The book addresses the broad issue of sustainability of our civilization and seeks to contribute to the ongoing discussion of what many see as its systemic crisis. There is a broad agreement that new creative ideas, initiatives, and solutions are essential for dealing with the current problems. However, despite this recognition, we still know very little about the process of creation and how it works. As a result, our civilization fails to harness the enormous creative potential of humanity. This failure, (...) the book argues, is the main source of our current problems—languishing economy, deteriorating environment, continued violence, the deficit of democracy, and the lack of new fundamental breakthroughs in science. It examines some of these problems and demonstrates the connection between them and our failure to embrace the process of creation. The book offers a perspective that sheds light on the process of creation. It pays special attention to the theoretical contributions of Jean Piaget and the ongoing discussions of knowledge production that help us understand better how the process of creation works. The central argument of the book is that in order to solve our current problems and ensure the sustainability of our civilization well into the future we must embrace the process of creation and make it the central organizing principle of our social practice. Finally, the book provides an outline of the principal changes that the adoption of the new social practice organized around the process of creation will involve. (shrink)

In his seminal essay “The Philosophical Basis of Eighteenth-Century Racism”, Richard Popkin argued that, when one looks more closely at some of the Enlightenment’s most important thinkers, one is c...

Jeremy Waldron has recently raised the question of whether there is anything approximating the creative self-authorship of personal autonomy in the writings of Immanuel Kant. After considering the possibility that Kantian prudential reasoning might serve as a conception of personal autonomy, I argue that the elements of a more suitable conception can be found in Kant’s Tugendlehre, or “Doctrine of Virtue”—specifically, in the imperfect duties of self-perfection and the practical love of others. This discovery is important for at least three (...) reasons: first, it elucidates the relationship among the various conceptions of autonomy employed by personal-autonomy theorists and contemporary Kantians; second, it brings to the surface previously unnoticed or undernoticed features of Kant’s moral theory; and third, it provides an essential line of defense against certain critiques of contemporary Kantian theories, especially that of John Rawls. (shrink)

(2006). Pluralism and its Discontents: John Gray's Counter‐Enlightenment. Critical Review of International Social and Political Philosophy: Vol. 9, The Political Theory of John Gray, pp. 211-225.

Dvesta dvadeset godina nakon Francuske revolucije, problem odredjenja pojma prosvetiteljstva i dalje istrajava. U radu ce se pokazati da odredjenje ovog pojma nikada i nije bilo sasvim jasno. Stoga se predlaze pravljenje distinkcije izmedju prosvecenosti i prosvetiteljstva. Prosvetiteljstvo kao period koji se vezuje za Evropu XVIII veka, moze se tumaciti kao deo sireg procesa prosvecenosti, ili, bolje, prosvecivanja. Videcemo da se prosvetiteljstvo ne moze posmatrati kao homogen, jedinstven proces, vec da bi ga pre trebalo videti kao tkivo, koje i dalje (...) utice na misao i kulturu Zapada. Medjutim, utvrdice se i da optuzbe na racun?naknadnog projektovanja prosvetiteljstva? nisu narocito korisne, buduci da osujecuju mogucnost razumevanja jednog slozenog fenomena i veoma znacajnog pokreta u evropskoj povesti. PR Projekat Ministarstva nauke Republike Srbije, br. 149029: Prosvecenost u evropskom, regionalnom i nacionalnom kontekstu - istorija i savremenost. (shrink)

Dvesta dvadeset godina nakon Francuske revolucije, problem odredjenja pojma prosvetiteljstva i dalje istrajava. U radu ce se pokazati da odredjenje ovog pojma nikada i nije bilo sasvim jasno. Stoga se predlaze pravljenje distinkcije izmedju prosvecenosti i prosvetiteljstva. Prosvetiteljstvo kao period koji se vezuje za Evropu XVIII veka, moze se tumaciti kao deo sireg procesa prosvecenosti, ili, bolje, prosvecivanja. Videcemo da se prosvetiteljstvo ne moze posmatrati kao homogen, jedinstven proces, vec da bi ga pre trebalo videti kao tkivo, koje i dalje (...) utice na misao i kulturu Zapada. Medjutim, utvrdice se i da optuzbe na racun?naknadnog projektovanja prosvetiteljstva? nisu narocito korisne, buduci da osujecuju mogucnost razumevanja jednog slozenog fenomena i veoma znacajnog pokreta u evropskoj povesti. PR Projekat Ministarstva nauke Republike Srbije, br. 149029: Prosvecenost u evropskom, regionalnom i nacionalnom kontekstu - istorija i savremenost. (shrink)