Discussing some aspects of Carl Schmitt's, Chantal Mouffe's, Paul Ricœur's, and Jacques Rancière's political theories the paper tries to determine the proper subject of political and social philosophy. To that end the author constructs two terminological oppositions: ,the social' versus 'the society', 'the political' versus 'politics'. These four nouns form a terminological square which marks the social and the political difference. The social appears when underprivileged people demand a redistribution of wealth and influence, i.e. a reconstruction of a given society. (...) The political emerges when the hidden normative framework of politics comes into vie. Confronting the social and the political difference in this way makes it possible to determine: politics are the matter of the political sciences, the difference between politics and the political, conversely, is the theme of political philosophy; society is the subject of sociology, the difference between the social and any form of society, however, is the issue of social philosophy. (shrink)

The paper tries to contribute to the discussion of the following problem: Nearly every government acts as if it has a natural right to collect taxes – if necessary by force. How legitimate is such an act of expropriation? To find an acceptable solution, three different theories of property are discussed – eventually favouring the Kantian approach. Subsequently, possible vindications of taxation are presented: (1) control of conduct, (2) financing public institutions, (3) reduction of social differences. All three justifications turn (...) out to be de ficient. What remains is John St. Mill's almost forgotten theory; he sees taxes as a sacrifice and, on this account, pleads for a proportional taxation. (shrink)

The paper tries to contribute to the discussion of the following problem: Nearly every government acts as if it has a natural right to collect taxes – if necessary by force. How legitimate is such an act of expropriation? To find an acceptable solution, three different theories of property are discussed – eventually favouring the Kantian approach. Subsequently, possible vindications of taxation are presented: control of conduct, financing public institutions, reduction of social differences. All three justifications turn out to be (...) de ficient. What remains is John St. Mill's almost forgotten theory; he sees taxes as a sacrifice and, on this account, pleads for a proportional taxation. (shrink)

Onto-semiotisch kann man eine Theorie nennen, welche angibt, wo die Zeichen an die Welt anknüpfen. Wittgenstein hat über dieses Problem viel nachgedacht, ohne eine rechte Lösung zu finden. Erforderlich ist eine Konzeption, die beide Arten von Zeichen, Repräsentatoren wie Indikatoren zu vereinigen vermag. An eben dieser Aufgabe scheitert Saussure, dem es nicht gelingt, Mentalismus und Strukturalismus so zu verbinden, daß die Konkurrenz von Repräsentatoren und Indikatoren aufgehoben wird. Dies gelingt Heidegger in Sein und Zeit. Er fundiert die Repräsentationssemiotik so in (...) einer onto-semiotischen Lehre von den Verweisungen, daß schließlich der Weltbezug der Zeichen deutlich wird. (shrink)