Review of Economic Philosophy

Tag: Community

  • A Market for Values

    Abstract

    Individual autonomy is a good in itself but also a necessary condition for strong communities. In this article, I propose to create a market for experiences of values, which would offer an incentive to exercise functional autonomy, meant as the ability to choose moral, organizational and cultural values independently from one’s social role. This instrument would contribute to shaping a social identity and to strenghtening community. I also argue that the current proposals to « change capitalism » overlook the importance of autonomy, as they largely rely on the role of money.

    Beginning of the article

    The political and cultural debate has long underlined the need to promote environmental and social sustainability as an unavoidable urgency. Also in the economic sphere, several voices propose to overcome or radically change capitalism. However, beyond the appropriate analyses for instance on the limits of a purely subjective approach to value, these proposals do not capture the basic element that Max Weber and many other social scientists have emphasized for more than a century, namely the dominant role of instrumental rationality in our lives.

    Indeed Weber offered an essential analysis of the processes of rationalization in capitalist societies and of its elements: intellectualization, impersonality, bureaucratic control over human lives. And he showed that, while the formal-procedural rationality [Zweckrationalität] is essential in indicating the consequences or results of actions, it is not necessarily consistent with, and may even contradict substantive-value rationality [Wertrationalität], which is rather an expression of ultimate meaning (as argued by Talcott Parsons) and intrinsic value. Weber clearly indicated the risks for freedom and agency which come from the iron cage of a dominant formal rationality, a place which hosts the “last man” for whom it might well be truly said:
    Specialist without spirit, sensualist without heart; this nullity imagines that it has attained a level of humanity never before achieved
    My proposal for a market for moral, organizational and cultural values, described in this article, is based on the idea of fostering value rationality, and it is in service of a better relation between economics and ethics, individual and community, capitalism and democracy…

    Keywords

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    Codes JEL : A12, A13, Z10.

    [See the article on Cairn]

  • How well does the Idea of “Community” relate to Confucianism?

    Beginning of the article

    Le mot « communauté » (she qun ; 社群) a été largement utilisé dans le chinois moderne. Dans le milieu universitaire, la notion est invoquée en sociologie aussi bien qu’en philosophie politique, où le concept de « communautarisme » a été largement étudié et discuté comme un exemple typique de problématique confucéenne. La compréhension et la discussion de la « communauté » ne peuvent pas être séparées de la différence entre les notions que l’allemand désigne par Gesellschaft (société, she hui ; 社会) et Gemeinschaft (communauté ; she qun ; 社群). Cependant, Gemeinschaft est un concept relativement récent dans l’histoire des idées au regard du confucianisme, de tradition beaucoup plus longue. Comment la Gemeinschaft pourrait-elle être une problématique typiquement confucéenne ?
    Pour répondre à cette question, nous retracerons la trajectoire d’acceptation de la sociologie occidentale dans la Chine moderne. Nous allons d’abord clarifier la signification spécifique de 社et 群 en chinois ancien, puis discuter la réception du terme « société » à la fin de la période Qing (la dernière dynastie régnante en Chine), et le fait qu’un grand nombre d’instituts (xue hui ; 学会) a émergé à ce moment-là. Enfin, nous discuterons l’acceptation des concepts élaborés par Ferdinand Tönnies de Gesellschaft et Gemeinschaft, et comment le terme Gemeinschaft est devenu une problématique typiquement Confucéenne depuis le vingtième siècle.
    社群 (she qun) est la traduction de « communauté » en chinois moderne…

    Abstract

    The word 社群 (she qun, community, in the sense of the German Gemeinschaft) was certainly not a traditionally Confucian topic. The general ethical understanding of ancient China rested on 三纲五常 (san gang wu chang ; the three disciplines and the five Confucian human relationships). Non-dominant religions, associations and academies were closer to the concept of community. In the late 19th century, modern Western sociological principles were first introduced to China, but intellectuals undoubtedly understood them differently because of traditional values and in reaction to the necessity to fortify the Chinese state. It took until the industrialization era, which started in the late 1970s, for the modern concept of community and society with which it was compared to become well-known in China.

    Table of Contents

    • Introduction
    • « She » et « Qun » (社 et 群)
    • « Qunxue » et « Xuehui » (« sociologie », au sens de Yan Fu, et « Institutions »)
    • « Communauté » et « société » en Chine (sur le mode de la distinction entre Gesellschaft et Gemeinschaft)
    • Confucianisme et communauté
    • Conclusion

    Keywords

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    JEL Classification : B13, B31

    [Read the article on Cairn]

  • Community, Rights, and the Self: Comparing Critical Realism, George Herbert Mead, and Beth Singer

    Abstract

    This paper examines connections between the account of social reality outlined by George Herbert Mead and developed by Beth Singer and that developed by advocates of critical realism. Whether primarily interested in defending the relevance of Mead’s contributions or further elaborating the social ontology associated with critical realism, those who have previously compared these perspectives have focused on differences. In this paper I argue that there are important similarities between the account of community, norms, and rights provided by Mead and Singer and recent positions developed by certain proponents of critical realism. I then suggest that, even where limitations in Mead’s analysis are evident, as for example in his over-socialized account of the self, various responses can be made with more than one appearing consistent with key aspects of critical realism.

    Keywords

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  • Continuity and discontinuity in the socio-economics of Yasuma Takata

    Abstract

    This article has the following three objectives. The first is to display the thought and behavior of Japanese thinker Yasuma Takata (1883-1972), almost unknown in the West, who formulated a sociological theory and a socio-economic theory. The second is to examine how his thought and his behavior related to Japan wrong-doing during World War II and the issue of “responsibility/irresponsibility”. The third goal is to show that Takata’s thought actually remains deeply connected with modern Japanese currents of thought, as indicate thinker Masao Maruyama and fiction-writers Kenzaburo Ôe and Yasunari Kawabata.

    JEL codes: B15, B31, N45

    Keywords

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