Real Political Problems Research Articles

Dreaming Differently

Dreaming Differently

PEDAGOGY OF SPIRITUALITY IN THE MIND OF SPECIAL LIGHTING ACTIVITY CRISIS OF THE PRISM OF PHILOSOPHY OF LEARNING

We outlined as the subject of our scientific exploration the processes of formation of sociocultural phenomena of human civilization and culture, society based on knowledge, newly formed pedagogy of spirituality through the prism of the philosophy of education, in the context of inclusion, at the stage of formation of a new ethical and moral reality. Rethinking the rapid development processes of industrial and post-industrial, informational, network, communicative, inclusive, authoritarian and liberal society. We have set ourselves the goal of studying the phenomenon of pedagogy of spirituality, taking into account special pedagogical activity, by which we understand the processes of involving the entire community, including people with special educational needs, to the social and political life and activities of local communities. Those actors of social action who have problems with physical or psychosomatic development should be put in the first place. This leads to reflection and the use of methods and methodologies that will help every individual, child, student with special educational needs to fully participate in the life of society. We believe that various historical eras create distinct socio-economic trends for the future member of society, who needs to be prepared for the most diverse life situations through forms of education, science and culture, in the education and upbringing system. In this case, it is appropriate to form tasks in accordance with the purpose, content and form, methods and methodology of functioning of these means in the whole mechanism of adaptability of the person. Investigating the historical and political variability of the discourse of pedagogical theory and practice, it is emphasized that with the change of socio-economic formations in the historical progress of civilization, they will increasingly approach the person (anthropocentrism, student-centrism) in all the fullness of mental, physical, spiritual development and improvement. In the process of scientific work, we used general methods: inductive, deductive, dialectical, empirical, pragmatic, rationalistic, sensualistic, and we also used developments in the field of structural-linguistic intelligence, synergetics, comparativistics, and artificial intelligence. The formation of moral and ethical categories, the influence of mythologists, traditional science (social philosophy, philosophy of education), religious systems in the technical development of postindustrial society is analyzed. Scientific and theoretical developments expand the possibilities of the philosophy of education about the content and categories of inclusive pedagogy for persons with special educational needs on the basis of the spirituality of the functioning of society. The philosophical-pedagogical concept of inclusive pedagogy considered by us can be used for understanding and predicting the urgent problems of Ukrainian socio-cultural life, solving the real political problems of our Motherland in the conditions of military aggression of the Russian Federation at the regional and global levels, overcoming religious, political, and confessional differences. It will be able to help the formation of a balanced personality for people with special needs, with post-traumatic syndromes and will promote socialization and self-realization in the post-war and aggressive world. The results of the research can be used as methodological help in political science, sociology, social philosophy, philosophy of education. They have the potential to correlate educational courses of socio-political disciplines with the aim of achieving understanding and conventionalism, overcoming ideological and socio-cultural stereotypes. Thoughtful theoretical investigations can be used in the process of forming theoretical and practical special courses, in the development of educational programs in philosophy, social philosophy, philosophy of education, ethics, individual and social psychology.

The Historical Past as the Foundation of the Russian Polity: Vladimir Putin’s 2012–2018 Speeches

ABSTRACT This article is dedicated to studying the reasons and political meaning of the contemporary Russian government’s increasingly active appeal to the past. Building on the post-fundamentalist tradition in political philosophy, the author argues that during V. Putin’s third term, history turned into a quasi-transcendency aimed at providing political life with a value dimension. Evidence for this includes, in particular, phenomena like the growing “securitization” of historical memory and the use of historical arguments as a basis for significant political decisions. The choice of history as a main source of value legitimization for Russian policy is tied both to seemingly evident historical facts and to the underdevelopment of Russia’s moral discourse, given the dominance of virtue-based ethics over principle-based ethics. Based on discursive analysis of Putin’s 2012–2018 speeches, the author concludes that the state is the main actor in Russian history, while the key political virtue is service to it. The persuasiveness of historical arguments is due, first of all, to the idea of objectivity of the past, and second, to the emotional power of images of heroes who sacrificed themselves in the name of the Fatherland. The latter explains not only the dominance of military themes, but also the desire of ruling elites to push topics related to political repressions to the margins of public space so that emotionally powerful images of victims are not used to justify alternative political values. Through his performative remarks, Putin has introduced historical themes into various areas of state activity and expanded the space of the relevant past to the prerevolutionary period. The repertoire of past used for political ends is limited to events that precede the early 1990s, that is, to the “political moment” when contemporary Russian politics began taking shape. This has led to greater autonomization of the space of collective memory. Correlating the collective “We” with the pages of the distant past requires imagination, but that same imagination often generates its own semantic world far from the real political problems of the present day.

The Historical Past as the Foundation of the Russian Polity: Vladimir Putin’s 2012–2018 Speeches

ABSTRACT This article is dedicated to studying the reasons and political meaning of the contemporary Russian government’s increasingly active appeal to the past. Building on the post-fundamentalist tradition in political philosophy, the author argues that during V. Putin’s third term, history turned into a quasi-transcendency aimed at providing political life with a value dimension. Evidence for this includes, in particular, phenomena like the growing “securitization” of historical memory and the use of historical arguments as a basis for significant political decisions. The choice of history as a main source of value legitimization for Russian policy is tied both to seemingly evident historical facts and to the underdevelopment of Russia’s moral discourse, given the dominance of virtue-based ethics over principle-based ethics. Based on discursive analysis of Putin’s 2012–2018 speeches, the author concludes that the state is the main actor in Russian history, while the key political virtue is service to it. The persuasiveness of historical arguments is due, first of all, to the idea of objectivity of the past, and second, to the emotional power of images of heroes who sacrificed themselves in the name of the Fatherland. The latter explains not only the dominance of military themes, but also the desire of ruling elites to push topics related to political repressions to the margins of public space so that emotionally powerful images of victims are not used to justify alternative political values. Through his performative remarks, Putin has introduced historical themes into various areas of state activity and expanded the space of the relevant past to the prerevolutionary period. The repertoire of past used for political ends is limited to events that precede the early 1990s, that is, to the “political moment” when contemporary Russian politics began taking shape. This has led to greater autonomization of the space of collective memory. Correlating the collective “We” with the pages of the distant past requires imagination, but that same imagination often generates its own semantic world far from the real political problems of the present day.

Introduction to special issue: Real-world justice and international migration

In this article, we introduce the project developed in this special issue: a search for principles of ‘real-world’ justice in international migration that can offer practical guidance on real political problems of migration governance. We begin by highlighting two sources of divergence between the principal topics of theoretical controversy within literatures on migration justice and the animating sources of political controversy within real national and international publics. These arise first in the framing of the problems on which normative theory is purported to offer guidance, and second in the character of the normative reasons that are invoked as grounds for settling the controversies. In response to these divergences, we propose that the development of action-guiding normative theories of international migration can be supported with resources from broadly ‘realist’ approaches to political theory. We outline three key dimensions in which the ‘real-world’ theoretical approaches developed in this collection of papers connect up with important themes in the wider theoretical literature on political ‘realism’: first, a problem-centred methodological strategy; second, a focus on the value of political legitimacy; and third, a commitment to reconciling systematic engagement with real political problems and circumstances with a critical normative orientation towards political problems.

Promises and Pitfalls of the Digital Age: A Review of Henry Jenkins, Sam Ford, and Joshua Green's Spreadable Media: Creating Value and Meaning in a Networked Culture

Promises and Pitfalls of the Digital Age: A Review of Henry Jenkins, Sam Ford, and Joshua Green's <i>Spreadable Media: Creating Value and Meaning in a Networked Culture</i>

LIETUVOS POLITIKOS MOKSLŲ LAUKO ANALIZĖ: AIŠKINANT SKIRTINGAS POLITIKOS MOKSLO SAMPRATAS

Straipsnyje analizuojamas Lietuvos politikos mokslų laukas, ieškant atsakymo į klausimą, kaip jo veikėjai suvokia savo discipliną, ir bandoma aiškinti jų politikos mokslų sampratas. Kaip alternatyva požiūriui, kad politikos mokslų suvokimą formuojančios nuostatos yra subjektyvios ir individualios, remiantis Pierre’o Bourdieu teoriniu modeliu, siekiama parodyti objektyvių struktūrų (užimamų pozicijų, disponuojamo kapitalo) įtaką šioms nuostatoms. Straipsnyje išskiriamos politikos mokslininkų bendruomenę dalijančios skirtys, atspindinčios mokslininkų požiūrį į politikos mokslų paskirtį, jų moksliškumo sampratas, santykį su kitomis disciplinomis ir tarptautiškumo reikšmės vertinimą. Straipsnio pagrindas – empirinis Lietuvos politikos mokslininkų bendruomenės tyrimas.

Adam Smith’s Problems: Sympathy in Owenson’s Wild Irish Girl and Edgeworth’s Ennui

Adam Smith’s Problems: Sympathy in Owenson’s Wild Irish Girl and Edgeworth’s Ennui Katarzyna Bartoszyńska It is a critical commonplace to read Lady Morgan’s The Wild Irish Girl (1806) and Maria Edgeworth’s Ennui (1809) as national tales that use allegories of marriage to model a successful reconciliation between England and Ireland in the aftermath of the Act of Union. The national tale was a clearly political mode, one with the primary goal of representing Ireland anew to a class of English readers who saw the Irish as hopelessly backward and savage, and thereby articulating a model for the Union on the level of sentiment. This aim was hardly covert: it is openly declared, for example, on the title page of The Wild Irish Girl, which quotes Fazio Delli Uberti’s Travels Though Ireland in the 14th Century: “This race of men, tho’ savage they may seem / The country, too, with many a mountain rough, / Yet are they sweet to him who tries and tastes them.”1 The link between this project of propaganda and the Act of Union was clearly recognized at the time—perhaps most explicitly by Walter Scott, who wrote that Edgeworth’s depictions of Ireland “have gone so far to make the English familiar with the character of their gay and kind-hearted neighbours of Ireland, that she may be truly said to have done more towards completing the Union than perhaps all the legislative enactments by which it has been followed up.”2 In both The Wild Irish Girl and Ennui, national reconciliation is symbolized by the marriage between the British narrator and an Irish woman. The narrative preceding the weddings serves to enumerate various lessons about Irish culture and history, and to illustrate how an Englishman can come to love the country and the people. Philosophical theories of “sympathy” and fellow-feeling— particularly those of Adam Smith, in his Theory of Moral Sentiments (1759)—provide the framework for this process. The two novels are often read together: their plots are noticeably similar (even within the subgroup of national tales that end in marriage), making the [End Page 127] differences between them appear as explicit markers of divergent approaches to the broader political problems that they address. Indeed, Robert Tracy went so far as to suggest that Ennui was written, or at least revised, in response to the massive success of The Wild Irish Girl.3 Various commentators, including Tracy, Ina Ferris, Seamus Deane, Julia Wright, Katie Trumpener, and Claire Connolly have examined the political implications of both works, particularly as they relate to the colonial context: they consider what the novels suggest about the legitimacy of power, or the intrinsic national character of the Irish, or how they reflect on their historical moment. Despite this sustained critical attention, the ways in which these two novels engage with theoretical frameworks of fellow-feeling have not been fully explored. Rather, the novels are generally seen—and even mocked—as oversimplified allegories, manufacturing easy, sentimentalized solutions to real political problems.4 When seen through the lens of theories of sympathy, however, a different view emerges. Both Edgeworth and Morgan are searching for an intellectual framework upon which to build a politics of fellow-feeling—and failing to find one. Instead, both authors find themselves forced to rely on various novelistic tricks in order to ensure happy endings for their texts. Reading these novels with an eye to their treatment of sympathy as a philosophical problem opens up a way to make sense of the ambivalences and quirks of the texts that bedevil more conventional readings. In The Wild Irish Girl, the power of emotional contagion becomes a threatening, gothic force, suggesting a more sinister view of the supposedly charming Glorvina. Likewise, the bizarre plot twist at the center of Ennui, which serves to confound any allegorical readings of national identity, makes perfect sense [End Page 128] when considered from the perspective of sympathy, as it is a literal example of Smith’s theorization of the process. What is more, the identity swap enacted by the novel can be viewed as a way to bridge the divide within Adam Smith’s own work, the...

Minerva's owl: the tradition of Western political thought

Informal in tone yet serious in content, this book serves as a lively and accessible guide for readers discovering the tradition of political thought that dates back to Socrates and Plato. Because the arguments of the great philosophers are nearly eternal, even those long schooled on politics will find that this book calls on recurring questions about morality and power, justice and war, the risk of democracy, the necessity for evil, the perils of tolerance, and the meaning of happiness. Jeffrey Abramson argues politics with the classic writers and draws the reader into a spirited conversation with contemporary examples that illustrate the enduring nature of political dilemmas. As the discussions deepen, the voices of Abramson's own teachers, and of the students he has taught, enter into the mix, and the book becomes a tribute not just to the great philosophers but also to the special bond between teacher and student. As Hegel famously noted, referring to the Roman goddess Minerva, her owl brought back wisdom only at dusk, when it was too late to shine light on actual politics. Abramson reminds us that there are real political problems to confront, and in a book filled with grace and passion, he captures just how exciting serious learning can be.

Commentary social justice and sustainable agriculture: Moving beyond theory

One of the ongoing debates in the sustainable agriculture community is whether its platform should include social justice issues like farmworker rights, economic concentration, and hunger. The commentary describes the evolution of this controversy, and places it in the context of competing and complicated moral theories that turn out to be of somewhat limited use in political arguments. The essay also outlines ways in which the present political climate is presenting a challenge to sustainable agriculture proponents, who, in response, are building new linkages with urban interests, including anti-hunger organization. Despite abstract philosophical and more real political problems, a community food security agenda is being crafted, joining the interests of small farms, family farm, and sustainability advocates, and anti-hunger groups. Their focus is community and economic development as a way to improve the quality and availability of inner city food supplies, and to develop new markets and political allies for farmers.

Teaching Practical Policy Analysis

Abstract : Students can learn to grapple with real political problems by doing policy analysis, studies designed to produce well-supported recommendations for action dealing with particular problems. Instead of asking what is being done about particular issues, they could ask what should be done. These questions could be examined in a systematic and analytic way, in a variety of formats. Engagement in political studies of this kind can develop the student's skill at analyzing and managing real political problems, it can enhance his sense of efficacy, and it can provide him with a firmer grasp of political concepts and information than would be obtained with traditional teaching methods.