Chapter 12. The ruins of the political
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Francesco Del Bianco
Abstract
According to Carl Schmitt, the main premise of Western political thought is the idea of the “border” between “friend” and “enemy”: one’s “ownness” is always founded in its difference from the “otherness”. However, after the end of the Cold War, the Western world abandoned these categories, choosing for itself an “open identity” and the new myth of a completed universalism. As a result, the idea of “border” fell into ruin. Nevertheless, during the last Crisis the former conceptuality came back into fashion. Many political forces and opinion makers identify Globalization itself, and the universalistic vocation of our culture, as the reasons for the material and spiritual decay of the Western world: refusing to distinguish the others from us, finally we became unable to recognise ourselves. Therefore, the critics of the “open identity” propose a return to the “old borders” of the Western identity and a strong defence of its roots: The Holy Bible and the Judeo-Christian culture. The aim of this paper is to examine the problems of these controversies between the universalistic vocation and the new identity claim of the Western world, answering these questions: (1) What are the implications of ruined human artefacts and concepts? (2) How did it happen that the conceptuality of “border” fell into ruin? (3) Why is that ruined conceptuality now important again? (4) How can the Bible and the Judaic-Christian culture be useful to solve the controversy about Western identity?
Abstract
According to Carl Schmitt, the main premise of Western political thought is the idea of the “border” between “friend” and “enemy”: one’s “ownness” is always founded in its difference from the “otherness”. However, after the end of the Cold War, the Western world abandoned these categories, choosing for itself an “open identity” and the new myth of a completed universalism. As a result, the idea of “border” fell into ruin. Nevertheless, during the last Crisis the former conceptuality came back into fashion. Many political forces and opinion makers identify Globalization itself, and the universalistic vocation of our culture, as the reasons for the material and spiritual decay of the Western world: refusing to distinguish the others from us, finally we became unable to recognise ourselves. Therefore, the critics of the “open identity” propose a return to the “old borders” of the Western identity and a strong defence of its roots: The Holy Bible and the Judeo-Christian culture. The aim of this paper is to examine the problems of these controversies between the universalistic vocation and the new identity claim of the Western world, answering these questions: (1) What are the implications of ruined human artefacts and concepts? (2) How did it happen that the conceptuality of “border” fell into ruin? (3) Why is that ruined conceptuality now important again? (4) How can the Bible and the Judaic-Christian culture be useful to solve the controversy about Western identity?
Kapitel in diesem Buch
- Prelim pages i
- Table of contents vii
- Foreword xi
- Introduction 1
-
Section 1. Philosophies and controversies
- Chapter 1. Leibniz beyond Leibniz 7
- Chapter 2. Locke’s and Leibniz’s virtual debate over Of our knowledge of the existence of God 29
- Chapter 3. Locke and Leibniz on matter and solidity 49
- Chapter 4. How should we think about a trans-cultural hermeneutics? 69
- Chapter 5. Virtues and vices and parts and wholes 85
- Chapter 6. Trajectories and challenges of translating traditional Chinese medicine 105
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Section 2. Dialogue and controversies
- Chapter 7. Dialogue in philosophical practices 127
- Chapter 8. The absence of God 145
- Chapter 9. Listening to the other 161
- Chapter 10. Controversies on hypercomplexity and on education in the hypertechnological era 179
- Chapter 11. The beleaguered filibuster of the US Senate 201
- Chapter 12. The ruins of the political 217
- Chapter 13. Coordination games and disagreement 241
- Chapter 14. How to solve controversies in scenarios of legal pluralism 261
- Chapter 15. The “water memory affair” 279
- About the contributors 297
- Subject index 303
Kapitel in diesem Buch
- Prelim pages i
- Table of contents vii
- Foreword xi
- Introduction 1
-
Section 1. Philosophies and controversies
- Chapter 1. Leibniz beyond Leibniz 7
- Chapter 2. Locke’s and Leibniz’s virtual debate over Of our knowledge of the existence of God 29
- Chapter 3. Locke and Leibniz on matter and solidity 49
- Chapter 4. How should we think about a trans-cultural hermeneutics? 69
- Chapter 5. Virtues and vices and parts and wholes 85
- Chapter 6. Trajectories and challenges of translating traditional Chinese medicine 105
-
Section 2. Dialogue and controversies
- Chapter 7. Dialogue in philosophical practices 127
- Chapter 8. The absence of God 145
- Chapter 9. Listening to the other 161
- Chapter 10. Controversies on hypercomplexity and on education in the hypertechnological era 179
- Chapter 11. The beleaguered filibuster of the US Senate 201
- Chapter 12. The ruins of the political 217
- Chapter 13. Coordination games and disagreement 241
- Chapter 14. How to solve controversies in scenarios of legal pluralism 261
- Chapter 15. The “water memory affair” 279
- About the contributors 297
- Subject index 303
