Really important article by Adolph Reed, Jr., about how a policy shift in the US in the 1960s changed the discussion from how to achieve a redistribution of wealth to how to enforce an ideology of personal responsibility.
https://www.thenation.com/article/society/inequality-poverty-unemployment-johnson/
#Inequality #PoliticalPhilosophy

While tyranny is no doubt a bad thing, I prefer a tyranny of the majority to the tyranny of the minority that we have now.

#Politics #Philosophy #PoliticalPhilosophy #Democracy

Institutional virtues include but are by no means limited to the political, economic, and social virtues of direct democracy, horizontality, free association, communality, and intercommunality/federalism. Institutional virtues also include qualities such as mutual-aid distributive justice, justice more broadly (justice as related to the criteria of freedom and equality), practical reasoning (phronesis on an organizational and collective level), wise development and use of technics (techne), deliberative/communicative virtues, the virtue of unity in diversity, etc. Various virtues that Aristotle described–such as phronesis, techne, episteme, and justice– are not reducible to being mere properties of persons; they can also be properties of collectives.

Institutional and relational qualities can shape one another and can round one another out. For some examples: direct democracy with a form and content of horizontality is distinct from direct democracy that is entangled with hierarchy, domination, exploitation, and oppression. Direct democracy without deliberative/communicative virtues will negatively impact decision making and decisions made. Communal self-management without federalism and intercommunal mutual-aid can lead to and/or be caused by vices of parochialism and xenophobia. Self-managed production without distribution according to needs leads to distributive injustice. Horizontality without free association would inhibit the kinds of options people should have about what groups they join and what activities they do. The right kind of equality in the right ways is distinct from equality of squalor or equal rights to compete within an unjust/hierarchical system. Institutional virtues are the right kinds of specific qualities, in the right ways, in the right contexts, for the right ends. Some good institutional qualities can develop lopsidedly, yet only be made sufficiently virtuous through the mutual flourishing of multiple institutional virtues as a gestalt. Sometimes an institutional quality may merely approximate the virtue thereof rather than be sufficiently virtuous– and sometimes this happens because it is not rounded out by other institutional and/or relational virtues and gradations thereof. And even when an institutional quality is sufficiently good enough to be virtuous, it does not make it perfectly/ideally virtuous; virtuous qualities can be further rounded out and are in need of being developed overtime and recreated in differentiated and emerging contexts. And even in a good-enough society, there are additional good institutional and relational virtues that can be developed.

Given what human needs are and what human wellness consists of, flourishing virtuous institutional and relational qualities entail, include, contribute to, and are in harmony with non-hierarchical rights and duties and an expansive realm of permissibility. In contrast to statist and liberal notions of good rights so in vogue within social contract theory, good rights would at least include rights to the means of production, rights to the means of existence, rights to the means of horizontal politics and economics, rights to participatory activity and free association (and the means thereof), as well as freedom from hierarchy, domination, and exploitation. Good duties at least include the duties towards the above rights for persons and groups. Good rights and duties by themselves are not sufficient for their actuation– they require sufficient means thereof. And good rights and duties far from exhaustively encompass what is good; merely acting within such minimal bounds is not enough for a person or group to act wisely. Good rights and duties benefit from and contribute to a wider array of institutional and relational virtues. Sets of good rights and duties are institutional virtues themselves (as properties of institutions that contribute to the flourishing of volitional beings), are related to other institutional and relational virtues (in terms of cause and effect AND in terms of containing some dimensions of other institutional and relational virtues within such good rights and duties), and can be evaluated in relation to coherence and correspondence to webs of institutional and relational virtues.

https://usufructcollective.wordpress.com/2023/07/18/gestalt-of-the-good-2023-remix/

#ethics #normativeethics #philosophy #politicalphilosophy #virtues #virtueethics #morality #freedom #equality #moralrealism #anarchism #anarchy #communism #socialism #libertariansocialism #libertariancommunism #communalism #socialecology #dialectics #dialecticalnaturalism

The virtue of equality is the right kinds of equality, in the right ways, in the right contexts, towards the right ends. It is constituted by the freedom from hierarchy, domination, and exploitation and constituted by the guaranteed freedoms to horizontal power and decision making processes, and equal minimal rights. The virtue of equality, understood as such, is mutually constitutive of the freedom of each and all. Within such bounds of the self-management of each and all, groups and persons can choose what actions and practices they do according to their needs, abilities, and desires– a boundaried yet relatively infinite realm of permissibility constrained only by the freedoms of others, the means thereof, and what is possible given relevant conditions and variables

https://usufructcollective.wordpress.com/2023/07/18/gestalt-of-the-good-2023-remix/

#ethics #normativeethics #philosophy #politicalphilosophy #virtues #virtueethics #morality #freedom #equality #moralrealism #anarchism #anarchy #communism #socialism #libertariansocialism #libertariancommunism #communalism #socialecology #dialectics #dialecticalnaturalism

Volition exists on a continuum in the ecological world (Bookchin 2022). Robust self-management of each and all has specific requisite qualities when it comes to political economic beings and political economic institutions. The political, economic, and social virtues of freedom and equality require each other as well as a gestalt of other institutional and relational virtues to flourish. For some examples: 1. There needs to be direct democracy so that collectives can make direct collective decisions through deliberation. 2. There needs to be both a form and content of horizontality so that collectives and individuals are free from hierarchy, domination, exploitation, and oppression and by extension able to self-determine their lives. 3. There needs to be free association so that persons and collectives choose their associations and activities. 4. There needs to be rights and duties in relation to self-management so that there are guaranteed freedoms for collectives and persons and duties towards such freedoms. 5. Self-management on every political economic scale entails communal and inter-communal self-management and the means thereof (Usufruct Collective 2022). The above qualities can be adapted and elaborated according to relevant variables while retaining their essential features. *** The above is a non-exhaustive account of political economic virtues (such political economic virtues being subsets of institutional virtues more broadly), a non-exhaustive account of what they consist of and entail, and a non-exhaustive account of reasons justifying them as such.

Institutional virtues include but are by no means limited to the political, economic, and social virtues of direct democracy, horizontality, free association, communality, and intercommunality/federalism. Institutional virtues also include qualities such as mutual-aid distributive justice, justice more broadly (justice as related to the criteria of freedom and equality), practical reasoning (phronesis on an organizational and collective level), wise development and use of technics (techne), deliberative/communicative virtues, the virtue of unity in diversity, etc. Various virtues that Aristotle described–such as phronesis, techne, episteme, and justice– are not reducible to being mere properties of persons; they can also be properties of collectives.

Institutional and relational qualities can shape one another and can round one another out. For some examples: direct democracy with a form and content of horizontality is distinct from direct democracy that is entangled with hierarchy, domination, exploitation, and oppression. Direct democracy without deliberative/communicative virtues will negatively impact decision making and decisions made. Communal self-management without federalism and intercommunal mutual-aid can lead to and/or be caused by vices of parochialism and xenophobia. Self-managed production without distribution according to needs leads to distributive injustice. Horizontality without free association would inhibit the kinds of options people should have about what groups they join and what activities they do. The right kind of equality in the right ways is distinct from equality of squalor or equal rights to compete within an unjust/hierarchical system. Institutional virtues are the right kinds of specific qualities, in the right ways, in the right contexts, for the right ends. Some good institutional qualities can develop lopsidedly, yet only be made sufficiently virtuous through the mutual flourishing of multiple institutional virtues as a gestalt. Sometimes an institutional quality may merely approximate the virtue thereof rather than be sufficiently virtuous– and sometimes this happens because it is not rounded out by other institutional and/or relational virtues and gradations thereof. And even when an institutional quality is sufficiently good enough to be virtuous, it does not make it perfectly/ideally virtuous; virtuous qualities can be further rounded out and are in need of being developed overtime and recreated in differentiated and emerging contexts. And even in a good-enough society, there are additional good institutional and relational virtues that can be developed.

https://usufructcollective.wordpress.com/2023/07/18/gestalt-of-the-good-2023-remix/

#ethics #normativeethics #philosophy #politicalphilosophy #virtues #virtueethics #morality #freedom #equality #moralrealism #anarchism #anarchy #communism #socialism #libertariansocialism #libertariancommunism #communalism #socialecology #dialectics #dialecticalnaturalism

Internal motivation towards helping others, forging good relationships, building community, self-development characteristically leads to wellbeing in those who have such virtuous internal motivations (Ryan and Deci 2022). Self-determined social relations characteristically develop wellness and virtuous character traits that give people integrated regulation to do that which is good for themselves and for others (Ryan and Deci 2022). “Integrated regulation involves doing activities because they are important for and congruent with one’s goals or values,” (Ryan and Deci 2022). Ryan and Deci, and many others, provide very good philosophical arguments enriched by mountains of scientific research demonstrating the above as well as the conclusion that, “self-determined functioning is associated with greater creativity, superior learning, better performance, enhanced well-being, and higher quality relationships,” (Ryan and Deci 2022). It is important to note the distinction in well-being and happiness as Ryan and Deci use the terms. We agree with their assessment that well-being and happiness are related yet distinct. Even though happiness is good, “Happiness cannot fully define well-being,” (Ryan and Deci 2022). “Wellness is more than merely a subjective issue,” and “In contrast, happiness (e.g., assessed by the presence of positive affect and absence of negative affect) is a subjective issue,” (Ryan and Deci 2022). But “It is not that happiness is unrelated to wellness, nor should happiness be ignored,”; Happiness is a “symptom of wellness,” that ”typically accompanies or follows from eudaimonic living and is associated with basic need satisfaction and growth,” (Ryan and Deci 2022).

Humans are not just volitional animals (nor are humans merely rational dependent animals– as relevant and true as such a notion is); humans are also institutional animals–as well as political, economic, and social animals (Bookchin 2022). Institutional animals exist within, and are able to create forms of malleable structured social organization with specific forms and functions (within the bounds of conditions and potentiality). Different qualities of institutions enable and constrain different kinds of behaviors. That which is good for humans includes good kinds of institutional forms, contents, and relations that partially define as well as enable the self-determination of each and all. When it comes to good institutions and what is good for institutional volitional beings, what is good is not a mere quantitative aggregation of hedons, happiness, and the like (as good as hedons, happiness, and the like can be); what is good for such beings includes the wellness that comes with meeting needs (including needs for sustenance and self-determination and good relatedness), a multiplicity of good institutional and relational qualities and the means thereof, qualitative rights and duties in harmony with the self-management of each and all, activities and practices entangled with and flowing from such freedom, and individual virtues. Although institutional beings have the potential to create the most horrific kinds of hierarchical formations, institutional beings also have the potential to create good sets of rights and duties, formal equality of decision making power, deliberative and democratic decision making processes, and a guaranteed minimum in terms of access to means of existence, common means of production, and horizontal politics (Bookchin 2005, 2022). Human nature and history demonstrates that depending on the presence and absence of various conditions, humans have the potential for everything from radically egalitarian relations to radically hierarchical relations (Bookchin 2005).

For political economic beings, “true freedom is to have full self-determination about one’s social economic and cultural development,” (Ervin 2021). The freedom of each and all includes the “freedom to develop as one sees fit… integrated to the fullest extent with social responsibility to others,” (Ervin 2021). The right kind of autonomy for rational, dependent, institutional, volitional, political, economic, social beings consists of: the self-management of each and all, the means thereof, political economic expressions thereof– including rights and duties in harmony with such self-management, as well as a panoply of institutional and relational qualities contributing to the living flourishing of the above. The right kind of relatedness to each other politically, economically, and socially includes and gives rise to the self-management of each and all– which itself requires certain kinds of political, economic, and social qualities and practices.

https://usufructcollective.wordpress.com/2023/07/18/gestalt-of-the-good-2023-remix/

#ethics #normativeethics #philosophy #politicalphilosophy #virtues #virtueethics #morality #freedom #equality #moralrealism #anarchism #anarchy #communism #socialism #libertariansocialism #libertariancommunism #communalism #socialecology #dialectics #dialecticalnaturalism

It seems the only thing today's #conservatives are interested in conserving is their own #money and #power.

#PoliticalPhilosophy

#quotes
"The world we live in is false in the sense that institutions lie about the truth of their objective role and functions. Hence, telling the truth about these institutions and questioning them are one and the same thing."

"Non-intervention and non-#commitment objectively amount to ways of not changing the world and therefore of committing oneself to its preservation."
~ Geoffroy de #Lagasnerie in the Nouveau Magazine littéraire, "Il faut assumer le chaos dans lequel nous vivons", 5 October 2018 after the publication of "Penser dans un monde mauvais" (PUF, 2017)
⸺
#sociology #politicalPhilosophy #quote #institutions

Watch Geoffroy de #Lagasnerie in March 2019:
"What describes itself as non-violent [militancy often] is the sacrificial acceptance of one's own exposure to state violence and the preservation of state violence."

"What is the point of saying that the institutions are legitimate if not of furnishing oneself with a clean conscience, of justifying the state's repressive apparatus?"
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f_SeHVsB9uM #sociology #politicalPhilosophy #philosophy #quotes #militancy #violence #institutions #police #FRPol

Enjoying my fabulous colleague Dr. Vikram Visana is giving a talk on his (excellent) book: Uncivil Liberalism. Labour, Capital and Commercial Society in Dadabhai Naoroji's Political Thought. #histodons #politicaltheory #politicalphilosophy #philosophy

The Russia/Kremlin/Moscow strategy for Trump 2024:

https://youtu.be/V_ZyfyWAH18

(A casual beach-walk chat exploratory mini video-essay...)

#fz_webVideos #PoliticalScience #PoliticalPhilosophy #CriticalAnalysisOfDemocracy

Got mildly riled up in the "rationalism" discussion on the Blue (https://www.metafilter.com/199322/New-Woo-Review#8399367), but it led me to finally put into words what I've always disliked about self-described "rationalists":

They're abusing and sullying the name and concept of rational inquiry—one of humanity's great achievements, arguably the diamond in the crown of our entire fucking civilization—and using it for nothing better than pulling a thin veneer of social respectability over their own irrational, shitty, atavistic biases.
#metafilter #USPOL #politics #politicalPhilosophy #secularism

Happy May Day everybody - no Philosophy Unleashed today but it's the third anniversary of the ebook publication of my philosophy book: Authentic Democracy: An Ethical Justification of Anarchism If you still haven't read it, perhaps today's the day? The ebook link is here https://www.amazon.co.uk/Authentic-Democracy-Ethical-Justification-Anarchism-ebook/dp/B087V6BGCH/ref=tmm_kin_swatch_0?_encoding=UTF8&qid=&sr= or if you don’t want to give Amazon your money (especially on May Day) you can get the paperback direct from the publisher here https://tippermuirbooks.co.uk/product/630/

#Philosophy #Book #Ethics #Anarchy #Anarchism #PoliticalPhilosophy #MayDay #democracy #EBook

Very happily following scientists, lefties, activists, journalists, neurodiversity and techies. But 85% of them are white, and I think that's not healthy as it limits my view on the world.

Do any of you have suggestions for me please? People of color I should follow, or Muslims / people of other beliefs than Atheists or Christians?

Main interests:
#activism #anarchism #antifascism #antiracism
#Covid
#climate
#Culture
#feminism #humanrights #PoliticalPhilosophy #privacy
#refugees
#kindness

I love #Philisophy , usually mathematical philosophy but also a bit of #politicalphilosophy . I also love how well formed and thought through The Living Philosophy is in regards to his philosophical content and had to share this amazing video on What is a radical? I think his presentation and selection of literature of unique in fascinating.

https://youtu.be/UseG9sLzfXs

You can now directly download our "Reclaiming Vital Materialism’s Affirmative, Anti-fascist Powers: A Deleuzo-Guattarian New Materialist Exploration of the Fascist Within" from the book Deleuze and Guattari and Fascism (edited by Rick Dolphijn & Rosi Braidotti) via the following link:

https://www.degruyter.com/document/doi/10.1515/9781399505246-019/html

#politicalphilosophy #fascism #DeleuzeandGuattari #newmaterialisms #vitalism #Lebensphilosophien

@philosophy @politicaltheory

People that teach #politicalphilosophy in whatever capacity, what should a 2 week unit in an intro class cover?

People that would take a political philosophy class, what are the questions you'd be most interested in investigating?

In return, I submit the best YouTube comment that can ever be posted to a video featuring William Buckley. And no it's not the punching one.

@philosophy
@phdstudents
@sociology
@histodons
@politicalscience

Geoffroy de #Lagasnerie: Seeing the distance that the State puts in front of us "is the best way to at last be able to deploy effective political #practices and to expect nothing from those from whom we have nothing to expect. In this respect, Assa Traoré's book and the struggle of the "Truth and Justice for Adama" Committee are an education in lucidity and a model of inspiration for future struggles:
[fr] https://www.telerama.fr/idees/geoffroy-de-lagasnerie-rendre-justice-a-adama-traore-c-est-questionner-l-ordre-policier,160960.php #policeViolence #politicalPhilosophy #demonstrations #quote #FRPol

Geoffroy de #Lagasnerie: Seeing the distance that the State puts in front of us "is the best way to at last be able to deploy effective political #practices and to expect nothing from those from whom we have nothing to expect. In this respect, Assa Traoré's book and the struggle of the "Truth and Justice for Adama" Committee are an education in lucidity and a model of inspiration for future struggles:
[fr] https://www.telerama.fr/idees/geoffroy-de-lagasnerie-rendre-justice-a-adama-traore-c-est-questionner-l-ordre-policier,160960.php #policeViolence #politicalPhilosophy #demonstrations #quotes

Geoffroy de #Lagasnerie: The State defends "its own" and it thinks, incredibly, that "its own" is the #police or the gendarmes, and not the victims, the citizens.

"The State constantly is putting itself in the position of making those who exercise their rights be perceived as problematic and illegal or scandalous actions be perceived as natural: seeing the body of the deceased or #demonstrating is natural but it becomes forbidden."

#policeViolence #politicalPhilosophy #demonstrations #quotes 🧶