During the Communist regime, after Poland was officially proclaimed the People’s Republic of Poland, the aim of the Polish Communist government was to control all aspects of society. Communist ideals were enforced in books and other publications; censorship was introduced on all published materials. This paper aims to present the situation of media in People’s Poland, as well as to provide a background and description of Polish censorship. Additionally, this paper will exposit and (...) examine the socio-political role of Tygodnik Powszechny in Polish society. As TP is a Catholic weekly, an outline of the unique socio-political role of the Polish Roman Catholic Church in communist Poland will accompany the above analysis. This paper is based on the research conducted by the author in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the Master of Arts degree written and defended at the Central European University in Budapest in 2012. (shrink)

In the discussion of global ethics, philosophical ethics risks losing its distinct theoretical horizons. This predicament arises primarily from philosophy's failure to anchor its own object and to provide a rational basis for global justice from within its current confined theoretical paradigm. Against this background, this paper will first prioritize global co-existence as the primary concern of global ethics, then propose ontological co-existence justice as its foundational principle, and finally argue that the normative validity of co-existence justice is predicated on (...) the nations fulfilling the critical requirements of modern civilization, namely, the advancement of individual freedom. (shrink)

This paper sketches the antilogism of Christine Ladd-Franklin and historical advancement about antilogism, mainly constructs an axiomatic system Atl based on first-order logic with equality and the wholly-exclusion and not-wholly-exclusion relations abstracted from the algebra of Ladd-Franklin, with soundness and completeness of Atl proved, providing a simple and convenient tool on syllogistic reasoning. Atl depicts the empty class and the whole class differently from normal set theories, e.g. ZFC, revealing another perspective on sets and set theories. Two series of Dotterer (...) and the theorem proved by Russinoff are re-characterized in antilogistic formulas corresponding to the square of opposition and twenty-four moods of syllogism. Then the restricted equivalence between two forms of antilogism and minimal inconsistency is built up, implying the internal connection between antilogisms and minimal inconsistency and leaving two related conjectures not proved. Besides, this paper provides a new explanation for the reason why contrariety, subcontrariety, and subalternation and the nine special moods require the non-empty assumption. (shrink)

Recent scholarship on the philosophy of time in pre-Qin Daoist thought has not yet produced a thorough examination of dao’s relationship to time. This essay resolves this omission through a systematic study of the concept heng 恒 in pre-Qin Daoist literature. While principally expressing the ‘constancy’ of dao, heng also significantly presupposes dao’s ability to change. This change is characterized in the texts as a cyclical movement of ‘return’ and identified with the universe’s circular metanarrative of generation and reintegration. The (...) essay turns to examine pre-Qin Daoist literature’s use of primal wu 無 metaphors to describe dao. It concludes that they present dao as undifferentiated infinitude, liberating dao as heng from the tense structure of past-present-future that divides life in time. These metaphors further associate the movement of dao with the flow of time, reformulating time’s relentless ever-greater advancement into an endless cycle of creative transformation. (shrink)

Vādanyāya is one of the representative works of Dharmakīrti. It is concerned with debate logic and deals with win-or-lose reasoning rules in the broad sense of logic. In this paper, we will concentrate our discussion on Dharmakīrti’s theory of nigrahasthāna (fault) in his debate logic, a key issue in Vādanyāya. First, we point out that the justification of three logical reasons as proof conditions of debate constitutes the rational point of departure for Dharmakīrti’s debate logic. Second, we analyze the differences (...) between Dharmakīrti’s and the Naiyāyika’s notion of debate and point out that Dharmakīrti’s ‘debate’ involves two parties (the disputant and the opponent) attempting to rationally refute the other’s opinion to persuade the other to change their wrong ideas. Last, based on the discussion of Dharmakīrti’s concept of debate logic, we identify seven types of nigrahasthāna in Vādanyāya with regard to the two parties of a debate (the disputant and the opponent). (shrink)

The politics of Plato's Republic has been all but universally condemned by modern liberal readers as totally and odiously inimical to democratic ideals. Plato's proposals for government by an unelected elite class of guardians, for censorship and indoctrination, for occupational restrictions, etc., are seen at best as stifling freedom and individual initiative and at worst as totalitarian. It has seldom or never been noticed, however, how much his polity resembles our own, for better or worse. American democracy, present (...) and past, has endorsed most of the basic political principles of the Republic. If often only tacitly, we recognize natural inequalities among people; that some are more fit than others for some occupations, including governing; and that indoctrination and censorship are desirable in some circumstances. Most important, though little recognized outside political theory, is the fact that the United States, like most modern democracies, has a guardianship form of government, comparable to that outlined in the Republic, in which the electoral franchise has little significance. Making due allowance for our own ideological myths on the one hand and for Platonic whimsy on the other, it can be seen that Plato's Republic and ours are, paradoxically, much the same in both aims and means. (shrink)

The main subject of the article is a comparative analysis of the cultures of political relations between the Soviet Union (USSR) and the People's Republic of China (PRC) in the middle of the twentieth century. The author examines in detail such aspects of the topic as ideologization and authoritarianism, centralization of power, control over society and the phenomena of political cults. The article analyzes the key principles and values underlying the political systems of both countries, as well as the (...) strategic goals and methodologies used to implement them. The author explores how ideological principles, power hierarchies and nuances of the political process influenced the formation of civic consciousness and behavioral paradigms of citizens. The article also examines the historical, cultural and geopolitical determinants that determine the similarities and differences in the political cultures of the USSR and the People's Republic of China, and their impact on the domestic and foreign policies of these states. The research methodology includes a comparative analysis of historical sources and scientific works devoted to the political cultures of the USSR and the People's Republic of China, with an emphasis on the study of ideological, structural and socio-political aspects that shaped their development. The scientific novelty of the article lies in a comprehensive comparative analysis of the cultures of the political relations between the USSR and the People's Republic of China, which reveals both common features and unique features of each of them. For the first time, detailed parallels and differences between the two countries are considered in the context of ideologization, centralization of power and mechanisms of control over society. The findings of the study show that despite the common communist heritage, the political cultures of the USSR and the People's Republic of China developed along different trajectories due to national characteristics, historical events and internal political processes. The author argues that these differences have had a significant impact on the international positions and domestic policies of States. As a result, the article contributes to a deeper understanding of the processes of formation and evolution of the political systems of communist regimes, which is important for historians and political scientists studying the history and politics of socialist countries. (shrink)

The study compares the changes in the theory of Marxism that took place in Europe (in the form of neo-Marxism and its movements, in particular the Frankfurt School) and the Sinicized version of Marxism. The study also examines how Sinicized Marxism was reflected in the political discourse and political philosophy of modern China (People’s Republic of China) and is reflected in social policy in the country. Studying the influence of socio-economic changes and the history of the people on (...) ideological changes allows us to identify several principles of Sinicized Marxism, which on an ongoing basis determine social policy and foreign relations. This is, first, etatism and the dominance of state interests over private ones, which limits human rights and national self-determination, but preserves the integrity and stability of the state, which protects the interests of the people. (shrink)

Numerous scholars from different fields ranging from history, political science, ethnic and cultural studies, sociology, and anthropology have discussed ethnic and racial identity issues in the People’s Republic of China. Most have noted that there are competing narratives regarding the conceptions of race and ethnicity. Much of the scholarship has been based on social constructivist orientations. This essay is directed towards a merger between social constructivist and cognitive science approaches on essentialism that may open the doors for further (...) research and investigation of this important topic. (shrink)

Introduction. The relevance of the research topic is determined by the necessity to study financial phenomena and processes in order to understand the economic essence of public finance in the life of society. The strategic imperative for the formation of public finance is the development of an appropriate provision for its implementation, adequate to the complex and changeable circumstances of the territory development. The main purpose of the study is to identify the features of performing the functions of public finance (...) for regions with a specific mode of operating. Methods. When solving the tasks, the author uses general logical methods: analysis, synthesis, induction, deduction, analogy; empirical level methods: observation, description, measurement, modeling, as well as private and special methods of scientific research: comparative analysis, system approach, the Robinsonade model (Crusoe model). Scientific novelty of the research. The scientific novelty of the results lies in solving an important scientific problem - identifying the features of implementing the allocative function of public finance in the regions with a specific mode of operating (as exemplified by the Donetsk People’s Republic, where there is a special military and political situation, a mobilization type of economy, a transitional period due to the integration of the Republic into the system of the Russian Federation federal relations) in order to improve the system of public finance management in such regions. Results. The main results of the study consist in characterizing the process of implementing the allocation function of public finance, which makes it possible to determine the maximum effect of economic actions of the subjects in the current conditions, as well as to lay the foundations for analyzing the following distribution function of public finance. Conclusions. The author makes a conclusion that in the context of strengthening the role of public finance, not only in ensuring the economic development of the Donetsk People’s Republic, but also in the post-crisis recovery and stabilization of business activity, the implementation of the allocation function of public finance becomes important. (shrink)

The recent advances in assisted reproductive technology, such as hormonal stimulation, IVF, and intracytoplasmic sperm injection (ICSI), have made it possible to circumvent many causes of male and female factor infertility. However, uterine infertility is still considered an ‘‘unconditionally infertile’’ condition. Owing to the continued advances in organ transplantation, microvascular anastomosis techniques, and immunosuppressive medicine, the transplantation of organs is no longer restricted to the ones necessary for continued life. Quality-of-life enhancing types of transplantation, such as uterine transplantation, in recent (...) years, have also entered the clinical arena. This undoubtedly brings new hope to such women, but also creates ethical challenges. Selection of the donor, the impact on the recipient and offspring, as well as challenges to moral and social norms are issues that cannot be ignored. In the present review, the ethical issues of transplantation of the uterus will be discussed in light of recent progress in the procedure. (shrink)

B a c k g r o u n d. This article explores the phenomenon of managing the reincarnation of living Buddhas in Tibetan Buddhism, a cornerstone of the spiritual and cultural identity of Tibetans. It examines the political intervention of the Chinese government in this sacred tradition, focusing particularly on the implementation of 'Order No. 5' (2007), which regulates the reincarnation of tulkus. M e t hods. The research employs historical-critical analysis to trace the genesis of the tulku tradition (...) and a comparative approach to examine the differences between traditional Tibetan and modern Chinese views on reincarnation. Official documents and religious texts are analysed through the lens of political philosophy and religious studies. R esu l t s. The study reveals that the bureaucratisation of the reincarnation process by the Chinese government undermines the spiritual autonomy of Tibetan Buddhism while advancing political control and cultural assimilation (Sinicisation). The implementation of 'Order No. 5' has become a mechanism for consolidating state control over sacred traditions, provoking widespread international criticism. C onc l u s i ons. Reincarnation, as a deeply spiritual practice, is increasingly being used as a tool of political influence, posing significant challenges to the preservation of Tibetan cultural and religious identity. The Chinese government's control over this process risks creating divisions within Tibetan communities and exacerbates tensions on the international stage. (shrink)

This book tells an overlooked story in the history of the will, a contested idea in both politics and philosophy of mind. For it is Cicero, statesman and philosopher, who gives shape to the notion of will as it would become in Western thought and who invents the idea of 'the will of the people'. In a single word – voluntas – he brings Roman law in contact with Greek ideas, chief among them Plato's claim that a rational elite must (...) rule. When the republic falls to Caesarism, Cicero turns his political argument inward: will is a force to win the virtue in the soul that was lost on the battlefield, the marker of inner freedom in an unfree age. Though his vision of a free republic failed in his time, Cicero's ideal of rational elitism has shaped and fractured the modern world – and Ciceronian creativity may yet save it. (shrink)

Plato's Republic, one of the great works in the history of philosophy, is presented here as it was written - as a dramatic performance exploring various perspectives on justice, truth, knowledge, and the good. Plato wrote each book of The Republic to be performed by actors playing the characters of Socrates, Glaucon, Adeimantus, Thrasymachus, and the others. When Book One was performed, he then invited his students—the brightest and best young people in Athens—to respond to each and every (...) argument, issue, and question posed by the characters. Rather than passively listening, they were lured into the process and challenged to evaluate and improve on the ideas presented in the performance. Based on their responses, Plato then wrote Book Two. The same process was repeated, and Book Three was generated. In this way all ten books evolved as part of a dynamic and creative dialectic intended to take place in the souls of each and every participant—including Plato himself. This dramatized version is an adaptation of the Benjamin Jowett translation. (shrink)

In Books Five and Six of The Republic, the quest for justice that has guided the dialogue from the beginning now shifts to the search for an even more encompassing quality—goodness. But what is the nature of goodness? Can human beings know it and teach it to others? How can it be manifested in the republic? To answer such questions requires a genuine lover of wisdom. How can such people be distinguished from those who simply pretend to know? (...) This dramatized version is an adaptation of the Benjamin Jowett translation. (shrink)

Books five & six: "The quest for justice that has guided the dialogue in Plato's Republic from the beginning now shifts to the search for an even more encompassing quality--goodness. But what is the nature of goodness? Can human beings know it and teach it to others? How can it be manifested in the republic? To answer such questions requires a genuine lover of wisdom. How can such people be distinguished from those who simply pretend to know?".

In Books Five and Six of The Republic, the quest for justice that has guided the dialogue from the beginning now shifts to the search for an even more encompassing quality—goodness. But what is the nature of goodness? Can human beings know it and teach it to others? How can it be manifested in the republic? To answer such questions requires a genuine lover of wisdom. How can such people be distinguished from those who simply pretend to know? (...) This dramatized version is an adaptation of the Benjamin Jowett translation. (shrink)

Human cognition affects the result of symbolic activity. Evidentiality is a linguistic concept which encodes the source of information and expresses the attitude and confidence of speaker. This paper collects 31 judgments from the Supreme People’s Court (SPC) and local people’s courts in the People’s Republic of China (P.R.C) as the research corpus, and analyzes the evidentiality in four aspects: information source, lingual form, evidential function and speaker’s attitude of the information. It is found in this (...) study that: 1) The information sources are divided into four types as cultural belief, sensory experience, verbal rumor and inferential hypothesis; 2) Lingual form consists of three categories: vocabulary, phrase and compound sentence; 3) Evidentiality in court judgments performs four functions: support with citation, induction with description, paraphrase with less responsibility and summarization with reasoning; 4) The reliability of evidentiality presents a two-tier structure based on different information sources. From the perspective of Peirce’s semiotics, the paper analyzes the judicial practice of court judgments with actual data and proposes some suggestions. (shrink)

This book encourages today's students to engage in Plato's thought, grapple with Plato's arguments, and explore the relevance of his arguments in contemporary terms. A text only comes alive if we make it our own; Plato's great work The Republic, often reads as though it were addressing the problems of the day rather than those of ancient Athens. Treating The Republic as a whole and offering a comprehensive introduction to Plato's arguments, Mitchell and Lucas draw students into an (...) exploration of the relevance of Plato's thought to our present ideas about politics, society and education, as well as the philosophy of mathematics, science and religion.The authors bring The Republic to life. The first chapters help the reader to make sense of the text, either in translation or the original Greek. Later chapters deal with the themes that Plato raises, treating Plato as a contemporary. Plato is inexhaustible: he speaks to many different people of different generations and from different backgrounds. The Republic is not just an ancient text: it never ceases to be relevant to contemporary concerns, and it demands fresh discussion in every age. (shrink)

The politics of memory and culture of the Polish People’s Republic alludes to Ideologiekritik in its idiosyncratic way characterized by Marxist utopianism. In reality, this leads to reversing this theory. The causes of fascism are seen in “German imperialism”. For political and strategic reasons the German Democratic Republic becomes one of the main partners of the Polish People’s Republic, with regard to which it is capable of accomplishing the guidelines of its policy in (...) the cultural dimension. This is accompanied by an intensive cultural exchange between the two countries. In the language of official politics manifested, for instance, in the strategy of publishing houses of the Polish People’s Republic the culture of the two countries develop in a parallel fashion, which is an obvious product of the propaganda. (shrink)

Charity, the core of the Gospel ethos, became one of the founding ideas of European civilization and distinguished it from others. In Polish territories, as in other Western European countries, charity work was conducted primarily by the Church, which together with its sense of Gospel duty, defended the weak by concerning itself with economic development. For this purpose, charitable credit institutions, so-called mounts of piety (montes pietatis), were established. They were continued by reformers, in a somewhat changed form, until (...) the decline of the Polish Commonwealth (Republic). The most original institution of this kind was Rev. Stanisław Staszic’s foundation: the Hrubieszów Agricultural Society, which survived until the days of the Polish People’s Republic. (shrink)

The article highlights processes that took place among Ukrainian community during pre-election campaign in the People's Republic of Poland in 1989. The events that, certainly, became a turning point in the history of the state and influenced on the set up of another approach on issues of national minorities in communist Poland are reconstructed. The importance of Ukrainian community candidate participation in parliamentary elections is determined, including the win of one of them. This success was achieved owing to the (...) common objective of different groups of society to overcome the communist regime in country. Those Ukrainians, who helped and supported their candidates, including Volodymyr Mokryy, invoked the Ukrainian community to support the opposition representatives as well. It should be noted that one of most significant challenges for them was struggle against anti-Ukrainian stereotypes. The latter were firmly engrained into Polish society consciousness. In its turn, communist propaganda throughout the period of pre-election campaign, tried to provoke a new wave of hatred to Ukrainians, reminding about the sources of conflicts in Ukrainian-Polish relationship. (shrink)

This paper analyzes how cultural diversity in Argentina is calling into question modern political concepts like republic, nation or democracy. The phenomenon of population movements, the demand for recognition of indigenous people's rights, or the conflicts arising from claims to regions' right to life and identity - as in the case of the town of Gualeguaychú in Argentina - challenge the logic of the nation-state and its sovereignty as well as the republican principles of liberty, equality and fraternity. The (...) author examines how far the representation of the Argentinean republic at the time of its foundation included a standardizing vision of diversity, and how the legacy of this representation brought about an ambivalence between a universalist wish to take part in the progress of humanity and the reality of an exclusive democracy that valued one culture over others. It studies the narrative of national identity and attempts to describe how, proceeding from this narrative, the opposition between civilization and barbarity affects the way Latin Americans see the great challenges presented by the future of democracy, and by the recognition of the plurality of cultural allegiances. (shrink)

This book is designed for three classes of people: Beginners who want an introduction to philosophy; Those who have already had an introduction to philosophy and who would like to see it in action now applied to a great book written by a great philosophy, but who have never read Plato's Republic, the most famous and influential philosophy book ever written; Those who have read Plato's Republic before but did not understand its deepest significance. Why is Plato the (...) best introduction to philosophy? Peter Kreeft has taught philosophy for over 50 years, including one section of a course for beginners every semester. He has tried just about everything possible, and a few new things that are impossible. He has experimented with every one of the many alternative methods available for teaching beginners. (He has A.D.D., so he easily gets bored and likes to try new things all the time.) But he has never found anything nearly as successful as Plato. Plato is the best writer in the history of philosophy. Most philosophers are dull, undramatic, abstract writers. (There are a few other exceptions besides Plato: Augustine, Pascal, Nietzsche, Kierkegaard.) But Plato wrote dramatic dialogues, in which Socrates, his famous teacher, interacts with a great variety of fools. These dialogues are like intellectual swordfights, and even though you know Socrates is going to win, they are exciting because you see his ideas come alive, like a sword in the handoff a master. Plato is a great dramatist, a great poet, and a great psychologist as well as a great philosopher. Nobody else who ever lived combined those four talents as well as Plato did. Apprenticeship to a great master is the best way to learn any art. The student will understand what philosophy is better by watching a master do it than by reading abstract definitions of it from a second-rate philosopher, or by a mere scholar. Concrete examples are always the easiest way to learn things. Plato's dialogues are the world's first, and still the best, concrete example of philosophizing. Kreeft introduces his students to this love affair through a great matchmaker, Plato, who is a better teacher than the student will ever meet in the land of the living. In fact, Plato still is in the land of the living. He's still alive and kicking in his dialogues. He rubs off on those who are wise and humble enough to become a student. (shrink)

This paper describes the results of a field experiment involving 400 employees from ten financial institutions operating within the Shenzhen Special Economic Zone of the People's Republic of China. It was found that, when faced with an agency-based problem, employees indicated they would be less inclined to advise management of the existence of unethical work practices. Younger employees without supervisory experience displayed significant risk aversion. Traditional Chinese values associated with Confucian work dynamism, were shown to be poor predictors of (...) moral choice response. A parsimonious regression model was developed that provides evidence that the universal trait Masculinity/Femininity acted to offset the negative influence of the agency problem. On the other hand, an operative's level of education attainment exerted a negative influence on moral response scores. (shrink)

I enter a debate about state-socialism elite’s reproduction and higher education to propose an implementation of Bourdieu’s hysteresis effect. I argue that the intelligentsia and the interwar university shaped biographical paths of academics stronger than the political factors, which are usually brought to the forefront by contemporary researchers. I analyse academic biographies shaped by the socialist university and reconstruct a model academic biography in the post-WWII period, in particular, in Poland. I compare it with biographies of professors from working-class and (...) peasant backgrounds, and arrive at the conclusion that the differences are minor. Those who formed a seemingly perfect new intelligentsia were socialized by the traditional academic habitus. A few who entered the new academic world from working class or peasant backgrounds had to embrace the interwar university ethos in order to justify their own merits in belonging. I propose a model of opposite hysteresis vectors to explain tensions between academia and political field. (shrink)

The purpose of this thesis is to discuss in depth the issues of civic education and public education in light of Condorcet’s philosophy. Condorcet proposed the revolutionary plan of education reform in the period of the French Revolution. His philosophy is based on republican thought. The republic rests on the sovereignty of the people; people with sovereignty should receive intelligence and be educated for that. Therefore, Condorcet has planned educational programs to enhance people's ability to use reason, that is, (...) “people's reason”, through public education, and to sublimate people and nation into enlightenment rationality. According to Condorcet, there is no true political and social space for citizens without public education, and there are only blind people who are confiscated by dictators. In this case, the citizen falls into anti-enlightenment which is adhered to the limit of immediate utility. Autocracy is always parasitic to the ignorance of citizens. Therefore, the role of public education must be the development of reasoned and free will. The purpose of public education is not to teach the doctrine of civic religion, but to teach all people how to use their reason, teach human rights, and teach people how to judge freely. In this sense, Condorcet's educational philosophy is civic education mediated by people's reason. (shrink)

Even though the first book of the Republic ends with the claim that the definition of justice has not been determined, a careful analysis of the details of Socrates’ arguments with Polemarchus and Thrasymachus yields a definition of justice. Polemarchus should have defended the understanding of justice as helping friends and harming enemies by saying that, because one can use one’s knowledge either to help or to harm, a just person will choose to use his knowledge of an art (...) either to help his friends or to harm his enemies. Socrates’ art of wage-earning is not really an art at all, but merely amounts to having an ulterior motive for doing what one does. Socrates’ true position will be seen to be that just people use their knowledge for the sake of helping people—not for the sake of acquiring some supposed benefit for themselves in the future. (shrink)

The article deals with the mechanisms of female employment. The author has set herself the task of comparing the conditions of employment of women during the Polish People’s Republic (PRL) and contemporary times. The main aim was to indicate the evolution of labour law relating to women workers from a series of instructions and regulations of the Council of Ministers defining the protection of women's work before 1974, through a variety of general rules applicable to all employees, (...) to the regulations contained in the Labour Code and also current legislation. The article attempts to assess the ethical actions taken by the state to improve the conditions of employment of women in the workplace. The text indicates the importance of the work in the lives of women. Occupational status and income level strongly influenced the behaviour of women, who in many cases took up work intended only for men due to the fact that during PRL it was only such work which would allow them to obtain a higher salary. The article indicates that today there is a special emphasis placed on the prohibition of restricting the employment of women in jobs and on the conditions of the employment of pregnant women. The author of this article has evaluated the legislation introduced by the state, which contributed to the increase in female activity in the labour market. However, in ethical terms of ethical it is very difficult to unambiguously assess the actions taken by the state for the protection of women's work in the PRL, but also in contemporary times. (shrink)

The Republic happens to be Plato's most important work. The article throws light on Plato's Magnum Opus. The debate rages over the idea of a city; rather an ideal city state comprising three classes—producers, auxiliaries, and guardians. The first to provide for the material needs of the state, the second for its defence, and the third to rule. Each has a specific function of its own, and none is to interfere with the others. Above all, the just city will (...) be unified, ordered, and harmonious. The rulers and auxiliaries, the two classes Socrates discusses at most length, will be dedicated to protecting the good of the state as a whole, and every aspect of their education, as well as the conditions, under which they live, will be minutely engineered to ensure they fulfil their roles as best they can. In a particularly famous passage, Socrates devotes considerable attention to the arts, proposing radical censorship of the kinds of poetry and music to which will be applicable in the city-state or the Republic that Plato has idealized. (shrink)

ABSTRACT The Discourse on Florentine Affairs contains a proposal for constitutional reform in which Machiavelli directly addresses Pope Giovanni de’ Medici. With the aim of contributing to the recent radical republican readings of Machiavelli, this paper argues that the best way to understand the Discourse is to read it as an example of Machiavelli’s use of irony. Machiavelli disguises his radical republican ideas in the Discourse with paradoxes, omissions and implausible reforms that, though clearly leaning towards a popular republic, (...) are presented as part of the oligarchic or princely option that was defended by the Medici. His subtle critique of the Medici’s client-based politics, his implicit rejection of the oligarchic mixed regime, his description of the institution of such pro-popular magistrates as the Provosts and the Gonfaloniers of the Companies of the People, make one suspect that Machiavelli is hiding a disguised preference towards a popular, rather than a mixed, republic. (shrink)

When Marx dissected the capitalist economy and intervened in the international workers’ movement, he did so in the service of freeing people from alien, uncontrolled power. His political project was the realisation of what he called the social republic, and his theoretical project was to identify the forces that promote or retard this political project. In order to bring out the specificity and cogency of the social-republican Marx, this essay uproots the positive-freedom reading that has overgrown the edifice of (...) his thought. Marx certainly hoped for ‘real freedom’, which is a sort of self-realisation. He also hoped for a sort of collective self-determination. And he thought that collective self-determination was a prerequisite for general self-realisation. But Marx also thought that generalised freedom from domination was a prerequisite for collective self-determination. (shrink)

Cicero's On the Republic and On the Laws are his major works of political philosophy. They offer his fullest treatment of fundamental political questions: Why should educated people have any concern for politics? Is the best form of government simple, or is it a combination of elements from such simple forms as monarchy, aristocracy, and democracy? Can politics be free of injustice? The two works also help us to think about natural law, which many people have considered since ancient (...) times to provide a foundation of unchanging, universal principles of justice. On the Republic features a defense of politics against those who advocated abstinence from public affairs. It defends a mixed constitution, the actual arrangement of offices in the Roman Republic, against simple forms of government. The Republic also supplies material for students of Roman history—as does On the Laws. The Laws, moreover, presents the results of Cicero's reflections as to how the republic needed to change in order not only to survive but also to promote justice David Fott’s vigorous yet elegant English translation is faithful to the originals. It is the first to appear since publication of the latest critical edition of the Latin texts. This book contains an introduction that both places Cicero in his historical context and explicates the timeless philosophical issues that he treats. The volume also provides a chronology of Cicero’s life, outlines of the two works, and indexes of personal names and important terms. (shrink)

The aim of this paper is to present Tischner’s concept of ‘people from hideouts’ in the context of contemporary problems of lack of social involvement, characteristic of Polish society. According to Tischner’s intention, the concept of ‘people from hideouts’ is understood as a manifestation of the pathology of hope, which, in my opinion, is expressed in the reluctance to participate in social life and fulfill civic duties. The paper presents key issues for Tischner’s concept related to the role of (...) hope in human life and fear as an exemplification of an abandonment for hope. The text also describes concepts related to values, freedom, and the role of encounter and dialogue in interpersonal relations. (shrink)