Article Sidebar

Submitted
June 5, 2020
Published
March 31, 2014
Download
PDF
Statistic
Read Counter : 42 Download : 65

Main Article Content

Abstract

In this paper I discuss and criticize Michael Walzer?s concept of social criticism. I detect in his project an unacknowledged attempt at the reactivation of the young-Marxian idea of criticism as a ?reform of consciousness?. However, I argue, Walzer challenges one of the most prominent and controversial assumptions of the Marxian project ? the existence of the universal subject of emancipation. I claim that while Walzer?s elimination of this universal claims of social criticism is an understandable and important attempt at freeing political thought from philosophical illusions, it takes away the most significant reason for social criticism ? an effort of oppressed groups at emancipation from domination. I agree with Walzer?s critique of the universality of the oppressed subject at the basis of Marxian thought. However, what I find troubling in Walzer?s idea is the resulting separation of criticism and emancipation, and
this separation presents an impasse that I will try to illuminate in my article. 

Keywords

Michael Walzer krytyka społeczna emancypacja uczestnictwo obywatelskie uniwersalizm partykularyzm Michael Walzer social criticism emacipation citizen participation social justice

Article Details

License

TCE (INSTED) is an open access journal, which means that access to the full texts is free of charge. People using the journal may download publications, copy and print them, as well as post on their websites links to the full texts of the journal's publications. Texts can be used as long as readers do not exceed the licenses. Authors submitting manuscripts for publication obtain copyrights. Unless otherwise specified, published texts are available under the Creative Commons Attribution - Share Alike 4.0 International license.

How to Cite
Rasiński, L. (2014). Social Criticism without Emancipation: Reflections on Michael Walzer’s Critical Project. INSTED: Interdisciplinary Studies in Education & Society, 17(1(65), 7–23. Retrieved from https://insted-tce.pl/ojs/index.php/tce/article/view/7
Download Citation
Endnote/Zotero/Mendeley (RIS)
BibTeX

References

  1. BOUNDS E.M.B., 1994, Conflicting Harmonies: Michael Walzer's Vision of Community, The Journal of Religious Ethics, 22(2).
  2. CAMUS A., 1991, The Artist and His Time, [in:] The Myth of Sisyphus and Other Essays by Albert Camus, transl. by J. O’Brien, Vintage, New York.
  3. FOUCAULT M., 1994, L’êthique du souci de soi comme pratique de la liberté, [in:] M. Foucault, Dits et écrits: 1954–1988, Vol. IV, ed. by D. Defert, F. Ewald, Gallimard, Paris.
  4. GALSTON W.A., 1989, Community, Democracy, Philosophy: The Political Thought of Michael Walzer, Political Theory, 17(1).
  5. GEERTZ C., 1973, Thick Description: Toward an Interpretive Theory of Culture, [in:] The Interpretation of Cultures: Selected Essays, Basic Books, New York.
  6. GRAMSCI A., 1971, Selections from the Prison Notebooks, transl. and ed. by Q. Hoare, G.N. Smith, Lawrence & Wishart, London.
  7. HABERMAS J., 1990, Discourse Ethics: Notes on a Program of Philosophical Justification, [in:] Moral Consciousness and Communicative Action, transl. by C. Lenhart, S.W. Nicholson, MIT Press, Cambridge.
  8. KRUPNICK M., 1989, The Critic and His Connections: The Case of Michael Walzer, American Literary History, 1(3).
  9. LACLAU E., 1996, Emancipation(s), Verso, London, New York.
  10. MARX K., 1978, Contribution to the Critique of Hegel’s Philosophy of Right: Introduction, [in:] MarxEngels Reader, ed. by Robert C. Tucker, W.W. Norton & Company, London and New York.
  11. MARX K., 1992, An Exchange of Letters (letter to Arnold Ruge), [in:] Writings of the young Marx on philosophy and society, ed. by L.D. Easton, K.H. Guddat, Hackett Publishing Company, Inc., Indianapolis.
  12. MILLER D., 2007, Introduction to Thinking Politically. Essays in Political Theory, by Michael Walzer, ed. by David Miller, Yale University Press, New Haven, London.
  13. RAWLS J., 1971, A Theory of Justice, Belknap Press, Cambridge.
  14. REVERING A., 2005, Eschatology in the Political Theory of Michael Walzer, The Journal of Religious Ethics, 33(1).
  15. ROBERTS T.T., 1994, Michael Walzer and the Critical Connection, The Journal of Religious Ethics, 22(2).
  16. SAID E.W., 1986a, Michael Walzer’s Exodus and Revolution: A Canaanite Reading, Grand Street, 5(2).
  17. SAID E.W., 1986b, An Exchange: Exodus and Revolution, Grand Street, 5(4).
  18. WALZER M., 1972, Nationalism, Internationalism, and the Jews: The Chimera of a Binational State, [in:] I. Howe, C. Gershman (eds.), Israel, the Arabs and the Middle East, Bantam Books, New York.
  19. WALZER M., 1983, Spheres of Justice: A Defense of Pluralism and Equality, Basic Books, New York.
  20. WALZER M., 1985, Exodus and Revolution, Basic Books, New York.
  21. WALZER M., 1986, An Exchange: Exodus and Revolution, Grand Street, 5(4).
  22. WALZER M., 1993, Interpretation and social criticism, Harvard University Press, Cambridge, MA.
  23. WALZER M., 1994, Thick and Thin: Moral Argument at Home and Abroad, University of Notre Dame Press, South Bend, IN.
  24. WALZER M., 2002, The Company of Critics: Social Criticism and Political Commitment in the Twentieth Century, Basic Books, New York.
  25. WALZER M., 2007, Thinking Politically. Essays in Political Theory, David Miller (ed.), Yale University Press, New Haven, London.
  26. WITTGENSTEIN L., 1967, Zettel, transl. by G.E.M. Anscombe, University of California Press, Berkeley, CA