Knowledge and Power in Plato’s Political Thought

Abstract

Plato justifies the concentration and exercise of power for persons endowed with expertise in political governance. This article argues that this justification takes two distinctly different sets of arguments. The first is what I shall call his ‘ideal political philosophy’ described primarily in the Republic as rule by philosopher‐kings wielding absolute authority over their subjects. Their authority stems solely from their comprehension of justice, from which they make political judgements on behalf of their city‐state. I call the second set of arguments Plato’s ‘practical political philosophy’ underlying his later thought, where absolute rule by philosopher‐kings is undermined by the impure character of all political knowledge. Whereas the complete comprehension of justice sanctions the absolute political power of those with this expertise, partial knowledge of justice disallows for such a large investment of power. Plato’s practical political philosophy argues for a mixed theory of governance fusing the institutions of monarchy with democracy in the best practical city‐state. Thus, Plato comes to realize the insurmountable difficulties of his ideal political thought, preferring a more practical political philosophy instead.     

In defence of fact-dependency

G.A. Cohen and David Estlund claim that, because of their fact-dependent nature, constructivist theories of justice do not qualify as moral theories about fundamental values such as justice. In this paper, I defend fact-dependent, constructivist theories of justice against this fact-independency critique. I argue that constructivists can invoke facts among the grounds for accepting fundamental principles of justice while maintaining that the foundation of morality has to be non-empirical. My claim is that constructivists ultimately account for the normativity of fact-dependent principles by referring to a fact-independent, moral conception of the person, which is not a principle of justice.1^?1. Earlier versions of this paper were presented at the Annual Dutch Conference for Practical Philosophy, the practical philosophy seminar at the Erasmus University Rotterdam and the seminar of the Horizon research group at Utrecht University. I am grateful for the comments and questions I received on these occasions.     

Importing Logics

The novel notion of importing logics is introduced, subsuming as special cases several kinds of asymmetric combination mechanisms, like temporalization [8, 9], modalization [7] and exogenous enrichment [13, 5, 12, 4, 1]. The graph-theoretic approach proposed in [15] is used, but formulas are identified with irreducible paths in the signature multi-graph instead of equivalence classes of such paths, facilitating proofs involving inductions on formulas. Importing is proved to be strongly conservative. Conservative results follow as corollaries for temporalization, modalization and exogenous enrichment.     

The im-possibility of secular critique: The future of religion's memory

The legacy of secular critique, with its Greek, Christian, Kantian, modernist traces, constitutes an aporetic law (or contradiction). That law is this: a critical legacy, if it is critical, can affirm and sustain itself only by trying to separate it from itself (from the very crisis that it is). The legacy or history of ‘religion’ is always a history of such critique. Such a legacy always anticipates critiquing itself, its memory (of whatever kind – racist, sexist, colonialist, nationalist). Such a legacy of critique is always a legacy of crisis. However, the crisis of such a legacy cannot be resolved, because critique, as kairos/krisis (critical/decisive moment), can admit of no resolution. Yet the (secular) history of religion, if it is ever historical, can only be a history of such aporetic critique. Such an aporetic critique will be the heritage of religion's im-possible ¹ ?1. I write the word impossible/impossibility with and without a hyphen. When I hyphenate im-possible, I do so to remain true to Derrida's use of it. The im-possible is irreducible to either possibility or impossibility. Sometimes Derrida also writes the word without hyphenating it, but he still implies such irreducibility. future. It is an im-possible future because it will always be a promise, a promise to separate it from itself, a promise that will remain always deferred, always to come. Today, the promise of this secular critique is (in) democracy with its sovereign ‘decisive’ politics. We can no longer simply critique the (future) legacy of religion, understood this way. To do so is to fulfil that legacy's own messianic wish. This is the aporetic limit of secular critique. To think at the limits of the legacy of the critique of religion is to think the very question of the (secular) history of ‘religion’ and its others, that is, ‘religions’.     

Resurrection as Insurrection: Potential Space and the Subversion of Political Totalities

In this article, I depict the shared belief in resurrection as subversive vis-à-vis political totalities. More particularly, I argue that the idea of resurrection as insurrection emerges against the background of the political realities of the Roman Empire and its diverse tools for controlling people through public spectacles of terror that heighten fear, helplessness, and indifference, thwarting motivations for resistance and insurrection. From this context, resurrection reveals a present-future possibility of an embodied care, hope, and freedom in spite of and not subject to principalities that aim to subjugate bodies and minds. Given this idea of resurrection, I use an emended version of Winnicott’s (1953, 1967, 1971) concept of potential space and Arendt’s (1958) space of appearances to portray the interpersonal and psychosocial dynamics that make it possible for people to retain care, hope, and freedom in resisting and subverting the political totalities that undermine each.     

Parental Bullying,Aggression, and Assertion: A Philosophical and Psychoanalytic Revisioning of Frank Summers' Case of Anna

Historically, psychoanalysis has failed to differentiate adequately between aggression and assertion. It is uncontroversial to state that bullying is a form of aggression. However, if aggression and assertion are not adequately distinguished, bullying could also be viewed as a form of assertion. Some psychoanalysts have attempted to resolve this by using the terms aggression and assertion as synonyms but introducing the notion of nondestructive aggression. Bullying, then, is understood to be hostile aggression or hostile assertion. In this article, I aim to prepare psychoanalytic and philosophical groundwork for a meaningful differentiation between aggression and assertion, and, at the same time, to shed light on the nature of bullying, parental bullying in particular. To achieve these aims, I critique an aspect of the case material presented by Frank Summers in his (2005) Summers, F. 2005. Self Creation: Psychoanalytic Therapy and the Art of the Possible, Hillsdale, NJ: The Analytic Press.  [Google Scholar] book, Self Creation: Psychoanalytic Therapy and the Art of the Possible. I also critique Parens' (2008) Parens, H. 2008. The Development of Aggression in Early Childhood, Lanham, MD: Jason Aronson.  [Google Scholar] notion of nondestructive aggression as used by him and by Summers. Additionally, I discuss some of the philosophical notions Summers introduces and discusses relevant to a critique of his notion of the analyst's vision of the patient's development in its relevance to his case of Anna.     

More dead than dead? Attributing mentality to vegetative state patients

In a recent paper, Gray, Knickman, and Wegner (2011) present three experiments which they take to show that people perceive patients in a persistent vegetative state (PVS) to have less mentality than the dead. Following on from Gomes and Parrott (forthcoming Gomes, A., &; Parrott, M. (forthcoming). Epicurean aspects of mental state attributions. Philosophical Psychology. [Google Scholar]), we provide evidence to show that participants' responses in the initial experiments are an artifact of the questions posed. Results from two experiments show that, once the questions have been clarified, people do not ascribe more mental capacity to the dead than to PVS patients. There is no reason to think that people perceive PVS patients as more dead than dead.     

Religious teaching and political context: the case of Cyprus

In this article I aim to explore some philosophical issues involved in teaching religion in Cyprus and suggest some preconditions in order for this teaching to be sensitive to the multicultural character of the island and conducive to the vision of reconciliation and reunification. First, I shall clarify some particularities of the political problem of Cyprus, since many misconceptions obscure the understanding of the real stakes at issue, having crucial repercussions for demarcating the role of religious belief. For the Cyprus problem has been misconceived by many people as a kind of religious and ethnic conflict, thus raising various kinds of false dilemmas and expectations in relation to the local religions (Christian Orthodoxy and Islam) and their future cultivation in the schools of the two communities. I shall attempt to ‘put the record straight’ in a way, showing that the Cyprus issue is not reducible to the religious difference of the peoples involved, and suggest what I believe is the real challenge now regarding the teaching of religion in this part of the world.

The independence treaties left Cypriots—particularly Greek Cypriots—with a political half‐life. If the NATO allies thought the contrived constitutional arrangement would enable the two communities to live peacefully together, they were badly mistaken. (O’Malley & Craig, 2002 O’Malley, B. and Craig, I. 2002. The Cyprus conspiracy: America, espionage and the Turkish invasion, New York: I. B. Tauris Publishers.  [Google Scholar], p. 87)     

How the Dead Live

This paper maintains (following Yougrau 1987; 2000 and Hinchliff 1996) that the dead and other former existents count as examples of non-existent objects. If the dead number among the things there are, a further question arises: what is it to be dead—how should the state of being dead be characterised? It is argued that this state should be characterised negatively: the dead are not persons, philosophers etc. They lack any of the (intrinsic) qualities they had while they lived. The only facts involving the dead are facts about the relations they stand in—including the relations they bear to the qualities they formerly instantiated, and the intentional relations they stand in to us. Given an appropriate conception of qualities the dead can be said to be quality-less objects: bare particulars. The ‘Bare Particular Theory’ of individuals, it is argued, is coherent if and only if it concedes that the bare particulars it allows for don’t exist. The account of the dead and other former existents as bare particulars does justice to the misfortune of death, and points the way to a general theory of nonexistent objects.     

Explicating the Key Notions of Copresence and Verification in Relation to Husserl’s Use of the Term Direct to Describe Empathy

Zahavi and Gallagher’s contemporary direct perception model of intersubjectivity has its roots in the phenomenological project of Edmund Husserl. Some authors (Smith in Philos Phenomenol Res 81(3):731–748, 2010; Krueger in Phenomenol Cogn Sci 11:149–173, 2012; Bohl and Gangopadhyay in Philos Explor 17(2):203–222, 2014) have utilised, and criticised, Husserl’s model of direct empathic perception. This essay seeks to correct certain misunderstandings of Husserl notion of direct empathic perception and thus, by proxy, clarify the contemporary direct perception model, through an exegesis of Husserlian texts. In the first half of this essay I clarify the analogy between the directness of regular material object perception and the directness of empathic perception via a clarification of Husserl’s notion of co-presence. I argue that contemporary renditions of Husserl’s account which stress the dis-analogy between these two types of perception (Smith 2010; Krueger 2012) are based on a superficial and incorrect rendering of Husserl’s notion of co-presence. In the second half of this essay I clarify the notion of verification. I argue that, for Husserl, behaviour does not verify mental life. Instead, empathic verification occurs via the relation between concepts and intuitions. In my conclusions I show how contemporary authors misunderstand the fundamental nature of Husserl’s account of empathy because of the downgraded status of psychic life within contemporary cognitive science.     

the “death” macguffin redux: comments on best

In commenting on my critique of the “deviance is dead” thesis (Goode, 2003 Goode, Erich. 2003. “The MacGuffin that Refuses to Die: An Investigation into the Condition of the Sociology of Deviance.”. Deviant Behavior, 24: 507–33. [Taylor & Francis Online], [Web of Science ®] , [Google Scholar]), Joel Best (in this issue) makes several points which seem shaky. Examined critically–and agreeing that the field has declined during the past 20 years in creativity and influence on sociology generally–the sociology of deviance is far from “dead.” In fact, as indicated by a number of measures, its health is as robust as ever. Here, I grapple with the conundrum of why the “death” myth is so widely accepted among sociologists. It is possible that the field's political incorrectness may provide an explanation to this mystery.     

The Possibility of Justice: The Work of Paulo Freire and Difference

The work of Paulo Freire, while remaining important to many educators, has been challenged by some postmodernist arguments. In particular, the pursuit of justice becomes difficult, or at least more complicated, when the concept of difference is taken seriously. This paper reconsiders the Freirean commitment to justice in the light of ideas from Young (1990, Justice and the politics of difference, New Jersey: Princeton University Press) and Pavlich and Ratner (1996 Justice and the Postmodern, In M. Peters, W. Hope, J. Marshall, &; S. Webster (Eds.), Critical theory, poststructuralism and the social context, Palmerston North: Dunmore Press). How might the work of Paulo Freire accommodate these ideas and what demands do they place on his philosophy? In addressing this question, I focus on three key themes in contemporary debates over pedagogy and justice: (i) the notion that the individual is produced; (ii) the significance of difference; and (iii) the idea that justice is context dependent and multiple. I argue that given Freire’s emphasis in later publications on the produced and unfinished self and his recognition of the multilayered nature of oppression, Freirean theory continues to have much to offer to these debates.     

Children's Lived Spaces in the Inner City: Historical and Political Aspects of the Psychology of Place

Children's lives are tied to particular places, which are the stage where the psychological drama of the human community is played out. This biographical research study investigates and documents the experiences of children's lived spaces in Pittsburgh's Hill District. The Hill District is a traditionally immigrant and African American neighborhood, which has suffered through segregation, the turmoil of urban renewal, race riots, gang warfare, and drug-related crime. When we look at the history of a particular place, we often forget that its children are raised and participate in the same historical stream. What was childhood like for the children who grew up in The Hill over the past century?

Adapting the ethnographic method of narrative mapping (Lutz, Behnken, & Zinnecker, 1997 Lutz, M., Behnken, I. and Zinnecker, J. 1997. “Narrative Landkarten [Narrative maps]”. In Handbuch Qualitative Forschungmethoden in der Erziehungswissenschaft, Edited by: Friebertshäuser, B. and Prengel, A. 414–435. Germany: Juventa Verlag.. Weinheim und Muenchen [Google Scholar]), 12 African American adults (24 to 84 years old), who spent their childhoods in the Hill District, were interviewed and asked about their childhood roaming spaces. The story about lived space that emerged through the choral voices of the participants is of childhood places marked by political and cultural changes. Each generation of 10-year-olds (1930's to 2000) lived in the same geographical area, but experienced and lived their neighborhood places in dramatically different ways.     

Medical Marijuana Regulation in Michigan: Problems of Legitimacy

Since the initiation of the Michigan Medical Marihuana Act (MMMA) in 2008 State of Michigan . 2008 . “Michigan Medical Marihuana Act.” Initiated Act 1 of 2008. Retrieved June 5, 2012 (www.legislature.mi.gov)  [Google Scholar], several issues relevant to the study of sociology of law and deviant behavior have emerged. I analyzed the administration of the MMMA using a case study method and interpret the initial social issues developing from this law by focusing on legitimacy. Due to a contradictory system where the MMMA is at odds with the Schedule I categorization of marijuana at the federal and state levels, the legitimacy of both the administration of the MMMA and the administration of marijuana law more generally are threatened. This lack of legitimacy in turn leads to a situation of “Pyrrhic Defeat” where failure to gain legal compliance maintains the inertia of marijuana prohibition.     

‘I am an Israeli’: Christian Zionism as American redemption

This article argues that discourse used to define and understand Israel by prominent American Christian Zionists is a discourse of national idealisation. Drawing on Durkheim's (2008 Durkheim, Emile. 2008. The Elementary Forms of Religious Life, Oxford: Oxford University Press. Translated by C. Cosman [Google Scholar]) notion of symbols as sources of social solidarity, I argue that this imagined Israel reflects conservative social and military values that are shared among Christian Zionists and their supporters – values which many in this broad category see the United States failing to uphold. Following this, I show how one of America's most prominent pastors – John Hagee – and his organisation – Christians United for Israel – have taken on the role of a contemporary Jeremiah, criticising the American government for not adequately supporting Israel. This article concludes by considering how Christian Zionists are calling America to renew and align itself with God by ‘blessing’ Israel, and acting like Israel.     

The politics of humanitarian intervention: a critical analogy of the British response to end the slave trade and the civil war in Sierra Leone

A leading scholar of humanitarian intervention, Brown (2002) Brown, C. 2002. “Humanitarian intervention and international political theory”. In Human rights and military intervention, Edited by: Mosley, A. and Norman, R. 153–69. Aldershot: Ashgale Publishing.  [Google Scholar] refers to British internal politics to satisfy the influential church and other non-conformist libertarian community leaders, and above all ‘undermining Britain's competitors, such as Spain and Portugal, who were still reliant on slave labour to power their economies, as the principal motivation for calls to end the slave trade than any genuine humanitarian concerns of racial equality or global justice’. Drawing on an empirical exploration, this article seeks to draw a parallel between this politics of humanitarian intervention which characterised the abolition movement, albeit rarely recognised in the academic literature, and the British intervention to end the almost 11 year civil war in Sierra Leone. The article concludes with a discussion on the implications of this politics of humanitarian intervention in the reconstruction of post-conflict Sierra Leone.     

Ecopsychology: The Transformative Power of Home

In this article, I approach the meaning of ecopsychology in an attempt to broaden it to include clinical practice. I begin by articulating the history of the word ecopsychology. The etymological understanding of the word suggests “the home” to be the defining interest of ecopsychology, which includes the Earth, in addition to other meanings of home. I then review The Spell of the Sensuous by David Abram (1996) Abram, D. 1996. The spell of the sensuous: Perception and language in a more-than-human world, New York: Vintage Books.  [Google Scholar] alongside classic texts from phenomenology to reveal the profound participatory and formative experience of the home. Finally, I offer my own work on the middle voice to articulate the home as a place of transformation with a sensitivity to both language and the body. Throughout the article, I offer my own experience, a sophisticated approach to language, an appreciation of phenomenology, and philosophical depth of writing to open doors for ecopsychology beyond the classroom and the workshop retreat.     

Graduate programs*: Psychology,geo‐justice and creation spirituality

This article focuses on demonstrating how a Heideggerian sensitivity to the meanings latent in our own challenges of living can serve to orient us, especially in times of difficulty, toward finding our path and, moreover, our foothold on the paths that we have chosen. Presenting my own life experience through the lens of Heidegger's (1927/1962 Heidegger , M. ( 1962 ). Being and time (J. MacQuarrie &; E. Robinson, Trans.) . New York : Harper &; Row . (Original work published 1927)  [Google Scholar]) fundamental modes of disclosedness and care structure, this article examines the notion of one's own existentiell projection into possibilities from the perspective of thrownness and fallenness. From here I present a reflection on the possibility of finding alternative potentialities-for-Being within the context of what had originally presented itself as a rupture of my very Being—a detethering of myself from my ordinary totality of involvements. The reflections here serve as a hermeneutic retrieval (Wiederholung) of the kinds of personal meanings that one lives through in the process of recovering one's life, one's existence, one's Self, in the aftermath of trauma or serious illness.     

Indistinguishability, Choices, and Logics of Agency

This paper deals with structures ${\langle{\bf T}, I\rangle}$ in which T is a tree and I is a function assigning each moment a partition of the set of histories passing through it. The function I is called indistinguishability and generalizes the notion of undividedness. Belnap’s choices are particular indistinguishability functions. Structures ${\langle{\bf T}, I\rangle}$ provide a semantics for a language ${\mathcal{L}}$ with tense and modal operators. The first part of the paper investigates the set-theoretical properties of the set of indistinguishability classes, which has a tree structure. The significant relations between this tree and T are established within a general theory of trees. The aim of second part is testing the expressive power of the language ${\mathcal{L}}$ . The natural environment for this kind of investigations is Belnap’s seeing to it that (stit). It will be proved that the hybrid extension of ${\mathcal{L}}$ (with a simultaneity operator) is suitable for expressing stit concepts in a purely temporal language.