Delve further into subjects like epistemology,...

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