The double look
The citizen’s restrained dream Exercising complete and unmediated power over one’s own life is the dream of every citizen. Ouch! The title of ‘citizen’ immediately curbs the dream. Others surround me, with their competing hopes. They must be reconciled. “Complete and unmediated” remain theoretical. Roughly the darker the color on the local population density map, … Read more
Dear Collective We tend to grant it a material existence, to endow it with a responsibility to us. A bit like Gaia, the mother planet. We gladly confuse the Collective with the government, or one of its ministries, or even with the imprecise sphere of people of power: their mission would be to make society … Read more
Non-democrats in democracy Neologisms are convenient, I create my share of them. But is “egodemocrat”, that of Eric Thiers, well found? Not only is there a very precise term for what it describes: anarchist. But ‘egodemocrat’ is a decoy, a sneaky, a contradiction in itself. An egodemocrat is indeed not a democrat. He is a … Read more
Representing is more than reproducing Politician and voters, delegates and constituents, representation is often treated as a mirror image. The scene would “only represent” what is already in the room. It is to insult the fertility hidden in the representation. Far from a simple reproduction, it is an act of separation, between the components and … Read more
A philosophical revival that founded the technological boom The Age of Enlightenment is synonymous with philosophical renewal. The eighteenth century saw the rise of rationalism and liberalism against religious obscurantism and noble conservatism. The Enlightenment is the one that great minds project on the world and the human condition. Humanity is getting rid of metaphysical … Read more
Antagonism over political parties Weil is opposed to Kelsen in this debate about philomag. The first vilifies the parties, “leprosy that prevents men from converging towards the just and the true.” For the second, “the ideal of a general interest superior to the interests of groups, is a metaphysical illusion”. Both are partially right. The … Read more