Describing questions about the philosophy of politics and society which investigate concerns like liberty, justice and equality.
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28 views
What does Focault mean by “space”?
I’m reading “Of other spaces”, but it’s hard to follow for me because I don’t know what Focault means by “space”. So, what does Focault mean by space? What would be the definition?
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1answer
43 views
Philosophical approaches for a response to rape
I wasn't sure whether to post this here, or on law, or on politics. But I eventually landed here since this SE seemed like the most middle of the road option.
My question concerns rape and how we ...
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0answers
16 views
How do marxists account for the value of land?
Under the labor theory of value, land should on its own have no value if no useful labor has been put into it yet its exchange value on the market extremely high. How is this contradiction addressed? ...
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2answers
26 views
What is use-value according to Marx and why is it what is valuable in a commodity?
According to Marx, labor is what gives a commodity its value, specifically useful labor(das mudpie). My question here is what exactly is useful labor and why is labor itself what provides value and ...
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28 views
How can political theory deviate from subjectivity, if political values are subjective? [on hold]
How can political theory deviate from subjectivity, if political values are subjective?
How does political science then make sense? How does attempting to motivate objective beliefs make sense?
Or ...
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2answers
80 views
How can laissez-faire capitalism not turn to corporatocracy?
An idea of corporatocracy (pretty dystopian) exists in some movies and videogames. Typically huge corporations ar epresented as having own armies and those armies can force citizens do their work. We ...
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41 views
Is there some way to distinguish between “better” and “worse” political ideologies on some general level?
Is there some way to distinguish between "better" and "worse" political ideologies on some general level?
It's clear that there are some subjective beliefs/preferences such as being in favor of ...
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1answer
80 views
Can a ban on certain words be justified rationally?
In our world there is a notion of political correctness. There are some words which can be considered rude or abusive in themselves, regardless of the thought behind them. However, this seems awkward ...
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4answers
150 views
Do anarchists want to eliminate all the power or only juridical one?
I often see as a criticism of anarchism that power has a natural occurrence. It's impossible to eliminate power. There will always be an authority.
However, I always thought that the total ...
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2answers
133 views
Does utilitarianism justify racism in some circumstances?
Utilitarianism says that we should maximize aggregate utility. Greatest happiness for the greatest number is the usual catchphrase.
Suppose there is a wealthy country A with lots of extra resources, ...
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2answers
139 views
What was Plato's purpose behind Atlantis?
I've heard that Atlantis is simply a story about hubris. But since Plato was interested in political philosophy I would be surprised if there weren't anything along those lines to Atlantis.
So my ...
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2answers
253 views
What is meant by: “Human rights were discovered (not invented!)”?
I recently encountered the claim that "Human rights were discovered (not invented!) during the French Revolution" by a person who appears to be quite a Hegel fan (this might make the question easier ...
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1answer
48 views
Burke on the social contract
What did Burke say about the social contract in Reflections on the Revolution in France or elsewhere, and how much did he develop his idea of a 'social contract for the ages'? How does this fit within ...
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3answers
45 views
Thoughts Regarding a Hypothetical Ethics Dilemma [closed]
I'm not a philosopher, so I apologize if this is a generally stupid question, but I was curious to hear what people thought.
Scenario: Consider a "Star Trek" like future, with a technological ...
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4answers
98 views
In order for politics to be “scientific”, what does it require? Are there existing scientific political ideologues (measurement et al)?
In order for politics to be "scientific", what does it require? Are there existing scientific political ideologues (measurement et al)?
Particularly, because I still feel that a lot around politics ...
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1answer
70 views
The social aspect of epistemology
Though not an issue in the debates surrounding rigorous, theoretical epistemology, in practice culture and trust in authorities plays an enormous role for most of our beliefs outside of our expertise.
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1answer
107 views
Russell on freedom of realm of thought from public control
In Political Ideals (1917), Bertrand Russell wrote
The whole realm of thought and opinion is utterly unsuited to public control; it ought to be as free, and as spontaneous as is possible to those ...
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4answers
292 views
How can land and natural resources become “private property”?
I’ve been trying to understand how an anarchic society would be initiated, but the two main ideas- anarcho-communism and anarcho-capitalism- not only contradict each other, but seem to be riddled with ...
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2answers
164 views
How journalism's rationale to tell facts feasible? How objectivity may be achieved if at all by journalists?
On background of some recent events - that regarding Jerusalem's status (the US step of moving their embassy from Tel-Aviv to Jerusalem) and the clash between IDF and Hamas and Palestinians in the ...
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2answers
137 views
How can we stop power abuse without anarchy? [closed]
One of my arguments for anarchy is that power abuse can only be eliminated by eliminating power "on paper" itself.
But maybe I am wrong and there exist other ways to prevent power abuse without ...
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4answers
163 views
Pendulum Theory / Cyclical Theory in Philosophy?
In political science, the Cyclical Theory states that societal attitudes (Liberal-Conservative spectrum) move like a pendulum moving from one extreme to the other.
Are there any philosophers who ...
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0answers
66 views
What does Hannah Arendt mean by 'Alienation from the World?'
In the introduction to Arendts book the Human Condition is the following:
In a development Arendt traces to "alienation from the world," modern, automated societies engrossed by ever more efficient ...
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1answer
118 views
What branch of philosophy studies 'clouds' of concepts that spread as intellectual templates?
I am currently reading Andreas Wimmer's Waves of War, he makes an argument that I found interesting and I was wondering if anyone knew of what Philosophical Theory that style of reasoning would be ...
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1answer
128 views
Why didn't Kant end up in anarchy?
Let us assume the proposition: one might take leader role. Then we apply universalization: if everyone takes leader role, no one is the leader. Thus, we proved that taking leader role is useless ...
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5answers
203 views
For a political ruler is it better to be loved or feared?
Let's suppose the title question applies especially (but not exclusively) in the context of a leadership role (where the goal is to sustain power) and for simplicity let's say the choice is strictly ...
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3answers
109 views
An alternative foundation for political philosophy?
The pragmatic revolution (postmodern revolution) is thought to have significantly/completely changed philosophy and its vocabulary. However with regard to politics, we still seem to be using Platonic ...
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1answer
69 views
How does it make sense to talk about meritocracy?
To talk about meritocracy to me sounds a bit meaningless.
If we have a system S and a person P within system S who is capable of actions A and those actions lead to rewards R, then we may define ...
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3answers
70 views
What is a political mind? [closed]
The one which can manipulate the emotions of someone and can crave the frontier as per its choice.
I exactly want to know its specialities and how it differ from a scientific mind.
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1answer
107 views
Why did Marx criticise Hegel?
While Marx accepted Hegel's dialectic process, he denied Hegel's conclusion that this dialectic ends in freedom that develops at the level of society in the form of Spirit.
What is Marx's argument ...
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2answers
76 views
Liberty and equality have become antagonist?
From French revolution we got equality and liberty concept.in practical life it's seems two opposite pole .How will you satisfy this argument that both can be achieved simultaneously....As liberty ...
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1answer
29 views
Fringe Modes of Governance?
Back in the days of the ancient Greeks, the dominant form of rule was hereditary autocracy. The “fringe” or “cutting edge” theory was democracy. This happened again during the Renaissance, and again ...
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2answers
102 views
School/branch of philosophy based on freedom
New to the exchange, please be gentle.
Are there any branches of philosophy that hold freedom as something that is intrinsically good? I think that libertarianism and various versions comprise one ...
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7answers
363 views
What's wrong with meritocracy?
What's wrong with meritocracy?
Particularly, because I perceive that meritocracy can have a bad reputation, possibly, because it may be associated with "historical", "old" politics, which often were ...
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1answer
71 views
Can a living being claim themselves as a sovereign nation? [closed]
note: this question was first asked on Worldbuilding.SE, then on Politics.SE. The basic premises are the same, but you should go look at them, too.
Sovreign nations are, typically, plots of land ...
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23 views
Couple of questions on Bernard Bolzano's philosophy of state
I read a summary of Bolzano's political views and his philosophy of the "best" state, and I have 3 questions -
A) was Bolzano heavily influenced by the USA? His line of thought for some of his ideas ...
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1answer
86 views
Freedom of speech
Is freedom of speech desired? According to the first amendment in US, there is an implied meaning that the individual has the right to say anything he wants without the need to worry about the ...
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4answers
404 views
Why do different people have different opinions about life?
Philosophy is looking for reason but why philosophers have different prospective about life and....if there were be a rational reason for something all of them must accept it. Am I wrong?
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2answers
114 views
Update-How might we perceive our relations with the environment?
With an excessively growing population, human might be increasingly conflicting with the environment. How might we perceive our relations with the environment? Our advancement in civilization might ...
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3answers
326 views
Is fake news the same as propaganda?
Fake news is a term that has become current in the last few years. An older term that appears to have some family resemblence to this is propaganda. Are they in fact the same - if not, what are the ...
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6answers
389 views
Dictatorship, communism or democracy
Could anyone highlight the main difference between these 3? Also, i remember reading about the concept of communism which is very beautiful, however i do not really understand why there has been no ...
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3answers
94 views
What's the problem with the gender gap?
Hypothesis:
the ratio of unemployed men to women is 1:1
on average the earning power of employed men to women is 1:1 (not true, but let's assume)
there is no difference in performance based on gender
...
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1answer
86 views
What are the main concrete conceptualisations of social/societal good and a good society?
My main objective is to see how a particular technology instantiates or doesn't instantiate particular ideas of "socially/societally good". I'm more of a technologist, so it would help if someone ...
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3answers
106 views
How can political philosophy and moral philosophy differ in the context of moral limits on the market?
When I ask this question, I'm specifically referencing ideas posited by theorists like Michael Sandel (The Tanner Lectures - What Money Can't Buy), Elizabeth Anderson (The Ethical Limitations of the ...
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0answers
45 views
How did Dewey envisage participatory democracy?
According to Chomskys Requiem for an American Dream:
John Dewey, the leading social philosopher in the late 20C argued that until all institutions - production, commerce, media - are under ...
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3answers
471 views
Where does Aristotle mention inequality and his solution to this?
In this interview with Noam Chomsky on a book Requiem for an American Dream based upon a documentary that he did, he is asked:
Let's go to your next point about 'shaping of ideology'. You talk ...
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1answer
159 views
What is the difference between “Continental liberalism”, “English liberalism”, and “Old Whiggism”?
In an essay entitled "Why I am not a Conservative", Hayek distances himself from both "Continental liberalism" and "English liberalism", while calling himself an "Old Whig":
I have already ...
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1answer
625 views
Jean-Paul Sartre on Che Guevara
Jean-Paul Sartre described the Latin revolutionary Che Guevara as "the most complete human being of our age."
What did "complete" mean in Sartre's philosophical belief system? Or was he simply ...
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1answer
120 views
Are drugs and addiction in general bad, a priori?
From day-to-day experience we generally agree that drugs and addictive behavior are harmful for the individual. We know that drugs are harmful for society. But how do we justify banning a drug, ...
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123 views
Chomsky— On Language and the Essential Chomsky
I have taken an interest in the philosophy of language and have studied on my own the equivalent of a undergrad course in the philosophy of language.
I want to know if Chomsky's On Language is ...
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3answers
115 views
Axiomatic politics
Is there a formalized version of politics out there? I think political debates on TV today are just like spewing junk. We really need to formalize and logically analyze politics (in my opinion). ...
