Fundamental Critique Research Articles

How to Speak of Non-meaning?

Despite all the profound changes that Foucault’s work underwent during the 1960s, there is one point of criticism that Derrida continually repeats: Foucault would remain in a Hegelian framework. According to Derrida, in his anticipation of Georges Bataille’s transgressive thinking, Foucault may have found the right way to escape dialectics, but in his attempt to synthesize transgression with structuralism in The Order of Things, this possibility threatens to be closed off again. Derrida, for his part, turns Bataille’s transgression in a way that allows for a fundamental critique of the concept of knowledge. From the perspective of this critique, not only does a way out of the dialectical identification of the Other open up, but it can also be seen how many philosophical endeavors that imagine themselves to be beyond Hegel continue to stand in his shadow.

African Socialism and Secular State Formation

Abstract In order to trace pathways of secularisation and secularity in Africa this paper highlights a particular movement that carried great ideological weight at the time of most countries’ independence in the 1950s and 60s, namely African socialism. The development toward state secularism was structurally very similar throughout the continent independently of whether political leaders opted for the ‘West’ or the ‘East’ in the cold war. However, in opposition to Soviet ideology, African Socialism was famously antiatheist. With the wish to fend off Marxist atheism as a supposedly necessary aspect of socialism, ideologues in African socialism were among the few politicians in Africa even to address the place of religion in a secular state at all. The roots of African socialism can be traced to US-American Pan-Africanism as well as the interconnected colonial opposition movement grounded in Marxist anti-imperialism. Another argument focusses on the education of some prominent state leaders, such as Nyerere, Nkrumah, Touré and Senghor, to explain the importance of Christian mission schools and Islamic madrasahs as points of access to social, intellectual, and institutional participation in global anti-colonial movements. In the framework of one-party politics, state leaders called on (Pan-)African traditions, but ‘de-mystified’ them (Touré) in order to enhance African Socialism ‘as belief’ (Nyerere). In conclusion it is argued that state secularism in Africa at the time of independence, as demonstrated most visibly in African Socialism, is more about suppressing and/or balancing the traditional powers of religious leaders than about a fundamental critique of a religious way of life. In turn, the implicit association of socialism and Marxism with atheism needs further scrutiny in a global perspective.

How neoliberal individualism led the Disability Royal Commission astray

People with intellectual disabilities can be abused in all settings: homes, communities, and services. Reducing this abuse requires attention be paid to people who are engaged with people with intellectual disabilities, who were largely overlooked by a neoliberal inquiry focused on individuals. Displacing neoliberalism has been further impeded by its recent combination with social media, which has engendered “cultural homogenisation”: the further spread and sustenance of the same ideas. This article aims to offer a fundamental critique of the Disability Royal Commission’s (the Commission) inquiry by revealing the way neoliberal ideology has shaped its recommendations; and to identify positive alternatives. Arguments: (1) Neoliberal individualism is a powerful but invisible doctrine. Its focus on choice and autonomy has generated concern to provide accessible information, irrespective of its feasibility; and concern to eliminate restrictive practices, irrespective of equally important needs of staff and parents. (2) “Datafication” intended to monitor and improve otherwise unregulated markets is expensive, ineffective, and impedes engagement. (3) The only meaningful adult life envisaged is paid work, despite a meagre and shrinking number of people with intellectual disabilities obtaining jobs. (4) The limitations of a legal inquiry are identified. (5) Alternatives to the promotion of voice, choice, and work are explored. Exhausted neoliberal ideology led the Commission astray. Rather than continuing to enact neoliberal solutions, two different initiatives that are more likely to disrupt the status quo are proposed: replacing legal intervention with public health approaches to reducing violence in all settings; and developing new “counter-publics” of fun and belonging that connect people and their consociates.

ОСНОВИ НА СЪВРЕМЕННАТА ИКОНОМИКА: НОВАТА ИНСТИТУЦИОНАЛНА ИКОНОМИКА СРЕЩУ НОВАТА ИКОНОМИЧЕСКА СОЦИОЛОГИЯ – ТЕОРЕТИЧНИЯТ СБЛЪСЪК МЕЖДУ МАРК ГРАНОВЕТЪР И ОЛИВЪР УИЛЯМСЪН

Nearly 50 years ago, Mark Granovetter initiated a fundamental critique of economic theory. His critique was the starting point for the New Economic Sociology (NES). Particularly, he criticized the emerging theories of New Institutional Economics (NIE), focusing on the ideas of Oliver Williamson (1932–2020) who was one of the most prominent representatives of this school. In this paper we address this critique and Williamson’s response to it. Williamson argued from the perspective of transaction cost economics, while Granovetter focused on the social embeddedness of individuals. The impact of this debate on economics has resulted in an increased research interest in the role of institutions and social networks. However, both lines of thought did not bring economic and sociological theories together. NES established as a subdiscipline in Sociology. Its central concept of embeddedness continued to attract interest but proved to be of little empirical applicability. NIE, on the other hand, has become part of mainstream economics.

Protein politics

Powerful actors associated with intensive livestock production are repositioning industrially produced meat and farmed fish as “sustainable protein.” This repositioning, we show, involves justifying the production of meat through a range of metrics, calculations, and valuations. These metrics and associated indicators underpin claims that sustainable protein is more efficient and less wasteful than conventional meat production. Our analysis questions the relationship between efficiency and sustainability in industrial meat production. We show, first, that the industrial meat sector has always focussed on efficiency and the reduction of waste. What is new is that metrics, calculations, and indicators on efficiency and waste reduction are being repurposed and made public to consumers and investors to underpin claims for sustainable and “climate friendly” meat. While this practice is apparent across the animal agriculture sector, it is especially evident in the production of farmed salmon. Our second argument frames sustainable protein metrics as a political logic. While these metrics have been justifiably criticized as a form of environmental “greenwashing” by environmental non-governmental organizations and others, our own critique builds on Cara Daggett’s recent analysis of energy and its political logic. Building on Daggett’s work, we aim to provide a more fundamental critique to the efficiency and waste metrics that are used to support claims for sustainable protein, while simultaneously providing the conceptual and political foundation for more progressive futures.

Universalism and Historicism: A Conflicting Inheritance of the Enlightenment

ABSTRACT Enlightenment thought and its contemporary followers usually support two contradictory principles simultaneously. The first is universality. Truth is universal because it is truth for all. Claims to universality are made in logic and science, but also in areas that are culturally or politically controversial. Recently, universalism has become a key term to express a fundamental critique of identity politics. For much of European history, Christianity provided such a universal truth. But with the decline of its cultural hegemony and the rise of particular nation-states, conflicting truth claims became weapons in violent conflicts, leading Hobbes to argue that dangerous truth claims must be neutralized by robust political power. In the eighteenth century, rationalism became more optimistic, interpreting universalism as cosmopolitanism based on universal reason and progress through history. The second principle is historicism, which is the self-reflexive look at the historical origins of universal claims and theories. Historicism emerged in the nineteenth century as a response to the application of rationalism to history. It challenged the universal claims of the French Revolution, emphasizing instead the unique value of each historical entity. This revealed a fundamental paradox: when universalism becomes self-reflexive, it recognizes that it has non-universal historical origins, thereby undermining itself. After the devastation of World War II and the Holocaust, the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (1948) represented a significant effort toward a new universalism. It sought to establish human rights as universal principles for the emerging world order. But history repeated itself: Historicism once again weakened confidence in human rights. The enemies of human rights take advantage of this weakness. We therefore have to live with the paradox that universalism is necessary because humanity shares a single world, but that historical self-reflection is also unavoidable. In other words, the Enlightenment principle of universalism must accept historicism as an integral part of itself.

Alexy und die Ansprüche des Rechts. Eine kritische Bestandsaufnahme

This paper aims to assess Robert Alexy’s latest contributions to the debate that has followed his fundamental critique of legal positivism in The Argument from Injustice. I discuss several ways to understand the “claim to correctness” Alexy is attributing to the law, concluding, however, that none supports his own conclusion that the law nec- essarily raises a moral claim. Furthermore, I show that even though Joseph Raz argues – more convincingly – for the seemingly similar conclusion that the law necessarily claims legitimate political authority, this latter claim amounts to something quite dif- ferent. I thus conclude that Alexy and Raz disagree not so much about the implications of law’s moral claims rather than about what it means to talk about “claims of law”.

Theoretical underpinnings of the university ranking discourse

AbstractThe major aim of this contribution is to summarize the theoretical underpinnings of the most popular rankings, as they have been identified within the discourse of “world class universities” during the first decade of the 21st century. This period is chosen, because the discourse thereafter did not elicit further key issues to be discussed. Additionally, other dimensions of the critique will be briefly touched upon, notably methodological issues. In this framework, attention will be paid as well to the handling of humanities and social sciences within such rankings. Finally, the question will be raised, where we are now - some years after such a period of heated controversies about the rankings of “world class universities”: Are rankings “here to stay” and thus go on more or less unchanged by the fundamental critique of their specific theoretical underpinnings, often called “ideological underpinnings”? Do we observe changes in the ranking mainstream? Can we expect new accents of higher education policy, which will successfully call for another “map” of the higher education system?

Peter von der Osten-Sacken (1940–2022)

Prof. Dr Peter von der Osten-Sacken is one of the important post-Shoah German theologians who gave many impulses for new paradigms of Christian-Jewish relations in Germany. With his theological work he laid the foundation of a fundamental critique and the redefinition of a Protestant theology in the face of Judaism.

Sticking to the core or going beyond? The Austrian freedom party’s educational approach in a longitudinal perspective

ABSTRACT Although populist radical right parties (PRRPs) are actively studied in recent years, few research has addressed their approach to education policy. Previously not considered one of their signature issues, this paper argues that education has become important for PRRPs too. In a case study of the Austrian Freedom Party (FPÖ), one of the most longstanding and successful PRRPs in Western Europe, we explore key pillars of the FPÖ's educational positions and their development over time. Drawing on qualitative content analysis of party programs, election manifestos and plenary debates from 1990 to 2020, our analysis shows that the policy area of education has indeed become an ideological battleground for the FPÖ. Its educational positions are largely grounded in the ideological core of PRRPs and comprise a fundamental critique of mainstream parties’ dominance in educational institutions (anti-mainstream); a nativist division on all levels of education (nativism); the advocacy of merit-based educational institutions coupled with authoritarian instruments of schooling (merit); and a plea for more liberalisation and competition in schools (liberalisation). Over time, positions become more nuanced, albeit only within the already established traits. These findings corroborate theoretical arguments for the influence of growing party age and government experience on PRRPs’ positions.

The rule of unreason: Analyzing (anti‐)democratic regression

The rule of unreason: Analyzing (anti‐)democratic regression

Form of manifestation of value: Heinrich’s monetary theory of value – a review of the Philosophical methodology based on Marx’s labour theory of value

Marx’s scientific labour theory of value is fundamentally inseparable from his philosophical method of advancing from the thinking abstract to the thinking concrete. He employs the power of abstraction to reveal the essential determination of value, and then to accomplish a generalisation of the commonness of all commodity-money relations. Through the intermediate links, Marx advances from the abstract to the concrete, grasping the historical individuality and form of manifestation of value in the specific capitalist phase. Heinrich is acutely aware of the methodological revolution achieved by Marx in his treatment of value theory, and, therefore, advocates examining the value theory from the philosophical methodological perspective. However, in his view, it is the emphasis on the form of value that is Marx’s fundamental critique to the political economy, with money as a necessity in the capitalist society. Consequently, he proposes the term ‘monetary theory of value’ to replace Marx’s labour theory of value. Heinrich, who lacks the scientific power of abstraction, directly focuses on the concrete phase of capitalism and, thus, merely attaches great importance to the external form of manifestation of value. The underlying cause of his deficiency is the philosophical methodology he adheres to, i.e. the formal dialectics.

The radical inclusive curriculum: contributions toward a theory of complete education

This paper contributes to curriculum theory from the perspective of a fundamental critique of education. Its objective is two-fold: to analyze both traditional and critical approaches to the curriculum and the types of education that flow from them and to propose changes that could result in significant improvements to the curricula through the radical and inclusive approach. The principles of pedagogy are redefined from the standpoint of this approach, aiming to enhance the educational potential of the curricula. The method of the paper is hermeneutic and dialectical, critically disputing the utility of curriculum theory and of the international policies that drive current educational practice. The essay’s arguments are developed throughout in the dialogical space between the critique and the proposed changes. These arguments are oriented toward complementarity and aim to redefine education and the curriculum in terms of complexity and a higher level of consciousness. The conclusions suggest that the radical and inclusive approach can produce significant, thoroughgoing change in curricula, education, and pedagogy.

Keeping a Foot in the Door: Neoliberal Ideology in Subjects Who Opt Out of a Corporate Career

It is well researched that ideals of freedom and self-fulfillment through work are perpetuated by the neoliberal ideology that permeates subjective reasoning, meaning-making, and everyday practices. While these ideals may seem attractive and enticing to the subject, their pursuit usually leads to less secure working contracts and conditions. Thus, organizations can continue to enforce economic principles and increase pressure on workers while, at the same time, the mechanisms of liberalization and individualization make subjects — not organizations — responsible for their own success and existential survival, and for creating meaningful and happy lives. Striving to design and optimize their own personal and professional trajectories, subjects perpetuate these ideals and thus adopt the socially-validated view that opting out of a salaried job in favor of self-employment is the zenith of self-actualization. Existing research on the phenomenon of opting out emphasizes gender differences around this issue, i.e., women opt out to stay home, whereas men — if their role is even considered — do so to enhance their careers. However, this research is sparse and lacks a contextualized understanding of the phenomenon, such that we still know very little about who opts out and why. Following an explorative approach, this study looks at 20 single-case stories of subjects who opted out from corporate career tracks. We find that the decision to opt out worked out well for diligent subjects with high self-esteem, who already had successful career trajectories and who — independently of gender — viewed it as an act to free oneself from, and a fundamental critique of, corporate working conditions and values. We analyze this finding through the theoretical lens of critical psychology in order to shed light on the phenomenon of opting out and the extent to which individuals can pursue meaningfulness in life and work within the scope of neoliberal conditions, i.e., in contexts where liberal principles remain applicable to the living and working conditions achieved by subjects after they have left the corporate world.

African Liberation and the Mythical Separation of the Political and the Economic in International Law

The putative division of public international law and international economic law, as one of the fundamental causes of the unjust international legal order, has received lesser attention, while even the most devastating African-centred critiques of injustices have taken this division for granted. It is in this sense, that I would suggest that an extensive critique of the current international legal order must not skirt around the fundamental critique of the division of public international law and international economic law. However, the precondition for this line of analysis requires a prior analysis of how capitalism instantiates this division.

Commentary on " Selecting futures: The role of conviction, narratives, ambivalence, and constructive doubt" by Fenton‐O'Creevy and Tuckett (2021)

Commentary on <i>"</i> Selecting futures: The role of conviction, narratives, ambivalence, and constructive doubt" by Fenton‐O'Creevy and Tuckett (2021)

Queerly Troubling International Law's Vision of “Peace”

Queering international law involves dreaming. It requires stepping outside the framing presumptions of “normal” law to reveal and challenge the heteronormative underpinnings of the hierarchies of power and value that the law sustains. Reclaiming the nomenclature of queer from its history as a term of insult and dehumanization, queer theory interrogates the normative framework that naturalizes and privileges heterosexuality and its binary regime of gender. In its reclamation, “queer” gestures toward affirmative assemblages of new meanings and emancipatory imaginaries. In international law, queer theory has been used in many different ways. For some, queerly troubling the normative involves expanding the existing normal to be more inclusive of queer lives, as can often be seen in the field of international human rights law. As life-giving as inclusion is to those barely existing on the margins, without changing the terms of inclusion this approach risks leaving heteronormativity intact and may even buttress it, as with the legal recognition of same-sex marriage. For others, queering international law involves a more fundamental critique of its regimes of the normal that, together, regulate our relations with each other and the planet. The objects of queer theory's structural critique are the conceptual foundations of international law, which rely on heteronormativity as a fundamental organizing principle that helps to normalize inequality, poverty, exploitation, and violence. One example is the “civilizing mission” which justified colonialism and continues to animate present legal norms. As Teemu Ruskola argues in his seminal queer critique, international legal rhetoric attributed normative masculinity to (Western) sovereign states and cast the “deficient” sovereignty of non-Western states in terms of variously deviant masculinities which, together with their civilizational and racial attributes, justified their “penetration.” My “troubling” of international law's account of peace takes a queer structural approach and then outlines some alternative imaginaries suggested by queer theory and activism.

Die Phänomenologie der Medizin und ihre feministische Kritik

AbstractThe phenomenology of medicine is that part of the research field of the philosophy of medicine that asks about the subjective experience of illness. In contrast to the philosophy of medicine, the phenomenological approaches explicitly include medical and bioethical questions as part of their research interests. The paper provides an overview of the most important questions and topics of the phenomenology of medicine. Subsequently I will refer to the fundamental critique articulated by feminist positions in the field of phenomenology of medicine. In addition to the socio-political contextualisation of the experience of illness, this also includes the necessary recourse to empirical research.

Political Comedy as Fuel for Populist Rhetoric?

In popular culture, politics are frequently framed with negative stereotypes, and there is some overlap between the anti-establishment rhetoric of political humor and populist challengers. This article probes similarities shared by politicians as presented in the television comedies Eichwald MdB (about a backbencher in the Bundestag) and Ellerbeck (about a kindergarten teacher turned mayor) and supporters of the (right-)populist party Alternative for Germany (AfD). The analysis of the storylines uncovers representations of self-serving and incompetent politicians that align with the fundamental critique expressed by the AfD. However, the negative depictions in the shows are interwoven with positive elements that speak to a responsiveness of democratic institutions. The two case studies help us better understand the specific form of German political satire produced by a public broadcaster and how satirical entertainment oscillates between negativity and meaningful critique of political power.

Todesspritze, Massenimpfung und Welterneuerung: Fantastische Störästhetik und therapeutische Utopie in Constanze Dennigs Dramen und Romanen (am Beispiel von Exstasy Rave, Klonküsse und Die rote Engelin)

This paper explores central generic and anthropological aspects of Constanze Dennig’s prose and drama in terms of their »disruptive aesthetic«, which is non-mimetic and disrupts all things familiar: logic, perception, morals and narrative patterns. To this end, I shall focus on three exemplary works: her play Exstasy Rave (2003) and her two novels Die rote Engelin, Eros, Omam und ich (2002) and Klonküsse (2005).&amp;nbsp;Exstasy Rave, which was a huge success on and beyond Austrian stages, deals with the challenges of an aging society and its implications for the individual. Die rote Engelin, Eros, Omam und ich (The Red Angel, Eros, Omam and Me) is about a woman who is abandoned by her husband and embarks on a fantastic feminist journey of emancipation, which culminates in world power, betrayal and death by murder. Klonküsse (Clone Kisses) is about a female scientist and her cloned daughter who pursue a revolutionary project of freeing humanity from emotions through mass vaccination.&amp;nbsp;As Dennig’s heroines both succeed and fail in their rebellion against social constraints and power structures that delimit their individual freedoms, the disruptive aesthetic of her texts serves a fundamental critique of whatever forces discriminate against, inhibit or stunt individual lives. The power of her absurdist-macabre texts lies not in offering trumped-up solutions, but in revealing what she calls the »unlived moments of life«. Being both a writer and a practising psychiatrist, she considers these – ultimately therapeutic – fancies far more interesting than people's actual life-stories.&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;