Suchergebnisse

While a few years ago there was a great deal of discussion of the "end of ideology" (or at least its "decline") among politically-minded intellectuals, today the more interesting topic appears to be the "end of liberalism" (or at least its condition of extreme "poverty"). Any intellectual case for liberalism may seem a bit out of fashion. The perspectives on liberalism that may be gathered from the thought of Morris Cohen constitute, however, a particularly important case. The eminent philosopher and historian of ideas, John Herman Randall, Jr., recently claimed that "Morris Cohen was the most critical analytic mind among all American philosophers. … Yet his voice of critical intelligence seems to have been almost completely forgotten in our present intellectual crises." Concerning Cohen's book on The Meaning of Human History, Randall suggests that its author's "insight could clarify the confusions of our own revolutionary feelings and passions." An examination of Morris Cohen's political thought appears to be timely.

Benutzerkommentar

The field of peace research is examined in light of the postmodern critique of reason in the modern age--the western dialectic of enlightenment & domination--in hopes of fostering the regeneration & reorientation of peace research in the US through its internationalization & radicalization. Possible sources of this 'postmodern' redirection of American peace studies are located in the traditions of critical theory & phenomenology & in convergent work by contemporary West European scholars in Scandinavia & the Federal Republic of Germany. The main lines of this reorientation for American peace research are delineated through an exploration of three substantive themes: (1) power, violence & hegemony, (2) international society as totality, & (3) the critical peace researcher as knower & actor. Theories & concepts drawn from the tradition of critical Marxism & existential phenomenology must be modified, or nativized, in dealing with peace research in America. Modified HA.

It is by now a commonplace among American political scientists that the philosophical grounding of political inquiry is in dire need of critical reflection and serious repair, if not radical reconstruction. The sources of this widespread recognition are no doubt diverse, but not the least resides in the impact of the key ideas of Thomas Kuhn's celebrated work,The Structure of Scientific Revolutions. For, although Kuhn's work was narrowly interpreted by Almond, Truman, and other key figures in the behavioral elite corps to conform to their image of science (basically a naive positivist image), the very breadth and subtlety of Kuhn's work, his commitment to formulating his conception of science from the history of science as practiced, and his ultimate antagonism to that tradition of the philosophy of science (logical positivism/empiricism) which behavioralists have embraced ensured that a lively and contentious debate would ensue.