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22Introduction to Marx and Engels: A Critical ReconstructionRoutledge. 2019.This book steers a middle path between those who argue that the theories of Marx and Engels have been rendered obsolete by historical events and those who reply that these theories emerge untouched from the political changes of the last ten years.Marxism has been a theory of historical change that claimed to be able to predict with considerable acc.
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22An introduction to social and political philosophy: a question-based approachRowman & Littlefield Publishers. 2009.How to use this book -- Freedom : possession or process? -- The citizen and the government -- Property and rights -- Democracy -- Why is freedom important?
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21Nurturing fathers: Some reflections about caringJournal of Social Philosophy 24 (1): 138-151. 1993.
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17Heidegger’s Analysis of ‘Tool’The Monist 49 (1): 70-86. 1965.Calls for a rapprochement between analytic philosophy and phenomenology have lately been issued in England and America. It is not altogether clear what such calls intend. No one, I suspect asks for an attempt to restate, say, Austin’s views on language in Heideggerian jargon. More likely the unspoken hope is that, on the contrary, someone would enable analytic philosophers to understand what Husserl and Heidegger and some of the other phenomenologists have to say. This requires nothing less than…Read more
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17Methods of Democratic Decision-MakingRadical Philosophy Review 21 (1): 129-151. 2018.The paper reflects on the methods democratic systems use for arriving at decisions. The most popular ones are elections where the majority rules and deliberative democracy. I argue that both of these do not measure up to the demands of democracy. Whether we use voting with majority rule or deliberative methods, only a portion of the citizenry is allowed to rule itself; minorities are always excluded. Instead of voting with majority ruler or deliberative methods, I suggest that we employ mediatio…Read more
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16Solidarity in SocialismRadical Philosophy Review 19 (2): 429-451. 2016.Socialism is meant to be democratic. Socialist democracy demands solidarity but it remains unclear what solidarity consists of. Theorists provide a range of different characterizations of solidarity which are adequate in their contexts but will not suffice as the basis for socialist democracy. This paper shows how we should not understand that needed solidarity; it is not merely a solidarity based on commonalities that overlooks difference. On the contrary, it needs to be a kind of solidarity th…Read more
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15Socialist SolidarityRadical Philosophy Review 15 (1): 259-273. 2012.The theme is socialist solidarity. Schmitt notes that efforts towards solidarity fail because we do not know how to put our ideals in practice. The example is taken from the early kibbutzim. The founders were clear about their socialist principles but did not know how to put those in practice in such simple situations as the distribution of clothing. Schmitt concludes from that example that efforts to build socialist solidarity are often impeded by our ignorance of concrete techniques and arrang…Read more
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12Methodological Individualism, Psychological Individualism and the Defense of ReasonCanadian Journal of Philosophy, Supplementary Volume 15 (n/a): 231-253. 1989.Jon Elster believes that methodological individualism is self-evident (Elster 1986, 66). Not finding it so, and being suspicious of philosophers who claim that their views are so obvious as to demand no arguments in their favor, I went back to retrace the outlines of the methodological individualism debate. It turns out that the participants to the debate disagree widely as to what they are arguing about; it is not obvious to them what methodological individualism is. The defenders of methodolog…Read more
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12Commodification and the Limits of Liberal EqualityRadical Philosophy Review 24 (1): 123-125. 2021.
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12Martin Heidegger on being humanRandom House. 1969.Martin Heidegger's Sein und Zeit is one of the seminal works in philosophy of the 20th century. It is also a very cryptic work. Martin Heidegger on Being Human relates oracular claims in plain English and supplies arguments missing in Sein und Zeit to show that its claims are plausible.
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10Votes and Virtues: What Democracy RequiresPhilosophy and Global Affairs 1 (2): 237-258. 2021.Anglophone political theorists regard democracy as an electoral system. The moral character of citizens in a democracy is of no interest to them. But electoral systems that disregard the virtue of citizens yield racist governmental systems and major injustices. Democracy requires citizens distinguished by virtues.
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10The Promise of Mediated AgreementsJournal of Social Philosophy 50 (2): 232-250. 2019.Journal of Social Philosophy, EarlyView.
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10But What If We Cannot Agree?Radical Philosophy Review 23 (1): 71-88. 2020.A central challenge common to democratic processes is the inability of citizens to reach agreement on any given matter. Most frequently these disagreements are settled by vote, victory going to the majority. But majority rule is a fairly recent technique. Traditionally decisions were made by some form of non-opposition. This paper describes several versions of that decision-making technique and then shows how mediation methods, also known as “ADR”, can replicate these traditional ways of overcom…Read more
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8Schmitt moves beyond the current dominant assumption that human beings are essentially separate from one another.
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7Taking Socialism Seriously (edited book)Lexington Books. 2012.Capitalism is in crisis. Is a better world possible and what would it look like? Taking Socialism Seriously breaks important new paths for significant social change by examining detailed questions seriously that had previously been neglected.
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6Transcendental Phenomenology: Muddle or Mystery?Journal of the British Society for Phenomenology 2 (1): 19-27. 1971.
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6Toward a New Socialism (edited book)Lexington Books. 2006.The socialist project is burdened by a history of brutal failures. The authors of the papers collected in this volume are convinced that a democratic and humane socialism is both desirable and possible. They lay out their view of different aspects of this new socialism in this book. Anatole Anton and Richard Schmitt are both the editors and contributors to this book. Select chapters translated into Spanish have appeared in a volume in Barcelona, Spain.
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5Das Geheimnis der Kunst.Das Werk der Freiheit. Zur Philosophie von Geschichte, Kunst und Technik (review)Philosophy and Phenomenological Research 21 (4): 588. 1961.
Providence, Rhode Island, United States of America
Areas of Specialization
Social and Political Philosophy |
Areas of Interest
Social and Political Philosophy |
20th Century Philosophy |