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21. Dialogue and Universalism: Volume > 33 > Issue: 1
Zhanna Vavilova Cyber Inclusion vs Isolation: A Way Out of the Virtual Ghetto
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Recent restrictions of movement during the pandemic have forced people worldwide, even neo-luddites, to turn to communicating online. The virtualization of social processes that we are witnessing today, suggests constant rethinking of the role of the Internet for humanity so that we could optimize conditions of our existence that seem to be irreversibly transformed by technology, and integrate every individual with a unique set of features in the life of society. The author deals with the notions of cyberinclusion, virtual ghetto, isolation and alienation to come to the conclusion that virtual communication allows one to form communities based not on segregation criteria of socio-demographics, but on unifying grounds of shared interest. Cyber inclusion already exists, along with virtual ghettoization; for the former to prevail, people must be ready to communicate beyond borders, regardless of their socio-demographical characteristics, state of health, or immediate benefit.
22. Dialogue and Universalism: Volume > 33 > Issue: 1
Stanisław Czerniak Three Interpretations of the “Ideology” Category. Max Horkheimer’s Conception of Ideology
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The article consists of the following thematic threads: a) an overview of three interpretations of the term “ideology” in subject literature; b) a reconstruction of Max Horkheimer's ideology conception, presented in the first half of the 1930s in writings published in the Zeitschrift für Sozialforschung [Social Research Journal]; c) an attempt to answer the question to what degree this conception was paradigmatic for the early Frankfurt School (here, for comparative purposes, the author cites writings by Leo Löwenthal and Paul Landsberg, which were also published in the Zeitschrift für Sozialforschung).
23. Dialogue and Universalism: Volume > 33 > Issue: 1
Jonathan O. Chimakonam, Dorothy N. Oluwagbemi-Jacob Self-Preservation and Coloniality
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In this paper, we will critically examine the notion of rationality and the disabling instinct of self-preservation that play out in human relationships. That “man is a rational animal,” as Aristotle declared is usually taken for granted in social studies. But whether humans act rationally all the time, and in all circumstances remains questionable. Here, we shall investigate this concern from a decolonial perspective by engaging some contradictions thrown up in the context of coloniality within which a section of humanity dehumanizes the rest. The question then is, how rational is the intellectual program of coloniality? Taking a cue from conversational thinking that places the notion of relationship at the center of decolonial analysis, we argue that coloniality fractures the inter and intra-racial relationships due mainly to the instinct of self-preservation that overwhelms human rationality. What has emerged today as the superior/inferior divide, racialism, classism, internal colonialism, ethnic cleansing, apartheid, xenophobia, and genocide are some of the consequences of warped and uncritical thinking driven by an extreme form of the instinct of self-preservation. We argue that the promotion of critical (higher-order) thinking in addition to ordinary (lower-order) thinking could be crucial in a decolonial program.
24. Dialogue and Universalism: Volume > 33 > Issue: 1
Mitchell Atkinson III Habit, Type, and Alterity in Social Life. Recoiling Protentions and Social Invisibility
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The question of the possibility of a phenomenological sociology is of the utmost importance today. In this paper, techniques in transcendental-genetic phenomenology are introduced as applicable to sociological work. I introduce the concept of recoil, a habit of thought which negatively determines protentions and expectations concerning types sedimented in far retention. Recoil is seen to be an important element in the theory of alterity in social life, including the understanding of alters as invisible. Finally, arguments in favor of the use of the epoché in sociological work is given, as the epoché allows us to engage with the experience of the subject of study without a latent invidious comparison to a naturalistic substructure.
25. Dialogue and Universalism: Volume > 33 > Issue: 1
Emilia A. Tajsin On Two-Valued and Multiple-Valued Logic and on Paradoxes of Verity
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The phenomena of truth, truthfulness, veracity and “truthiness” discussed widely in logic, epistemology as theory of science and gnoseology as general theory of knowledge, have received many interpretations—and not a single one to be generally accepted. Discussions continue not only upon narrow technical, operational questions of the predicate calculus and/or propositions calculus, but also on logic-gnoseological problems, one of which casts doubt on the maxim “logic is the house of truth,” and the other highlights the laxity of the opposition of “truth—falsehood” meanings as the main categories of the two-valued logic. These evaluations of proposition do not in fact oppose each other in the sense of a contradiction. Verity and falsity are controversial (opposite), but not contradictory (antithetical) concepts; it is truth and non-truth that are contradictory. Therefore, there is not only the possibility, but also the reality of the existence of a field, or zone, of transition between the values “true—false.”
26. Dialogue and Universalism: Volume > 33 > Issue: 1
Nataliia Shelkovaia Problems of the Unknowability and Total Unity in the Light of Philosophy of Semyon L. Frank
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The article analyzes the problems of unknowability and total unity in the light of philosophy of Semyon L. Frank, set forth by him in the work The Unknowable. The author of the paper considers all the problems that arise as “icebergs” and tries to find the reasons for the distortion of the vision of the “top of the iceberg” and the “underwater part of the iceberg,” which is often unaware. The author examines the problems of the inadequate perception of reality: a narrow “one’s own little world” of the world perception, passed off as the truth in the final instance; absolutization of the mind, which considers itself able to know everything; the cultivation of negative information and cruelty in society; the role of media forming world perception; antagonistic dichotomy of the world perception; lack of a sense of connection of everything that exists, in particular of a sense of unity of “I” and “Thou;” loss of the “culture of heart” and the ability to love. As a result of the analysis undertaken, the author concludes that only by changing the causes that give rise to the “world of evil and separation” can the lost integrity and harmony of man, society and world civilization be restored. The revival of the earth’s civilization is possible only in total unity.
27. Dialogue and Universalism: Volume > 33 > Issue: 1
Aivaras Stepukonis Re-Thinking Cultural Hedonism: On the Principle of Utility according to John Stuart Mill
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Hedonism, driven by mass culture and widespread consumerism, is a salient factor in the modus vivendi of contemporary Western civilization. This general psychological and behavioral backdrop is exploited in the article as an opportunity to both reinvigorate and re-appraise the theoretical underpinnings of modern hedonism as developed by John Stuart Mill in his Utilitarianism. The article proceeds in two steps: Firstly, a detailed exposition of Mill’s arguments for the principle of utility is undertaken, with an accompanying elucidation of the core notions of utility, expediency, happiness, and pleasure. Secondly, five points of criticism (logical, phenomenological, and analytical in method) are raised to challenge what the author thinks are the weakest links in Mill’s syllogistic chain.
on the need of an enlightenment
28. Dialogue and Universalism: Volume > 33 > Issue: 1
Michael H. Mitias Do We Really Need a New Enlightenment for the 21st Century?
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This article is a critical response to the claim advanced by Robert Elliott Allinson in three issues of Dialogue and Universalism that we need a new Enlightenment for the 21st century. In contradistinction to this claim, I argue that what we really need is a new interpretation of the ideals of the European Enlightenment. This assertion is based on the assumption that the basic beliefs and values that constitute the heart and soul of the European Enlightenment are founded in human nature and that this nature is one and the same among all human beings. My discussion is composed of two parts, the first is formal, and the second is analytical. In the first part, I present general observations on the cultural and historical dynamics of the European Enlightenment. In the second part, I advance an analysis and a critical evaluation of the arguments Allinson advances in the editorial he wrote for the three issues of Dialogue and Universalism. The proposition I defend is that we need not a new Enlightenment but an interpretation and a comprehensive, efficacious implementation of the ideals of reason, science, and humanism.
29. Dialogue and Universalism: Volume > 33 > Issue: 1
Robert Elliott Allinson On the Question of Whether We Need a New Enlightenment for the 21st Century
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It is gratifying to learn that there are fellow humanist philosophers who pay homage to the Enlightenment and its legacy. Such a humanist philosopher is Michael Mitias. He has taken precious time and the labor of his active and synoptic thought to both read the trilogy I have had the privilege of guest editing and what is more, to write about it. Hence, I feel that he deserves a response. I shall address some of the key points that he has raised in the interest of dialogue, an activity which he has praised and which rightly forms the heart of our journal. I intend to respond to the following points: (i) that we do not need a new enlightenment, but a reinterpretation of the old; (ii) that the editorials are not consistent with the articles of the contributors; (iii) that the method I have utilized, to endeavor to invoke a new Enlightenment through self-conscious intention, via rallying philosophers together is at odds with the origin of the classical Enlightenment; (iv) that the viewpoint I have expressed suffers from its Eurocentrism.
30. Dialogue and Universalism: Volume > 33 > Issue: 1
Małgorzata Czarnocka How Do We Shape a Reform of the 21st-Century Human World in an Enlightenment Spirit? On Projects by Robert E. Allinson and Michael H. Mitias
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In this essay I wish to add my voice to Michael H. Mitias’s polemic with Robert E. Allinson’s view that an Enlightenment-driven reform of the human world is desirable, and even necessary. Allinson calls the outcome of such a reform the “New Enlightenment.” I also consider the few main threads of Mitias’s alternative proposal for repairing the human world, which involves the reinterpretation of the Enlightenment ideology, and I strive to show that, contrary to Mitias’s belief, both his and Allinson’s positions have important common points. Moreover, I also take a closer look at Mitias’s project, especially his postulate to begin funding the reforming of the human world in human nature.
31. Dialogue and Universalism: Volume > 32 > Issue: 3
Gabriela Tănăsescu Editorial
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epistemic and political issues of democracy
32. Dialogue and Universalism: Volume > 32 > Issue: 3
Adam Chmielewski Democracy, Interpassivity, and the Cognitocratic Fallacy
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Conceptions of deliberative democracy attach a particularly important role to the cognitive or epistemological competence of the agents of the political process. Such competence is viewed as a primary or even exclusive prerequisite qualifying one for the exercise of political power. The belief is amply illustrated by the contemporary debate between, on the one hand, the advocates of the broad participation of the people in democratic governance, and, on the other, the proponents of the deliberative ideal which presupposes that political power should be entrusted only to the people endowed with appropriate cognitive abilities. In my analysis of such cognitocratic conceptions, I stress the perils of the ascription of a prominent role to cognitive competence in the political process. In opposition to the cognitocratic approaches, both in their universalist and egalitarian, as well as elitist or meritocratic versions, I claim that they are marred by what I call the cognitocratic fallacy, and I argue that a more adequate understanding of governance in democratic systems should instead be based upon a political rather than epistemological capital. I also claim that the concept of political ability should be seen as potentially universal and that the potential may be activated through actual participation in democratic politics.
33. Dialogue and Universalism: Volume > 32 > Issue: 3
Janusz Grygieńć Liberal Democracy: Between Epistemic Autonomy and Dependence
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Understanding the relationship between experts and laypeople is crucial for under-standing today’s world of post-truth and the contemporary crisis of liberal democracy. The emergence of post-truth has been linked to various phenomena such as a flawed social and mass media ecosystem, poor citizen education, and the manipulation tactics of powerful interest groups. The paper argues that the problem is, however, more profound. The underlying issue is laypeople’s inevitable epistemic dependence on experts. The latter is part and parcel of the “risk society” in which people question the scientific consensus and thus are able to manipulate the facts. It is a powerful weapon in the hands of illiberal democrats, though liberal democrats can make no use of it. The latter downplay the problem of citizens’ epistemic deficits and of the epistemic asymmetries be-tween them. The third and fourth generations of deliberative democrats are a perfect example. The paper argues that the concepts of interactional expertise and epistemic dependence explain why understanding between experts and laypeople is impossible. The said phenomena undermine liberalism’s unrealistic assumptions concerning citi-zens’ decision-making competence.
34. Dialogue and Universalism: Volume > 32 > Issue: 3
Constantin Stoenescu The Social Vulnerabilities of Science and the Covid-19 Pandemic Crisis
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According to the traditional image of science, if its achievements are reliable, then they will be communicated successfully and the public will trust in their applicability to solve practical problems. The new perspective on science as “socially robust knowledge” (Gibbons, 1999) is based on two other necessary conditions of knowledge production, namely, transparency and public participation. But the recent Covid-19 pandemic crisis has shown that the institutional weaknesses of the relationship between science and society generates an equally endemic mistrust. Should we go back to “heroic science” and the ‘“magic of science” to regain trust? Or the pandemic crisis just highlighted that the death of expertise (Nichols, 2017) is inevitable in the public space?
35. Dialogue and Universalism: Volume > 32 > Issue: 3
Irina Zhurbina Political Limit of Neoliberal Democracy: The Strategy of Inequality
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The paper studies political consequences of the establishment of neoliberal democ-racy, which means the onset of a post-political state of the world. It is demonstrated that at the “end of politics,” the democratic principle of equal rights turns into its opposite—a radical inequality between transnational elites, personifying the power of “pure” capital, and the local population, representing the idea of “pure” life. Neoliberal democracy is studied as a limit concept, which shows the exhaustion of the democratic principle of equality. The paper shows that the return to democracy as the principle of equality becomes the driving ambition of modern politics of activism as a subjective process, unfolding in places where a situation of radical inequality arises.
36. Dialogue and Universalism: Volume > 32 > Issue: 3
Gabriela Tănăsescu Electoral Legitimacy and Decentralization of Democracy or on a Paradigm Shift
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The paper seeks to analyze the causes that led to the decline of the procedural-electoral legitimacy paradigm, as explanatory paradigm, in favor of the models that have highlighted the significant changes occurred in the contemporary societies. For this purpose the paper examines Pierre Rosanvallon’s analytical model of interpreting "the revolution in the conception of legitimacy."
citizenship, human dignity, responsibility— actual and virtual
37. Dialogue and Universalism: Volume > 32 > Issue: 3
Lorena Valeria Stuparu Citizen Identity and Participatory Political Culture. A Conceptual Approach
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Joining these two concepts of political science and philosophy (i.e. individual politi-cal identity and participatory political culture) is an attempt to explore their comprehen-sive potential, regarding the foundation of any democratic regime, namely the rule of law, civil society, a civilized global political world in which each individual can find his dignity, without being considered simply an anonymous in the great mass of people controlled and dominated through propaganda and restrictions by a relatively small number of people. The paper is structured on the main stated aspects: citizenship and political identity; identity, human dignity and the rule of law (as “medium term”); par-ticipative political culture. Participatory political culture is defining for the identity of a citizen in a state of law, but when the myths of democracy come into conflict with the political reality, indifference or absenteeism are also part of the cultural practices of citizenship and this is a challenge to political philosophy.
38. Dialogue and Universalism: Volume > 32 > Issue: 3
Maria Sinaci Human Dignity, Democracy and other Challenges of the Covid-19 Pandemic
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Human dignity has been a much-discussed topic in contemporary debate, and it has benefited from numerous approaches stemming from the fields of philosophy, politics, ethics, psychology or the legal, social and cultural domains. Yet, the meaning of the concept can vary in clarity, leading to ambiguity of usage and approach. The aim of this paper is to examine the concept of human dignity and to assess its potential as a funda-mental value for contemporary democracies. A conceptual analysis of human dignity was conducted in the first part of the paper, embracing two essential coordinates of democracy, the political and the ethical approach. An extension of the notion of human dignity, with applications on the collective level rather than simply on the individual one, implies a set of obligations and responsibilities for the democratic state, a context that involves exploring the relationship between human dignity and human rights. In turn, democracy is a means for the constitutional state to provide both the opportunities and the adequate framework for the fullest affirmation and realisation of human dignity. The global challenges posed by the Covid-19 pandemic triggered a growing list of changes that highlighted new faces of democracy and respect for human dignity, aspects that were analysed in the final part of this paper. The author promotes the idea that hu-man dignity emerges as a fundamental value of democracy and that recent global chal-lenges call for a new momentum on debates of this concept.
39. Dialogue and Universalism: Volume > 32 > Issue: 3
Henrieta Șerban Democracy and the Virtual Demos
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Democracy is currently influenced by the fluxes of information, digitalization, big data analyses and information, as power in general, but also as the power of control over the people. Existing as a double of “the people,” the reality of the virtual demos influ-ences the realities of democracy. Political communication gains a strength online, where both the leaders and the citizens express positions, interpretations and opinions on the state of affairs. The present time is more than ever before the preferred political time. Comfort and relative laziness characterizing the times are consonant with virtual demos and digital democracy, with positive and negative aspects. The civic actions pursuing the good and generous causes animating public interest are among the main positive aspects of virtual demos and digital democracy. The paper aims to identify, describe and assess the main implications of these political virtual actions, attitudes and the participa-tion of the virtual demos in emerging digital democracy.
40. Dialogue and Universalism: Volume > 32 > Issue: 3
Columbus N. Ogbujah, Charles Bereboni, Nympha Nkama The Responsibility of Social Media to Truth, Reason and Democracy
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The rise of social media has given a significant boost to the information and com-munication industry. Prior to now, the common news outlets were the mainstream print and electronic media, domiciled in specific locations, and guided by particular laws of nation states. These laws, for the most part, regulated and enforced decency, compelling practitioners to adhere to the ethics of truth, reason and democracy. But with the rise of social media platforms like Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, LinkedIn, etc., that are used by enormous number of people to communicate, network, and advertise their business-es, the determination of information to be released to the public is no longer under the monopoly of a select few technocrats and entrepreneurs. Once the immediate access to these facile communication channels of social media is set in place, everyone with a basic social skill becomes a communicator of news. This phenomenon has revolution-ized the media industry, giving everyone opportunity to have information at the snap of their fingers. But by the same token, and leveraging on the complexity of formulating regulating laws, the social media circumvents most existing norms, leading to abuse of public trust, credibility deficit and crisis of confidence. This essay makes a foray into the responsibility of social media in what concerns truth, reason and democracy. Using the analytic method, it gauges the current social media practice vis-à-vis the traditional media, and highlights the gray areas that precipitate abuse. The essay concludes by advocating for strict adherence to media ethics that will promote the values of responsi-bility, fairness, truthfulness, accountability and universal democratic ideals.