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45Norms for political cynics. A metatheoretical exploration of the relation between power and normativity in politicsInquiry: An Interdisciplinary Journal of Philosophy. forthcoming.Supporters of political realism and republicanism as well as students of political feasibility and non-ideal theory progressively focus on the dimension of power in the political relation. Yet we lack the theoretical framework to represent these features of power. In this essay, I take a first step towards designing the necessary conceptual tools for such a framework by analyzing the relations between the concepts of power and normativity that define the political relation. Adopting a ‘methodolo…Read more
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29Power and normativity: Rainer Forst on noumenal powerPhilosophy and Social Criticism 50 (8): 1175-1193. 2024.According to Rainer Forst, a critical theory of power must break with the tendency of political theorists to conceive of power in opposition to normativity. Appropriately, Forst proposes a noumenal definition according to which power is normative: It works through recognition of reasons and is thereby open to critical assessment. In this discussion note, I first clarify the normativity of power in Forst’s noumenal theory by means of Donald Davidson’s theory of action and then explain how theory …Read more
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19Meer filosofie in de politieke theorieAlgemeen Nederlands Tijdschrift voor Wijsbegeerte 115 (3): 310-314. 2023.Amsterdam University Press is a leading publisher of academic books, journals and textbooks in the Humanities and Social Sciences. Our aim is to make current research available to scholars, students, innovators, and the general public. AUP stands for scholarly excellence, global presence, and engagement with the international academic community.
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11Filosofie als de grenspolitie van het publieke sprekenAlgemeen Nederlands Tijdschrift voor Wijsbegeerte 106 (4): 297-301. 2014.Amsterdam University Press is a leading publisher of academic books, journals and textbooks in the Humanities and Social Sciences. Our aim is to make current research available to scholars, students, innovators, and the general public. AUP stands for scholarly excellence, global presence, and engagement with the international academic community.
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25Why Logic Doesn‘t Matter in the (Philosophical) Study of ArgumentationArgumentation 11 (2): 211-224. 1997.Philosophically, the study of argumentation is important because it holds out the prospect of an interpretation of rationality. For this we need to identify a transcendent perspective on the argumentative interaction. We need a normative theory of argumentation that provides an answer to the question: should the hearer accept the argument of the speaker. In this article I argue that formal logic implies a notion of transcendence that is not suitable for the study of argumentation, because, from …Read more
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88Consensus and power in deliberative democracyInquiry: An Interdisciplinary Journal of Philosophy 49 (3). 2006.How does public discussion contribute to the reasonableness with which power is exercised in a democracy? Contemporary answers to this question (such as formulated by Rawls or Habermas), are often based upon two interconnected preconceptions. These are, 1. the idea that the value of public discussion lies primarily in the fact that citizens can reach a reasonable consensus through argumentation and discussion and, 2. the belief that the exercise of power is legitimate only if it is determined by…Read more
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44Transcendence, truth, and argumentationInquiry: An Interdisciplinary Journal of Philosophy 41 (4). 1998.According to Thomas Nagel we have a natural impulse to transcend our personal point of view. However, it appears to be difficult to give this notion of transcendence any real content while maintaining a connection with everyday speech and behaviour. In this essay I show that the description of what happens in a discussion when a speaker convinces a listener suggests an interesting interpretation of transcendence. The notion of 'truth' linked to the listener who is being convinced introduces a no…Read more
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48Why Logic Doesn 't Matter in the (Philosophical) Study of Argumentation'Argumentation 11 (2): 211-224. 1997.Philosophically, the study of argumentation is important because it holds out the prospect of an interpretation of rationality. For this we need to identify a transcendent perspective on the argumentative interaction. We need a normative theory of argumentation that provides an answer to the question: should the hearer accept the argument of the speaker. In this article I argue that formal logic implies a notion of transcendence that is not suitable for the study of argumentation, because, from …Read more
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214Toleration and political conflict. A comment on Rainer Forst’s analysis of tolerationBijdragen 71 (4): 391-406. 2010.In Toleranz im Konflikt and in other works the German philosopher Rainer Forst presents an intricate interpretation of tolerance as a moral-political virtue. His aim is to resolve many of the well-known paradoxes by distinguishing different components of tolerance and distinguishing the reasons that we may have for objecting, accepting or rejecting certain practices and views. Good ethical reasons for objecting to certain practices and views do not morally justify their suppression by legal mean…Read more
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80Bernard Williams on the history of ethical views and practicesPhilosophy 85 (2): 225-243. 2010.How should we look back on the history and the origins of our ethical outlook and our way of life? We know that in the past, strange and appalling ethical views and practices have enjoyed widespread and sincere support. Yet we do not regard our contemporary outlook – to the extent that we do, at the present, have a common outlook – as one option among many. However bemused we may feel in ethical matters, at least on some issues we claim to have reasons that are good . If we do not object to the …Read more
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15The Conversation of PhilosophyPhilosophy East and West 67 (4). 2017.In "'Chinese Philosophy' at European Universities," Professor Defoort criticizes the institutional "place" of Chinese and "non-Western" studies at European universities. In order to demonstrate the problem, she describes the situation at the KU Leuven Department of History and its Institute of Philosophy. Regarding many of the important issues Defoort raises, I do not feel sufficiently competent to respond. For I am caught in Schwitzgebel's vicious circle : completely ignorant about non-Western …Read more
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19Freedom, Transparency and the Public Sphere: A Philosophical AnalysisJavnost 5 (4). 1998.According to Thomas Nagel the desire for autonomy leads to a dilemma: to be certain that no unknown influence determines our decisions, we are driven to seek as much information as possible about what makes the reasons we have the reasons for us. Eventually, we end up with a perspective that is so objective that there are no longer such things as decisions or choices, but only alternatives in the course of the world. A way out is suggested by the work on interpretation of Donald Davidson and by …Read more
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28Truth in Democratic PoliticsSocial Theory and Practice 46 (1): 55-88. 2020.This article clarifies the recent epistemic rehabilitation of democracy and adds to it in two respects. First, I point out that the epistemic rehabilitation of democracy identifies an internal connection of democracy with normative truths—but only an external connection with substantial truth and correctness. Second, such an internal connection surfaces when we focus on the place of criticism in democracy. Criticism, however, presupposes pluralism and a recognition of the provisionality of decis…Read more
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19Nationalisme, Objectiviteit en SubjectiviteitRes Publica 39 (2): 205-214. 1997.Historians and theoreticians of nationalism and nationalist movements are perplexed by the fact that so much of what nationalists believe is evidently not the case. One example of this concerns the ontological or metaphysical status of the nation: whether nations as a form of political community are in the very nature of things or whether they are rather a recent way of imagining the political community.I question the meaning terms such as 'natural', 'imagined' and 'objective'/'subjective' have …Read more
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11Hoe nu verder? Over de politieke theorie in Nederland en VlaanderenRes Publica 56 (4): 529-541. 2014.
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38Power, norms and theory. A meta-political inquiryCritical Review of International Social and Political Philosophy 20 (2): 163-185. 2017.Realism criticizes the idea, central to what may be called ‘the priority view’, that philosophy has the task of imposing from the outside general norms of morality or standards of reasonableness on politics understood as the domain of power. According to realism, political philosophy must reveal the specific standards internal to the political practice of handling power appropriately and as it develops in actual circumstances. Framed in those terms, the debate evokes the idea that political powe…Read more
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31Autoriteit, contingentee en geschiedenis in de ethiek: Bernard Williams en het relativisme Van de afstandTijdschrift Voor Filosofie 67 (2). 2005.The aim of this paper is to study Williams's relativism of distance and to examine the conception of the history of ethics that follows from it. Relativism of distance, applied to the history of ethics, can be understood as saying that the language of appraisal is inappropriate in confrontations with ethical outlooks of the past; no real judgments are made. The author argues that this view does not follow from Williams's general meta-ethical position. Moreover, he tries to show that it rests on …Read more
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Claude Lefort: geen politiek zonder representatieWijsgerig Perspectief 51 (4). 2011.Hoe politieke macht veroveren en behouden? Het antwoord op deze vraag staat te lezen in een van de beruchtste boeken uit de geschiedenis van het politieke denken: Il Principe van Niccolo Machiavelli . Zijn antwoord is zonneklaar: voor élke heerser – of hij nu de troon heeft geërfd als telg van een oude dynastie of hem met geweld heeft veroverd – 'is het noodzakelijk het volk te vriend te houden'
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Authority, contingency and history in ethics. A study of Bernard Williams's relativism of distanceTijdschrift Voor Filosofie 67 (2): 273-306. 2005.
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1Engelen van de wereld. Hedendaagse filosofen over democratieTijdschrift Voor Filosofie 64 (2): 406-407. 2002.
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Het dubieuze denken. Geschiedenis en vormen van wijsgerig scepticismeTijdschrift Voor Filosofie 59 (2): 363-364. 1997.
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Democratie als filosofisch vraagstuk. Lezingen over macht, vertegenwoordiging en politiekTijdschrift Voor Filosofie 66 (2): 399-399. 2004.
Areas of Specialization
4 more
Social and Political Philosophy |
Deliberative Democracy |
Truth |
Political Power |
Rationality |
Donald Davidson |
Bernard Williams |
W. V. O. Quine |
Meaning |