History of Polical Thought

This article is based upon an analogy between (a) the foundation of the cities and (b) the philophical attempt to give a formally ordered account of the world. In the course of history we can observe some periods in which the role of the city is replaced by the increasing power of the countryside (see for instance the change over from Antiquity to Middle Ages, or from Middle Ages to Modernity and, in some respects, even from Modernity to the contemporary “global village”). The aggregation and disaggregation of the cities across the centuries could be intended as a part of a greater order which periodically loses and finds its centre, oscillating between unity and multiplicity: between the ‘one’ and the ‘many’ of classical and Platonic thought. The building of an order satisfies the human need for certainty in knowledge as well as in social practices, but behind it lies the danger of violence and dogmatism. It would be better to replace the rigid mechanics of the political  and legal systems (coming from late Neoplatonic thought) with the dialogical wisdom teached by Plato and other classical philosophers.

The two linguists, Harris and his pupil Chomsky, may represent American linguistics in the second half of the 20th century. A first section describes and evaluates the proposals by Z.S. Harris concerning methods from morphemic to discourse analysis and his concept of transformation. The second section deals with the concept of a “mathematical linguistics” introduced by Harris. In a third section Harris’ position as a political intellectual is sketched (based on a manuscript published after his death). The sections 9.4 and 9.5 treat Chomsky first as a linguist and then as a political intellectual. Section 9.4 follows his itinerary beginning with his master thesis (1951), his doctoral dissertation (1955) and the book Syntactic Structures (1957) which initiated his international success. Basic types of argument are summarized and commented (section 9.4.2). In a short digression the work of Manfred Bierwisch on German Grammar (1958/59 to 1963) in Chomsky’s style is evaluated. Later developments (after 1965) are summarized in section 9.4.4. Eventually the role played by Chomsky in political debates (mainly after 1967) is discussed and a possible relation between the style of Chomsky arguing in linguistic and in political contexts is put forward.

The articles aim to analyze the conditions and the political and ideological events of the Alte Sozialdemokratische Partei (ASP) in the most significan moment of its existence, i.e. between 1926-1928. The analysis builds on an extensive examination of the contemporary press and of the theoretical contributions appeared on "Volksstaat", the party organ. The article focuses particularly on that special project of "national socialism", which attempted to reconcile socialism, State approval and nationalism and was developed by the ASP with Ernst Niekisch's fundamental contribution.

Barack Obama’s inauguration as the first African American president of the United States has caused many commentators to conclude that America has entered a postracial age. The Preacher and the Politician argues otherwise, reminding us that, far from inevitable, Obama’s nomination was nearly derailed by his relationship with Jeremiah Wright, the outspoken former pastor of Trinity United Church of Christ on the South Side of Chicago. The media storm surrounding Wright’s sermons, the historians Clarence E. Walker and Gregory D. Smithers suggest, reveals that America’s fraught racial past is very much with us, only slightly less obvious.
With meticulous research and insightful analysis, Walker and Smithers take us back to the Democratic primary season of 2008, viewing the controversy surrounding Wright in the context of enduring religious, political, and racial dynamics in American history. In the process they expose how the persistence of institutional racism, and racial stereotypes, became a significant hurdle for Obama in his quest for the presidency.

The authors situate Wright's preaching in African American religious traditions dating back to the eighteenth century, but they also place his sermons in a broader prophetic strain of Protestantism that transcends racial categories. This latter connection was consistently missed or ignored by pundits on the right and the left who sought to paint the story in simplistic, and racially defined, terms. Obama’s connection with Wright gave rise to criticism that, according to Walker and Smithers, sits squarely in the American political tradition, where certain words are meant to incite racial fear, in the case of Obama with charges that the candidate was unpatriotic, a Marxist, a Black Nationalist, or a Muslim.

Once Obama became the Democratic nominee, the day of his election still saw ballot measures rejecting affirmative action and undermining the civil rights of other groups. The Preacher and the Politician is a concise and timely study that reminds us of the need to continue to confront the legacy of racism even as we celebrate advances in racial equality and opportunity.