vimeo/88130074 Dear Members: I would appreciate and comments or criticisms you may have on the following presentation. Please make them here within the Philosophy of Social Science group. Thank you! From the description: At a time when many feel there is an increasing polarization of viewpoints and breakdown of civility within public discourse, it is important to point out our common ground. My view is heavily indebted to the social philosopher Jürgen Habermas and the political philosopher Friedrich Hayek and their respective traditions. Accordingly, I am responding to and developing two major projects: an interdisciplinary social science via the critical theory of the Frankfurt School, and an interdisciplinary system of liberalization and human flourishing via the general praxeology of the Austrian School. On a deeper level, my approach is indebted to the (neo-)Kantian and (neo-)Aristotelian traditions. Naturally, my particular clarification and proposal of a shared social and political understanding takes place within an historical context involving my own concerns, background, and biography; it is unabashedly American. Though many notions addressed have specific historical relevance, I nevertheless believe that the core beliefs and values offered can have general validity and applicability. In this spirit, I wish to introduce a new vision. Habermas is the foremost philosopher on the political left; Hayek is the foremost philosopher on the right. Their differing perspectives can be understood as analogous to the different notions of the unconscious held by Freud and Jung. Freud thought that the unconscious was mostly our enemy to be brought under control of the conscious; Jung thought that the unconscious was mostly our friend to be respected through a kind of dialogue. Likewise, Habermas tends to think that social systems are our enemy, to be overcome through rational discourse and communicative action; while Hayek tends to think that social systems (especially, market and law) are our friends, to be embraced through a type of mutually respectful competition and liberty. Both tend to see the challenges of the social sciences as a problem of coordination; they also tend to be wary of excessive forms of positivistic science or scientism (as, for example, a sort of physics writ large) and embrace interpretive or hermeneutical approaches. They also share a profound critique of technological or instrumental reason, though Habermas generally focuses on the inherent dangers of the market to reduce everything to a commodity, while Hayek focuses on the dangers of the government to reduce everything--especially people--to merely a national resource. Of course, there are many more influences and relevancies--shared and unshared--to their perspectives. My project is a very Jungian one involving the synthesis of opposites by appreciating the truth in both.
Posted on: Thu, 06 Mar 2014 06:43:04 +0000
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