Cet ouvrage est une réédition numérique d’un livre paru au XXe siècle, désormais indisponible dans son format d’origine.

First published in 2000. Routledge is an imprint of Taylor & Francis, an informa company.

This article identifies four approaches to arguing for democracy, showing that none has an adequate way of supporting both full adult inclusion and the exclusion of children. I focus in Section 2 on the arguments of David Estlund and Thomas Christiano, showing that their arguments against guardianship call into question the exclusion of children from the franchise. In Section 3, I explain why the exclusion of children constitutes an injustice, and in the final section, I consider two approaches to remedying (...) that injustice. Key Words: justice • democracy • children. (shrink)

The debate on the European Union's democratic deficit usually operates within a national-democratic framework of analysis. This article argues for a change in methodology. It follows the thesis that the EU is a ‘demoicracy’– a polity of multiple demoi– and has to be evaluated as such. Core principles of demoicracy are developed and the EU is assessed accordingly. Such an evaluation is not only more adequate, but also provides original insights: it is found that, whereas the constitutional development of the (...) EU has approached demoicratic standards in general, major deficits remain at the national level. (shrink)

Engelhardt is correct in thinking that potentiality implies continuity. The central purpose of the Aristotelian notion of potency is to explain continuity, both in becoming and in generation-corruption. If one denies continuity in change, he will have little use for potentiality, at least little use for the Aristotelian types. And there are types that should not be conflated: one to account for continuity in becoming and generation, another to account for continuity of a being going from not acting to acting. (...) The first type, where something happens to a being, is called passive potency; the second type, where a being itself actively does something, is predictably called active potency. (shrink)

A businessperson acts,quabusinessperson, in two institutional contexts which in principle are completely distinct, and normally entail two different ways of relating to other people; on the one hand as an actor in the market, and on the other as the employees’ manager. We shall assume that different sets of norms govern how to relate to trading partners in the market and how to relate to subordinates in the company. The moral problems which arise in the two different institutions for conducting (...) human relations consequently also differ. The main problem relating to market operations originates in the fact that one achieves the most desirable consequences when the objective as such is difficult to justify on moral grounds. Profit is the target, if necessary at the expense of the person one is dealing with. In this context—i.e. in the market—altruistic considerations, or acting out of consideration for the other party, can produce socially undesirable results. The problems confronting the businessperson as manager are of a different nature. We shall not be considering all aspects of management or consultancy ethics, only what we regard as in principle the fundamental problem, one which in fact applies to all management in modern society. (shrink)

Les nouveaux et nombreux défis de la constellation " postnationale " rendent plus actuelle que jamais une ancienne idée philosophique : le cosmopolitisme. Dans ses variantes modernes, celui-ci pose l'autonomie de l'individu humain comme norme fondamentale de toute construction politique. Le cosmopolitisme représente donc une alternative aussi bien au nationalisme qu'à la théorie normative d'un monde multipolaire de confrontations entre empires. L'ouvrage montre que le cosmopolitisme peut être considéré comme une conséquence des principes de la philosophie politique moderne. Définissant les (...) bases normatives de l'Etat-nation démocratique, elle comprend ce dernier comme une réalisation temporaire des principes cosmopolitiques et la nation comme une entité politique qui doit, graduellement, être intégrée dans une construction intergouvernementale et cosmopolitique. L'étude s'achève sur un aperçu du cosmopolitisme dans la philosophie politique actuelle. L'auteur propose un cosmopolitisme processuel qui défende une intégration graduelle, progressive et pragmatique vers la sécularisation du droit et de l'autonomie de l'individu par l'interconnexion d'institutions nationales, intergouvernementales et supranationales. La cité des peuples n'est donc pas l'anticipation normative d'un Etat mondial, mais la volonté d'un processus d'intégration différenciée entre les peuples démocratiquement constitués. (shrink)

This article argues that obligatory, simultaneous, and simple Treaty ratification by referenda is the next step in the consolidation of the political core of European citizenship. In the first part, general remarks about the special nature of EU citizenship highlight the relevance of referenda on EU Treaties for EU citizenship. In the second part, the normative and empirical case in favour of direct democracy is put forward. It is followed by the assessment of direct democracy in European integration as we (...) have known it so far. The practice is irreversible and gaining in momentum. But it is in need of substantial reform due to procedural dysfunctions and discriminatory consequences for the citizens. Section V relates this result to a legal analysis of EU citizenship. The suppression of the discriminatory consequences of the Treaty ratification procedure is necessary from a legal point of view, but it cannot be expected from the 'judicial incrementalism' that has characterised the development of EU citizenship regarding free movement and residence. In section VI, the conclusions of the previous sections are drawn into the final proposal of obligatory, simultaneous and simple Treaty reform by referenda in all Member States. At the end, five counter-arguments to the proposal are discussed. (shrink)

Richard Rorty (1931–2007) was undoutedly one of the most renowned intellectuals of his generation. This volume contains eighteen published and unpublished essays from the last decade of Rorty’s lif...

Este artigo examina três figuras típicas do discípulo na filosofia antiga: o socrático (“filho ciumento”), o epicurista (“doente curado, mas psitacista”) e o aristotélico (“hermeneuta insatisfeito”).

Science breaks new trails for technology but social science has yet to break new trails for social technology. Why is this? One hypothesis explains this with reference to the complexity of the social world and the still rudimentary nature of the social sciences. This paper argues for an alternative hypothesis, claiming that social science research is incapable of generating technologies not already part of the human repertoire. Drawing on a range of social science inquiry from economics to psychology, it shows (...) that the ?mechanisms? posited to explain normal and puzzling human behavior depend on familiar facts about humans which future investigations cannot overturn. Finally, it is shown that even when these familiar facts are themselves explained, the generative mechanisms posited to account for them are no longer within the sphere of the social sciences. (shrink)

Der Artikel erläutert mit dem kosmopolitischen Republikanismus einen Aspekt, der in der nationalstaatlich fixierten und meist euroskeptischen Republikanismus-Forschung vernachlässigt worden ist, aber in der frühen Phase der Französischen Revolution eine wichtige Rolle spielte. In der Perspektive des hier vorliegenden Artikels erscheint der revolutionäre Republikanismus zumindest in seinen Anfängen nicht als Inbegriff nationalstaatlich gehegter Demokratie und Autonomie, sondern als kosmopolitische oder zumindest Europa einigende Idee. Das Beispiel von Cloots zeigt, dass der Republikanismus in jener Zeit des Umbruchs und am historischen Ursprung (...) der modernen europäischen Demokratie nicht partikularstaatlich, sondern kosmopolitisch konnotiert war. Heutige Versuche, den Republikanismus kosmopolitisch zu transformieren, wie sie von R. Bellamy und D. Castiglione unternommen werden, können in die Tradition des kosmopolitischen Republikanismus gestellt werden. Der Artikel würdigt sechs systematisch bedeutende Merkmale von Cloots’ Theorie und stellt diese in Beziehung zum kantischen Kosmopolitismus, der sich hauptsächlich durch seinen prozessualen, historisch-hermeneutisch reflektierten Charakter von Cloots’ kosmopolitischem Republikanismus unterscheidet. (shrink)