大卫佩里茨

尽管当代文化和政治的重要趋势似乎不仅预示着“哲学的死亡”，而且预示着“后真相时代”的到来，但最古老的学科本身似乎并没有得到应有的重视。相反，在过去的50年里，系统哲学领域出现了许多原创的、重要的、令人兴奋的和真正的新作品。跨越不同的传统(分析的和大陆的)和地点(英美、德国、法国、意大利、后殖民等)，系统哲学的重新出现重新审视了在过去2500年的大部分时间里占据伟大传统的许多最重要的问题。生命中重要的是什么?我们欠对方什么?我们所说的真相是什么意思?人的能动性是由什么组成的?人类道德主要是源于理性还是情感，抑或二者的结合?正义的本质是什么?说谎总是错的吗? Can all aspects of human experience be accounted for in terms of biological processes, or do some escape reductive scientific explanation? At the same time, new issues of race, gender, identity, and, ultimately, the claim to universal knowledge and authority made on behalf of philosophy itself have been added to the range of traditional issues addressed by contemporary philosophers. This course is for anyone interested in coming up to speed with important developments in recent philosophy and will focus on the big ideas from some of the most important recent thinkers. In it, we will not only survey some of the most important and challenging works in contemporary philosophy but also put these thinkers in dialogue with each other, testing the insights that they generate and also the blind spots that they produce by comparing them with one another. The first half of this yearlong course considers several of the most important critical philosophers of the last third of the 20th century, while the second half concentrates on thinkers whose works and ideas gained prominence primarily in the first decades of 21st-century philosophy.

尽管当代文化和政治的重要趋势似乎不仅预示着“哲学的死亡”，而且预示着“后真相时代”的到来，但最古老的学科本身似乎并没有得到应有的重视。相反，在过去的50年里，系统哲学领域出现了许多原创的、重要的、令人兴奋的和真正的新作品。跨越不同的传统(分析的和大陆的)和地点(英美、德国、法国、意大利、后殖民等)，系统哲学的重新出现重新审视了在过去2500年的大部分时间里占据伟大传统的许多最重要的问题。生命中重要的是什么?我们欠对方什么?我们所说的真相是什么意思?人的能动性是由什么组成的?人类道德主要是源于理性还是情感，抑或二者的综合作用?正义的本质是什么?说谎总是错的吗? Can all aspects of human experience be accounted for in terms of biological processes, or do some escape reductive scientific explanation? At the same time, new issues of race, gender, identity, and, ultimately, the claim to universal knowledge and authority made on behalf of philosophy itself have been added to the range of traditional issues addressed by contemporary philosophers. This course is for anyone interested in coming up to speed with important developments in recent philosophy and will focus on the big ideas from some of the most important recent thinkers. In it, we will not only survey some of the most important and challenging works in contemporary philosophy but also put these thinkers in dialogue with each other, testing the insights that they generate and also the blind spots that they produce by comparing them with one another. The first half of this yearlong course considers several of the most important critical philosophers of the last third of the 20th century, while the second half concentrates on thinkers whose works and ideas gained prominence primarily in the first decades of 21st-century philosophy.

当代民主和美国政治深度不稳定。在整个民主世界中，流行的不满和与“常规”的“政治”的愤怒从外面推进到前跑者地位。我们的政治的“新正常”包括党派极化，巨大的丹佛索斯升级，没有政治经验的人升高到领导地位，对法治和类似的机构杰克里斯的不耐烦，以及高度负面饱和的媒体和扭曲的报告和广告。这种政治气候掩盖了所面临的问题的重力：工资和生活水平的侵蚀;增加不平等和停滞不前的社会流动性;核心国家商品的不可持续支出，包括社会保障和医疗;正在进行的安全挑战;全球气候变化;以极高的成本提供平庸的教育和医疗保健系统; etc. What are we to make of our democratic ambivalence, as we live with the triumphs and troubles of a political system that is the worst—except for all the others? To gain insight into these issues, we will look at democracy from a more philosophical, historical, and comparative perspective. We will examine transformations in American political institutions, economics, and civil culture that have, perhaps, made our politics at once more inclusive but also more fractious, unequal, and dysfunctional. The first semester will concentrate on the history of modern democracy, looking both to develop a strong, critical account of democracy as a normative ideal by studying its theoretic roots in seminal texts of modern political thought from Locke to Tocqueville and to gain a critical historical overview of its cultural and institutional genesis, evolution, and decay (Fukuyama and Habermas). We will then turn, mainly in the second semester, to examine some main aspects of the forces troubling democracy in the United States and elsewhere, surveying, in turn: the decline of the legislative process; the decline of political parties and voluntary associations and the consequent “hollowing out” of civil society; important changes in the political economy that have rendered democratic capitalism more prone to crisis, oligarchic capture, and cultural distortion; the role of (new and old) mass media in late-modern democratic politics; the question of whether constitutional democracy is intrinsically valuable or inherently contradictory, in general, and whether the American Constitution is (anti) democratic; the way in which different aspects of an electoral system, from districting to how winners and losers are determined, structure different forms of democracy; and whether the politics of identity is, at once, redressing historical injustice while also fracturing democratic solidarity. Finally, the course will conclude by considering some proposals to strengthen democracy as we move into the heart of the 21st century.

现代民主，由其最渐进的倡导者辩护和通过继承社会运动来追求，承诺在新包容和平等的基础上复活一种古老的流行自治。在近期历史的某些方面，似乎可信地相信“宇宙的道德弧向正义”;i.e., that there was a long-term trend in modern democracy that more fully institutionalized meaningful self-government, increasingly treated all members with equal concern and respect, and better realized fair equality of opportunity for all while limiting social inequality and facing up to the daunting task of repairing historical injustices. Over the course of your lifetimes, however, this claim has appeared far less credible; instead, modern democratic politics seem increasingly less equal, inclusive, just, responsive, functional, and democratic. Is 21st-century democracy, increasingly an instrument of unjust politics, impotent in the face of the social and environmental changes that globalization and galloping technological innovation produce—or perhaps simply doomed? Or might it be possible to reform democracy to render it compatible with conditions of global interconnection and deeper diversity while also making it capable of securing the requisite degrees of political and social equality? To address these questions, this course surveys the development and defense of modern conceptions of democracy through the history of political thought; examines mature democracy by looking at its practice, successes, and failures from the mid-20th century to the present; and contemplates proposals for reform that seek to eliminate deformations while realizing the normative potential of modern democracy. The first semester concentrates on the history of modern democracy, looking both to develop a strong, critical account of democracy as a normative ideal—by studying its theoretic roots in seminal texts of modern political thought from Locke to Tocqueville—and to gain a critical historical overview of its cultural and institutional genesis, evolution, and decay (Fukuyama and Habermas). We will then turn, mainly in the second semester, to examine some main aspects of the forces troubling democracy in the United States and elsewhere, surveying, in turn: the decline of the legislative process; the decline of political parties and voluntary associations and the consequent “hollowing out” of civil society; important changes in the political economy that have rendered democratic capitalism more prone to economic inequality and crisis, oligarchic capture, and cultural distortion; the role of (new and old) mass media in successively structuring and disrupting the public sphere of democratic politics; the question of whether constitutional democracy is intrinsically valuable or inherently contradictory, in general, and whether the American Constitution is [anti]democratic; the way in which different aspects of an electoral system, from districting to how winners and losers are determined, structure different forms of democracy; and whether the politics of identity is, at once, redressing historical injustice while also fracturing democratic solidarity. The course will conclude by considering proposals to strengthen, reform, or refound modern democracy as we move into the middle of the 21st century. The course will draw on a wide range of disciplines and texts, drawing on political science and economy, history, sociology, and philosophy; but the central focus will be on historical and contemporary political theory.

现代民主，正如其最进步的拥护者所捍卫的那样，承诺在新的包容和平等的基础上复兴一种古老的民众自治形式。在近代历史上的某些时刻，人们似乎相信“宇宙的道德弧线向正义弯曲”——即“正义”——这一观点是可信的。现代政治生活的长期趋势是朝着对所有成员都给予平等关注和尊重的民主政治的方向发展;实现真正公平的人人机会平等;限制社会不平等，使其与政治平等相适应;并修复了那些植根于种族、性别、性取向和阶级的历史不公。然而，自本世纪初以来，这种说法似乎不那么可信了。相反，现代政治似乎越来越不平等、不包容、不公正和不民主。一方面，由于全球化、工作性质和报酬的变化、新的政策和技术以及新的政治条件，民主社会变得越来越不平等。另一方面，迄今为止占主导地位的人(从种族、民族、国家、性别和/或宗教的角度理解各不相同)似乎越来越不愿意以社会公正、多样性、 or inclusion—even while democratic societies are increasingly diverse as a result of immigration and demographic shifts and their citizens less willing to “forget” their many differences to melt into a dominant national culture. These two trends are far from unrelated: The failure to preserve fair distributions of income, wealth and opportunity contribute to the rise of nationalism and reactionary populism, while the fracturing of common civic identities undermines the resources of commonality and solidarity needed to resist the concentration of wealth and power in ever-smaller elite circles. These developments raise some basic questions: Is 21st-century democracy increasingly an instrument of unjust politics, impotent in the face of the social changes that globalization and galloping technological change produce, and perhaps simply doomed? Or might it be possible to reform democracy to render it compatible with conditions of deep diversity while also making it capable of securing the requisite degrees of political and social equality? This course will explore these questions in a number of ways. We will study exemplary historical statements of the ideal of democracy, drawing on traditional works in political philosophy. We will also draw on contemporary work in sociology, anthropology, cultural and legal studies, and political science to examine the nature of social and cultural diversity—including religion, class, gender, sexuality, and race. We will draw on a similar range of disciplines to seek to comprehend the causes and consequence of the widening inequality characteristic of almost all economically advanced democratic societies. Finally, we will explore works that bring these themes together by examining current scholars efforts to (re-)articulate the ideal and practice of democracy in light of increased diversity and inequality.

从古代到现代主要的民主革命，民主的倡导者和批评者都认为民主要求并倾向于带来政治平等。民主平等通常也被理解为对社会不平等有重要的限制。长期以来，人们一直假定——有时也争论——民主只在相当同质的社会中有效，因为只有在这样的社会中，一个民族才能足够相似和平等，形成共同的政治理解和计划。如果缺乏相当大的共性——宗教、语言、民族、种族和/或文化——以及政治和社会平等，恐怕民主会恶化为多数人的暴政，或一场所有人对抗所有人的战争，或一场肤浅的利益竞争。然而，在21世纪的开端，我们目睹了社会性质的两大戏剧性变化，这两大变化似乎日益挑战着民主的生存能力，至少如果这些关于民主必要的社会前提的长期观点是正确的的话。一方面，由于全球化、工作性质和报酬的变化、新的政策和新的政治条件，民主社会变得越来越不平等。另一方面，民主社会日益多样化，其公民不太愿意“忘记”自己的许多差异，以融入占主导地位的民族文化。这些发展提出了一些基本问题。民主的特性能否被重新认可，以便它更适合——和/或能够更好地修改——这些新的社会条件?如果不是，民主就完蛋了吗? Or might it be possible to reform democracy to render it compatible with conditions of deep diversity while also making it capable of securing the requisite degrees of political and social equality? This course will explore these questions in a number of ways. We will study exemplary historical statements of the ideal of democracy, drawing on traditional works in political philosophy. We will also draw on contemporary work in sociology, anthropology, cultural and legal studies, and political science to examine the nature of social and cultural diversity, including religion, class, gender, sexuality, and race. We will draw on a similar range of disciplines to seek to comprehend the causes and consequence of the widening inequality characteristic of almost all economically advanced democratic societies. Finally, we will explore works that bring these themes together by examining current scholars‘ efforts to (re)articulate the ideal and practice of democracy in light of increased diversity and inequality. By the end of the course, students will have been introduced to a variety of different disciplines in the social sciences, with a special focus on contemporary political philosophy, and will have surveyed a number of different proposals for deepening democracy in 21st-century social conditions. Educational objectives include acquiring, developing, and perfecting the skills necessary to: read demanding texts with care and rigor; participate in focused analytic discussion of these texts; write, edit and revise interpretive and argumentative academic essays; and conduct original, independent research projects. Students will meet for individual conferences to discuss their independent research projects on a biweekly basis and will also participate in small-group, biweekly meetings to discuss, among other things, the applicability of various concepts discussed in seminar to everyday social and political contexts; to engage in peer-writing workshops; and to take trips to New York City as a “laboratory” of democracy, diversity, and inequality.

怎样才能的社会秩序在现代社会太大，流体和复杂依靠传统或单独的自我意识的政治调控来解释？社会理论是话语的一个明显的现代传统集中在回答这个问题时，侧重于一系列的理论家和文字，其作品就产生了现代社会科学，重叠与一些最有影响力的现代经营理念，并为批判性的理解提供了强大的工具当代社会生活。其工作的意识和那些互动器件集成和规范的意图“的背后”，许多的理论家，他的作品形成了本课程的骨干探索结构社会秩序的来源。市场经济，法律和行政的状态，企业和行业，高度分化的政治和公民文化，种族和性别秩序，各种由一个在不同世俗的做法，一个刻学科的技术，这些理论家吃力揭露常在现代世界的社会秩序-hidden来源。此外，社会秩序的这种理解已经演变并排侧运行的色域的评价，从那些观看西方现代为实现人的自由和个性的顶点那些认为这是影射的唯一彻底的和令人反感系统统治。本课程将介绍许多基础性的文本和作者的社会理论，社会科学和社会哲学，包括托马斯·霍布斯，亚当·斯密，托克维尔，约翰·斯图亚特·穆勒，马克思，涂尔干，韦伯，弗洛伊德，福柯和哈贝马斯。通过这种方式，我们也将涵盖社会各个说明学校，包括：马克思主义，结构主义，后结构主义和（在组会议）关键种族理论，后殖民研究和女权主义。 The thread connecting these disparate authors and approaches will be the issue of the worth or legitimacy of Western modernity, the historical process that produced capitalism, representative democracy, religious pluralism, the modern sciences, ethical individualism, secularism, fascism, communism, new forms of racism and sexism, and many “new social movements.” Which of the institutions and practices that structured the process of modernization are worth defending or reforming? Which should be rejected outright? Or should we reject them all and embrace a new, postmodern social epoch? In addressing these, we will grapple both with classical texts and with the contemporary implications of different approaches to social analysis.

政治哲学包括：思考政治权力的话语;公正和不公正使用它的条件;个人，少数民族和多数人的权利;政治界的性质和界限;政治与真相或好的关系;等等，而不是一次解决一个政治问题，政治理论家在刚刚的社会的整体愿景中寻求系统的解决方案，或者在政治命令中的压迫和统治的综合诊断。虽然这个话题延伸了超过2500年的历史，但在本课程中，我们专注于现代作家，这些作家塑造了世界上越来越多地填补了世界上的政治想象力的术语和概念;也就是我们用来理解政治生活的关于权利、权力、阶级、民主、社区等的有意识和无意识的观念。思想家们需要考虑：Hobbes，Locke，Rousseau，Kant，Hegel，Marx，Mill和Nietzsche。通过研究他们的工作，我们将更好地定位以回答以下问题。 What is the nature of political power? What is the content of social justice? Does democracy threaten basic individual rights? Is it more important to respect the individual or the community when the interests of the two conflict? Is a market economy required by, or incompatible with, democracy? What aspects of human potential and social worlds do different grand theories of political life illuminate and occlude? Finally, this course will also pose the issue of the worth and legitimacy of European modernity; that is, the historical process that produced capitalism, representative democracy, religious pluralism, the modern sciences, ethical individualism, secularism, fascism, communism, new forms of racism and sexism, and many “new social movements.” Which of the ideas that jostle for prominence within this tradition are worth defending? Which should be rejected? Or should we reject them all and, instead, embrace a new, postmodern political epoch? In answering these questions, we will be forced to test both the internal coherence and the continuing relevance of the political visions that shape modern politics. The approach we take in class will focus on close textual analysis as we seek to unpack the details of the many strands of arguments that cross-cut these texts, passage by passage.

政治理论包括对政治权力本质的思考;公正和不公正使用它的条件;个人、少数人和多数人的权利;政治共同体的性质和界限。政治理论家不是一次解决一个紧迫的政治问题，而是从公正社会的总体愿景或对政治秩序中压迫和统治根源的全面诊断中寻求系统的解决方案。在这门课中，我们关注的是现代作家，他们塑造了越来越多的术语和概念，这些术语和概念越来越多地构成了世界各地的政治想象;也就是我们用来理解政治生活的关于权利、权力、阶级、民主、社区等的有意识和无意识的观念。要考虑的思想家包括霍布斯、洛克、卢梭、康德、黑格尔、马克思、密尔和尼采。通过研究他们的工作，我们可以更好地回答以下几个问题:政治权力的本质是什么?社会正义的内容是什么? Does democracy threaten basic individual rights? Is it more important to respect the individual or the community when the interests of the two conflict? Is a market economy required by or incompatible with democracy? What aspects of human potential and social worlds do different grand theories of political life illuminate and occlude? Finally, this course will pose the issue of the worth and legitimacy of European modernity; that is, the historical process that produced capitalism, representative democracy, religious pluralism, the modern sciences, ethical individualism, secularism, fascism, communism, new forms of racism and sexism, and many “new social movements.” Which of the ideas that jostle for prominence within this tradition are worth defending? Which should be rejected? Or should we reject them all and, instead, embrace a new, postmodern political epoch? In answering these questions, we will be forced to test both the internal coherence and the continuing relevance of the political visions that shape modern politics.

怎样才能的社会秩序在现代社会太大，流体和复杂依靠传统或单独的自我意识的政治调控来解释？社会理论是一种鲜明的话语传统，以回答这个问题为中心，专注于一系列的理论家和文本，其作品给出了现代社会科学。他们探讨了结构中的社会秩序来源，其中许多在互动的人融合和规范的人的意识和意图的上面的工作“背后”。市场经济，法律和行政状况，公司和职业，高度差异化的政治和民事文化，各种纪律技术刻在不同的平凡的实践中......一个接一个，这些理论家们努力揭开往上隐藏的来源现代世界的社会秩序。此外，对社会秩序的这种理解并排演变，评估从那些认为西方现代性的人那些认为是人类自由的顶点和个人的人，这些评估与那些将其视为暗示唯一彻底统治的人的人。本课程将在社会理论和社会科学中介绍许多基本文本和作者，包括托马斯霍比斯，Adam Smith，Alexis de Tocqueville，John Stuart Mill，Karl Marx，Emile Durkheim，Max Weber，Sigmund Freud，Michel Foucault，以及jürgenhabermas。通过这种方式，它还将涵盖各种社会解释学校，包括马克思主义，结构主义，后结构主义和（在集团会议中）后殖民学习和女权主义。连接这些不同的作者和方法的线程将是价值和西方现代的合法性，历史进程的问题所产生的资本主义，代议制民主，宗教多元化，现代科学，道德的个人主义，世俗主义，法西斯主义，共产主义，新形式 racism and sexism, and many “new social movements.” Which of the institutions that structured the process of modernization are worth defending or reforming? Which should be rejected outright? Or should we reject them all and embrace a new, postmodern social epoch? In answering these questions in class and group conferences, we will grapple with both the classical texts and the contemporary implications of different approaches to social analysis.