Ronald Beiner - Böcker

In recent years there has been a major revival of interest in the political philosophy of Immanuel Kant. Thinkers have looked to Kant's theories about knowledge, history, the moral self and autonomy, and nature and aesthetics to seek the foundations of their own political philosophy. This volume, written by established authorities on Kant as well as by new scholars in the field, illuminates the ways in which contemporary thinkers differ regarding Kantian philosophy and Kant's legacy to political and ethical theory.The book contains essays by Patrick Riley, Lewis White Beck, Mary Gregor, and Richard L. Velkley that place Kant in the tradition of political philosophy; chapters by Dieter Henrich, Susan Shell, Michael W. Doyle, and Joseph M. Knippenberg that examine Kantian perspectives on history and politics; contributions by William A. Galston, Bernard Yack, William James Booth, and Ronald Beiner that judge the Kantian legacy; and classic discussions by John Rawls, Jürgen Habermas, Charles Taylor, and Hans-Georg Gadamer that present different perspectives on contemporary debates about Kant.

Originally published in 1983. One of the basic capacities of man as a political being is his faculty of judgement. Yet for all the books on concepts like freedom, equality and authority, surprisingly little attention has been given to this topic in the tradition of Western political thought. What is the nature of political judgement? What endows us, as human beings, with the ability to make reasonable judgements about human affairs and to judge the common world we share with others? By what means to we secure validity for our judgements? What are the underlying conditions of this human capacity, and what implications does it have the understanding of politics? These questions, central as they are to any reflection on politics have rarely been addressed in a systematic way. This book examines Kant’s concept of taste and Aristotle’s concept of prudence, as well as recent works of political philosophy by Arendt, Gadamer and Habermas, all crucially influenced by Kant and Aristotle.

What’s the Matter with Liberalism? by Ronald Beiner confronts the triumphalist mood that swept the West after the collapse of socialism in Central and Eastern Europe. While liberal democracies congratulated themselves on their victory, Beiner—drawing on Václav Havel’s warnings—asks whether consumer-driven societies conceal their own “latent tendencies” toward emptiness. Instead of taking liberalism’s superiority as self-evident, he probes its limitations, arguing that a political philosophy reduced to tidying concepts or offering policy tips cannot account for the deeper questions of human purpose and civic life.Beiner reimagines political theory as a form of truth-seeking narrative—storytelling that illuminates who we are, what we value, and what we risk becoming. He draws on Aristotle’s notion of “ethical fitness,” cultivated like physical strength through habituation; on Iris Murdoch’s defense of literature as a medium of truth-claims about human life; and on Hannah Arendt and Walter Benjamin’s vision of history as redemption for the defeated and critique of “progress” as a pile of debris. From this perspective, liberal neutrality is exposed as far from neutral: by privileging consumer choice above all else, it structures economies, cities, and even imaginations around a narrow vision of the good. Beiner calls for recovering a more substantive philosophical anthropology—one attentive to needs, virtues, and civic purposes—so that political theory can once again articulate richer accounts of character, community, and freedom. Engaging liberalism’s critics and allies alike, What’s the Matter with Liberalism? is both a diagnosis of liberalism’s blind spots and a bold appeal to expand the horizons of political reflection.This title is part of UC Press's Voices Revived program, which commemorates University of California Press’s mission to seek out and cultivate the brightest minds and give them voice, reach, and impact. Drawing on a backlist dating to 1893, Voices Revived makes high-quality, peer-reviewed scholarship accessible once again using print-on-demand technology. This title was originally published in 1992.

What’s the Matter with Liberalism? by Ronald Beiner confronts the triumphalist mood that swept the West after the collapse of socialism in Central and Eastern Europe. While liberal democracies congratulated themselves on their victory, Beiner—drawing on Václav Havel’s warnings—asks whether consumer-driven societies conceal their own “latent tendencies” toward emptiness. Instead of taking liberalism’s superiority as self-evident, he probes its limitations, arguing that a political philosophy reduced to tidying concepts or offering policy tips cannot account for the deeper questions of human purpose and civic life.Beiner reimagines political theory as a form of truth-seeking narrative—storytelling that illuminates who we are, what we value, and what we risk becoming. He draws on Aristotle’s notion of “ethical fitness,” cultivated like physical strength through habituation; on Iris Murdoch’s defense of literature as a medium of truth-claims about human life; and on Hannah Arendt and Walter Benjamin’s vision of history as redemption for the defeated and critique of “progress” as a pile of debris. From this perspective, liberal neutrality is exposed as far from neutral: by privileging consumer choice above all else, it structures economies, cities, and even imaginations around a narrow vision of the good. Beiner calls for recovering a more substantive philosophical anthropology—one attentive to needs, virtues, and civic purposes—so that political theory can once again articulate richer accounts of character, community, and freedom. Engaging liberalism’s critics and allies alike, What’s the Matter with Liberalism? is both a diagnosis of liberalism’s blind spots and a bold appeal to expand the horizons of political reflection.This title is part of UC Press's Voices Revived program, which commemorates University of California Press’s mission to seek out and cultivate the brightest minds and give them voice, reach, and impact. Drawing on a backlist dating to 1893, Voices Revived makes high-quality, peer-reviewed scholarship accessible once again using print-on-demand technology. This title was originally published in 1992.

Civil Religion offers philosophical commentaries on more than twenty thinkers stretching from the sixteenth to the twentieth century. It examines four important traditions within the history of modern political philosophy. The civil religion tradition, principally defined by Machiavelli, Hobbes and Rousseau, seeks to domesticate religion by putting it solidly in the service of politics. The liberal tradition pursues an alternative strategy of domestication by seeking to put as much distance as possible between religion and politics. Modern theocracy is a militant reaction against liberalism, reversing the relationship of subordination asserted by civil religion. Finally, a fourth tradition is defined by Nietzsche and Heidegger. Aspects of their thought are not just modern, but hyper-modern, yet they manifest an often-hysterical reaction against liberalism that is fundamentally shared with the theocratic tradition. Together, these four traditions compose a vital dialogue that carries us to the heart of political philosophy itself.

Civil Religion offers philosophical commentaries on more than twenty thinkers stretching from the sixteenth to the twentieth century. It examines four important traditions within the history of modern political philosophy. The civil religion tradition, principally defined by Machiavelli, Hobbes and Rousseau, seeks to domesticate religion by putting it solidly in the service of politics. The liberal tradition pursues an alternative strategy of domestication by seeking to put as much distance as possible between religion and politics. Modern theocracy is a militant reaction against liberalism, reversing the relationship of subordination asserted by civil religion. Finally, a fourth tradition is defined by Nietzsche and Heidegger. Aspects of their thought are not just modern, but hyper-modern, yet they manifest an often-hysterical reaction against liberalism that is fundamentally shared with the theocratic tradition. Together, these four traditions compose a vital dialogue that carries us to the heart of political philosophy itself.

Liberals believe that the purpose of politics is to guarantee that individuals do not face unfair impediments in pursuing the lives they choose for themselves. Nationalists believe that the purpose of politics is to ensure that a people's sense of authentic nationhood wins full expression in powers of collective sovereignty or self-rule. Both of these forms of political commitment yield world-transforming political philosophies, but do either of these visions do adequate justice to a philosophically robust ideal of shared citizenship and civic membership?In Liberalism, Nationalism, Citizenship, Ronald Beiner engages critically with a wide range of important political thinkers and current debates in light of the Aristotelian idea that shared citizenship is an essential human calling. Virtually every aspect of contemporary political experience – globalization, international migration, secessionist movements, the politics of multiculturalism – pose urgent challenges to modern citizenship. Beiner's work on the philosophy of citizenship is essential reading not just for students of politics and political philosophy, but for all those who rightly sense that these kinds of recent challenges demand an ambitious rethinking of the nature of political community.

An anthology of essays on citizenship by such well-known theorists as Habermas, Walzer, Flathman, Iris Marion Young, MacIntyre, Ignatieff, and George Armstrong KellyIn recent years there has been an explosion of interest in the theme of citizenship among political philosophers. Any attempt to reflect theoretically on this topic must address a host of vital questions: how to distinguish between "insiders" and "outsiders" in a normatively defensible way; how to secure for all individuals within a political society a sense of full membership in the social and political life of that society; and how to keep allegiance to the political community durable in the face of mounting pressures, domestic and international. The need to rethink the issue of citizenship has been given special urgency by incisive theoretical challenges to liberalism within the academy as well as practical challenges associated with continuing flare-ups of modern nationalism and ethnic strife, implying challenges, both localist and globalist, to the integrity of the modern state.Therefore, political theorists must once again explore the basic problem of what binds citizens together into a shared political community. Theoretical essays by such well- known scholars as Habermas, Walzer, Flathman, Iris Marion Young, MacIntyre, Ignatieff, and George Armstrong Kelly offer a sampling of some of the best articles on this crucial topic.

Presents some of the best work by political theorists on themes concerning citizenship, national identity, and the philosophical meaning of political membership.Theorizing Nationalism directly addresses the normative dimensions of nationalism. A sequel to Theorizing Citizenship, this volume brings theoretical and philosophical clarity to an examination of the political appeal and normative status of nationalist claims. Some of the themes it discusses are the following: whether there is a "right" to collective self-determination, the relationship between nationalism and modernity, whether nationalism and liberalism can be reconciled, whether there is a theoretically legitimate distinction between so-called civic and ethnic versions of nationalism, and the "existential" attractiveness of nationalism.

Following the fall of the Berlin Wall and demise of the Soviet Union, prominent Western thinkers began to suggest that liberal democracy had triumphed decisively on the world stage. Having banished fascism in World War II, liberalism had now buried communism, and the result would be an end of major ideological conflicts, as liberal norms and institutions spread to every corner of the globe. With the Brexit vote in Great Britain, the resurgence of right-wing populist parties across the European continent, and the surprising ascent of Donald Trump to the American presidency, such hopes have begun to seem hopelessly naÏve. The far right is back, and serious rethinking is in order.In Dangerous Minds, Ronald Beiner traces the deepest philosophical roots of such right-wing ideologues as Richard Spencer, Aleksandr Dugin, and Steve Bannon to the writings of Nietzsche and Heidegger-and specifically to the aspects of their thought that express revulsion for the liberal-democratic view of life. Beiner contends that Nietzsche's hatred and critique of bourgeois, egalitarian societies has engendered new disciples on the populist right who threaten to overturn the modern liberal consensus. Heidegger, no less than Nietzsche, thoroughly rejected the moral and political values that arose during the Enlightenment and came to power in the wake of the French Revolution. Understanding Heideggerian dissatisfaction with modernity, and how it functions as a philosophical magnet for those most profoundly alienated from the reigning liberal-democratic order, Beiner argues, will give us insight into the recent and unexpected return of the far right.Beiner does not deny that Nietzsche and Heidegger are important thinkers; nor does he seek to expel them from the history of philosophy. But he does advocate that we rigorously engage with their influential thought in light of current events-and he suggests that we place their severe critique of modern liberal ideals at the center of this engagement.

What are the chief challenges posed to contemporary democracy by modern technology, and how can democratic theory best respond to, or at least reflect on, those challenges? Inhabiting the kind of technologically advanced era in which we live, what sources are available within political theory for theoretical insight concerning the problem of democratic engagement with technology? The purpose of this volume is to canvas a broad range of theorists and theoretical traditions in order to address these questions, including Hegel and Marx, Rousseau and John Dewey, Heidegger and Simone Weil, Habermas and Walter Benjamin, Hannah Arendt and Hans Jonas. Commentaries on all these important thinkers -- focused on the issue of contemporary technology as posing unique social and political challenges for democratic political life -- yields rich and ambitious resources for theoretical reflection.

Radical Right Ideologues in the Age of Trump offers a series of sketches of what it means to live within a new Zeitgeist where ideas of the radical right are once again attractive to young minds. The book first zeroes in on Nietzsche as a privileged philosophical source for the contemporary radical right – as a kind of prophet of the ferocious rebellion against liberal democracy evident today. It then explores this in more detail with a series of case studies of contemporary far-right ideologues and activists including Steve Bannon, Bronze Age Pervert, Alexander Dugin, Jason Jorjani, and others. This book will appeal to activists, researchers, and scholars with an interest in the contemporary radical right, fascist intellectualism, and anti-democratic ideologies.

Radical Right Ideologues in the Age of Trump offers a series of sketches of what it means to live within a new Zeitgeist where ideas of the radical right are once again attractive to young minds. The book first zeroes in on Nietzsche as a privileged philosophical source for the contemporary radical right – as a kind of prophet of the ferocious rebellion against liberal democracy evident today. It then explores this in more detail with a series of case studies of contemporary far-right ideologues and activists including Steve Bannon, Bronze Age Pervert, Alexander Dugin, Jason Jorjani, and others. This book will appeal to activists, researchers, and scholars with an interest in the contemporary radical right, fascist intellectualism, and anti-democratic ideologies.

What is political philosophy? Ronald Beiner makes the case that it is centrally defined by supremely ambitious reflection on the ends of life. We pursue this reflection by exposing ourselves to, and participating in, a perennial dialogue among epic theorists who articulate grand visions of what constitutes the authentic good for human beings. Who are these epic theorists, and what are their strengths and weaknesses? Beiner selects a dozen leading candidates: Arendt, Oakeshott, Strauss, Löwith, Voegelin, Weil, Gadamer, Habermas, Foucault, MacIntyre, Rawls, and Rorty. In each case, he shows both why the political philosophies continue to be intellectually compelling and why they are problematic or can be challenged in various ways. In this sense, Political Philosophy attempts to draw up a balance sheet for political philosophy in the twentieth century, by identifying a canon of towering contributions and reviewing the extent to which they fulfil their intellectual aspirations.

What is political philosophy? Ronald Beiner makes the case that it is centrally defined by supremely ambitious reflection on the ends of life. We pursue this reflection by exposing ourselves to, and participating in, a perennial dialogue among epic theorists who articulate grand visions of what constitutes the authentic good for human beings. Who are these epic theorists, and what are their strengths and weaknesses? Beiner selects a dozen leading candidates: Arendt, Oakeshott, Strauss, Löwith, Voegelin, Weil, Gadamer, Habermas, Foucault, MacIntyre, Rawls, and Rorty. In each case, he shows both why the political philosophies continue to be intellectually compelling and why they are problematic or can be challenged in various ways. In this sense, Political Philosophy attempts to draw up a balance sheet for political philosophy in the twentieth century, by identifying a canon of towering contributions and reviewing the extent to which they fulfil their intellectual aspirations.

Representations of the figure of Moses are both central and pervasive in the history of Western political thought. The story of Moses, as depicted in the Books of Exodus, Numbers, and Deuteronomy in the Hebrew Bible, has generated an immensely powerful set of images that have left a lasting mark on both Western and global culture.Moses and Political Philosophy explores the enduring tropes drawn from this narrative, which continue to shape political discourse up to the present. The book examines why these interpretations retain such a lasting relevance in contemporary debates and explores how an appreciation of them can enrich our engagement with the centuries-long dialogue that has shaped the tradition of Western political theory. Offering a comprehensive analysis of the Moses story, the book investigates various appropriations of the tale, the characterization of the Mosaic regime, the politically charged implications of Moses’s authority, and the most intriguing puzzles and paradoxes within the narrative. In doing so, Moses and Political Philosophy sheds new light on the profound and lasting influence of the Moses story on the evolution of political thought.