In this second in a series on Chantal Mouffe’s ideas in The Return of the Political, I discuss her use of Carl Schmitt’s critique of liberalism and relate her ideas to authors she draws from, such as Leo Strauss, Isaiah Berlin, Michael Oakeshott, Charles Taylor, Michael Walzer and Hans Georg Gadamer. I try to get an initial handle on her preferred “agonistic pluralism” as an answer to the question–can we respect particular values and traditions enough to compete with them rather than seeking to destroy them? I relate her line of argument to my understanding of Carl Jung’s theory of political ideology as “ideological possession” — the projection of the shadow.For more from me:https://lauriemjohnson.com/https://politicalphilosophy.video.blog/Here’s a link to my book, Ideological Possession and the Rise of the New Right: The Political Thought of Carl Jung: https://www.routledge.com/Ideological-Possession-and-the-Rise-of-the-New-Right-The-Political-Thought/Johnson/p/book/9781138082120

In this first in a series on her book The Return of the Political, I introduce political theorist Chantal Mouffe, briefly discussing her background and the broad outline of her perspective, with reference to McKenzie Wark’s treatment of it in General Intellects.For more from me:https://lauriemjohnson.com/https://politicalphilosophy.video.blog/

Both classical conservative Edmund Burke and democratic socialist Eduard Bernstein were very skeptical about whether the “common man” of their time was up to the task of real political leadership. Even their reasons for being skeptical are similar. But, the differences are also stark, and they bring back the nature versus nurture debate. Bernstein thinks that the deficiencies of the working class that make them not yet ready for pure socialism have to do with their environment and they can be overcome. Burke is pretty sure that human nature expresses itself in a spectrum of ability and that some people will always be unfit to rule. Here’s a link to the next book, Chantelle Mouffe’s The Return of the Political:https://www.alibris.com/The-Return-of-the-Political-Chantal-Mouffe/book/5726004?matches=44For more from me:https://lauriemjohnson.com/https://politicalphilosophy.video.blog/

I cover several points of agreement or near agreement between Edmund Burke (author of Reflections on the Revolution in France) and Eduard Bernstein (author of Evolutionary Socialism). Though a century apart and on supposedly opposite ends of the ideological spectrum, these two men thought in the same mode when it came to their dislike for revolution, sudden change, reform and the limitations of the masses. Chantalle Mouffe, The Return of the Political, will be my next book, which I will tackled 2 weeks from now. https://www.versobooks.com/books/3145-the-return-of-the-political

Edmund Burke, father of classical conservatism, and Eduard Bernstein, one of the foundational thinkers of democratic socialism, have a remarkable similarity in their approach to solving problems. Here I begin by showing that they share a disdain for dogmatic certainty. The books under consideration are Edmund Burke, Reflections on the Revolution in France, and Eduard Bernstein, Evolutionary Socialism. Both are available for free on the internet and in e-book form various places.For more from me:https://lauriemjohnson.com/https://politicalphilosophy.video.blog/

Launching off the interplay between the Desert Manifesto and Eckersley’s Green State, I discuss the meaning and place of the anarchist value and strategy of mutual aid. I talk a bit about the origins of the concept of mutual aid, and some of the reasons why this idea is becoming popular now.

According to the anonymous author of Desert, even anarchists have been caught in the Enlightenment grand narrative of history as progress,and the “end of history” in some ideal future utopia. Though they disagree about the promise and value of state power, Desert and Robyn Eckersley (The Green State) both depart from “ideological possession.” Either explicitly (Desert) or implicitly (Eckersley), they reject the grand narrative and introduce a new openness to a pluralistic “good enough for now” perspective that may be more useful for actually making things better, incrementally. I continue to try to find areas of agreement as well as opposition between these two perspectives, because we need to compromise to survive. Can Desert find a place even within Eckersley’s vision–yes, because for both authors it’s not “all or nothing.”http://theanarchistlibrary.org/library/anonymous-deserthttps://mitpress.mit.edu/books/green-stateFor more from me:https://lauriemjohnson.com/https://politicalphilosophy.video.blog/

This brief video discusses what a time bank is and some of the philosophy behind the idea, including the ideas of its founder Edgar Cahn. I became interested in the idea after reading Walter Brueggemann’s Another Kingdom. Time banks already exist in a lot of cities and towns. The URL below will take you to TimeBanks.org, which has everything you need to find out if you have one nearby or to start one up if you don’t. Time banks are one way that we can cooperate with each other without relying on the money economy.https://timebanks.org/https://www.nycservice.org/organizations/1097http://www.cafederationoftimebanks.org/starting-a-time-bank.htmlFor more from me:https://lauriemjohnson.com/https://politicalphilosophy.video.blog/

In this video, I reflect on the current coronavirus pandemic and what I think I have learned over the past couple of years about the human reaction to crises and how our “just in time” economy and expectations can leave us without the resources to deal resiliency with unforeseen contingencies. https://www.amazon.com/Green-State-Re…http://theanarchistlibrary.org/librar… For more from me: https://lauriemjohnson.com/https://politicalphilosophy.video.blog/