A common assumption is that the gods define what constitutes a purposeful life. Many followers of the gods are convinced that a purposeful life cannot exist without the gods to guarantee it; hence, denying the gods’ importance is equivalent to acknowledging that life is unpurposeful. Lavelle’s dilemma examines this consensus through the application of what is known as Euthyphro’s dilemma. The supporters of the Lavelle Consensus face a powerful dilemma: either a purposeful life rests on the gods’ arbitrary decisions, or (...) the gods are not the originators of a purposeful life and life is therefore subject to an independent reality. Both horns of the dilemma compromise the need for the gods’ existence or reduce them to dictators without any right to command. Lavelle’s dilemma thus concerns itself with human beings’ freedom and purpose in life. If powerful beings command human beings, then they are not free; if powerful beings dictate purpose in life, then it is ipso facto not human beings’ purpose but their purpose. Thus, either an objective purposeful life exists, leaving science and philosophy to explain the content of this purpose, or a purposeful life is something all human beings are free to create themselves. (shrink)

The idea of a postmodern citizenship involves complex political framework, which includes a wide range of social relations and subject positions, and it poses a challenge to participatory democracy and current understanding of political activism, as well as the understanding of the public sphere. Postmodern citizenship involves a nexus of responsibilities and duties of citizens, responding to various challenges, regardless of whether they have the support of state institutions. Exploring the notion of postmodern citizenship is necessary in order to deconstruct (...) traditional concepts of "citizenship", "democracy", "border" and so on. The greatest significance of postmodern theory in the broader observation of equality which is no longer perceived as synonymous with identity, as well as in the new understanding of the difference, which is no longer determined as a deviation and an attack on the established order of values. (shrink)