Raphael Sassower | University of Colorado at Colorado Springs (original) (raw)
Papers by Raphael Sassower
Ever since the Age of Reason, the advocacy of free enterprise—capitalism—has been commonly associ... more Ever since the Age of Reason, the advocacy of free enterprise—capitalism—has been commonly associated with democracy, as if there is mutual support between their frameworks, not to mention their adherence to Enlightenment principles (Agassi 1988). When equality and freedom are conjoined many authors have argued that the success and protection of the one is necessarily at the expense of the other (de Tocqueville 1945). Some economists of the nineteenth century worried about the ways in which equality and freedom were to interrelate, at least insofar as economic success would be viewed adversely as an act of selfishness with the unintended consequences of harm to others (Sassower 2013). Yet advocates of capitalism repeatedly claim that this conjunction of principles is as likely (or perhaps more clearly) to be found in free markets as in the halls of parliament, protected as much by market mechanisms as by democratic legislation (Friedman 1982; Soros 2000). More recently efforts have ...
Roczniki Kulturoznawcze
Ekspozycja i ujawnienie dzieła sztuki W Stanach Zjednoczonych widoczne jest ciągłe uwikłanie i ws... more Ekspozycja i ujawnienie dzieła sztuki W Stanach Zjednoczonych widoczne jest ciągłe uwikłanie i współudział świata artystycznego w stale rozrastającej się sieci hiperkapitalizmu. Jakiekolwiek udawanie, że jest inaczej, obnaża hipokryzję na frontach produkcji, dystrybucji i konsumpcji sztuki. Jedynie publiczne zaangażowanie i wsparcie społeczności artystycznej jako takiej może zaoferować potencjalną ochronę przed nieuzasadnioną i niechcianą ingerencją finansową i polityczną.
Compromising the Ideals of Science, 2015
This chapter argues that just as national interests and security concerns dominate Big Science, s... more This chapter argues that just as national interests and security concerns dominate Big Science, so do financial motives and procedures of the marketplace control the research agendas of the scientific community. Economic pressures can distort the ethos of science and direct scientists in universities as well as industrial complexes into areas of research that they wouldn’t have chosen on their own; moreover, these scientists might be forced to practice their trade in compromising ways, from keeping trade secrets to furbishing misleading data.
Rethinking Politics, Economics and Science
Theoretical Medicine, 1987
Social Epistemology, 1997
Radical Philosophy Review, 2014
Philosophy of the Social Sciences, 2008
quick expansion of Christianity within the Roman Empire. Following Tocqueville and Boudon, Christ... more quick expansion of Christianity within the Roman Empire. Following Tocqueville and Boudon, Christian beliefs’ diffusion and pagan beliefs’ dissolution are explainable on the basis of individual reasons identifiable in relation to specific facts given in context. In particular, the expansion of Christianity within the Roman Empire can be ascribed, among other things, to the fact that the image of a unique God called up to the Romans that of the emperor, and the Romans’ commitment to the emperor called up that to God, and that this commitment was extended to all levels of society. In a central part of the book, Boudon argues that, as for Weber, Durkheim, Popper, and Hayek, also for Tocqueville the process of causal imputation to single sociohistorical phenomena lies on a large number of conditional laws empirically controllable (of the form “if A, then B”). A conditional law is plausible, underlines Boudon, if the causal relation between two events may be considered the product of motivations and reasons understandable to the individuals involved. A good theory for Tocqueville is therefore a theory that explains a social phenomenon as a consequence of behaviors, representations, and beliefs understandable to the individuals involved. To Boudon, Tocqueville applied therefore that methodological individualism that would have been later defined as such in Weber and Schumpeter. This brought him to reject those philosophies of history, “absolute systems that make all events of history depend on great first causes linked together by the chain of fate,” like Auguste Comte’s developmental law. This is an important heritage passed down by Tocqueville, Boudon stresses, since it allows one to fight all those sociological, psychological, and psychoanalytic currents of thought spread around at the end of 19th century and the beginning of the 20th that considered man as moved by occult cultural, psychic, social determining forces. I am sympathetic with Boudon in believing that the above methodological thesis, together with (1) the importance accorded to fallibilism conceived as a fundamental condition of human freedom (and theorized well before Popper and Hayek), (2) an evolutionistic approach, and (3) the use of ideal types as models of knowledge before the explicit theorization of Weber, make Tocqueville for today very contemporary. The lasting impression of Boudon’s work is therefore that of an informative, thorough, and, last but not least, pleasant read that allows the reader to catch the relevance of a number of instruments that date back to Tocqueville and that are essential to understanding the evolution of past and present societies.
The Journal of Medical Humanities and Bioethics, 1988
A unique relationship exists between physicians and philosophers -- one that expands on the const... more A unique relationship exists between physicians and philosophers -- one that expands on the constructive potential of the liaison between physicians and, for example, theologians, on the one hand, or, social workers on the other. This liaison should focus in the scientific aspects of medicine, not just the ethical aspects. Philosophers can provide physicians with a perspective on both the philosophy and the history of medicine through the ages -- a sense of how medicine has adapted to the social, cultural, and ethical needs of each period. This perspective, while emphasizing medicine as science, should not be limited to matters of methodology, or to criteria for distinguishing science from other intellectual pursuits, but should be concerned also with the history, sociology, and politics of science. Both physicians and philosophers stand to gain from a strengthening of their active liaison now as never before; but most of all, the public will be the beneficiary.
Annals of Internal Medicine, 1991
Relativism and Post-Truth in Contemporary Society, 2018
The Wiley-Blackwell Encyclopedia of Social Theory
... alk. paper) 1. Constructivism (Philosophy) I. Gould, Carol C. B809.13 .C66 2002 149dc21 2002... more ... alk. paper) 1. Constructivism (Philosophy) I. Gould, Carol C. B809.13 .C66 2002 149dc21 2002009257 Printed in the United States of America *& The paper used in this publication meets the minimum requirements of American National Standard for Information Sciences ...
We were optimistically mistaken to think that the work of the Frankfurt School and Critical Theor... more We were optimistically mistaken to think that the work of the Frankfurt School and Critical Theory was accomplished by the end of the twentieth century. The flaws of the liberal-modernist state with its economic system of market capitalism were laid bare by the time the global Great Recession of 2008–2012 was in full view. If the Habermasian attempt to reconcile old concerns with contemporary discursive options seemed reasonable—replacing the instrumental with the communicative rationality of the decades of prosperity in the Europe-American axis—by now we realize that more is needed to ensure a path toward any kind of radical change that offers some modicum of human dignity or even economic (if not social and political) emancipation, personal or communal. Are the messianic dreams of emancipation still valid by the twenty-first century? In what follows, Andrew Feenberg’s contribution of Critical Theory in general and the philosophy of technology in particular are reviewed so as to sh...
In his new book, The Price of Public Intellectuals, Raphael Sassower surveys the range of roles a... more In his new book, The Price of Public Intellectuals, Raphael Sassower surveys the range of roles assigned to public intellectuals throughout history and across societies. Today public intellectuals remain overshadowed by the financial prowess of billionaire agendas and the popular tides of anti-intellectualism have further limited these voices. The goal of his book is to wake us up to the need for gadflies and jesters, critics and translators, whose intellectual insights can benefit society as a whole.
Technoscientific Angst: Ethics and Responsibility by Gregg M. Horowitz Raphael Sassower, Technosc... more Technoscientific Angst: Ethics and Responsibility by Gregg M. Horowitz Raphael Sassower, Technoscientific Angst: Ethics and Responsibility (Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press, 1997), xv + 140 pp. Raphael Sassower's Technoscientific Angst is.
Ever since the Age of Reason, the advocacy of free enterprise—capitalism—has been commonly associ... more Ever since the Age of Reason, the advocacy of free enterprise—capitalism—has been commonly associated with democracy, as if there is mutual support between their frameworks, not to mention their adherence to Enlightenment principles (Agassi 1988). When equality and freedom are conjoined many authors have argued that the success and protection of the one is necessarily at the expense of the other (de Tocqueville 1945). Some economists of the nineteenth century worried about the ways in which equality and freedom were to interrelate, at least insofar as economic success would be viewed adversely as an act of selfishness with the unintended consequences of harm to others (Sassower 2013). Yet advocates of capitalism repeatedly claim that this conjunction of principles is as likely (or perhaps more clearly) to be found in free markets as in the halls of parliament, protected as much by market mechanisms as by democratic legislation (Friedman 1982; Soros 2000). More recently efforts have ...
Roczniki Kulturoznawcze
Ekspozycja i ujawnienie dzieła sztuki W Stanach Zjednoczonych widoczne jest ciągłe uwikłanie i ws... more Ekspozycja i ujawnienie dzieła sztuki W Stanach Zjednoczonych widoczne jest ciągłe uwikłanie i współudział świata artystycznego w stale rozrastającej się sieci hiperkapitalizmu. Jakiekolwiek udawanie, że jest inaczej, obnaża hipokryzję na frontach produkcji, dystrybucji i konsumpcji sztuki. Jedynie publiczne zaangażowanie i wsparcie społeczności artystycznej jako takiej może zaoferować potencjalną ochronę przed nieuzasadnioną i niechcianą ingerencją finansową i polityczną.
Compromising the Ideals of Science, 2015
This chapter argues that just as national interests and security concerns dominate Big Science, s... more This chapter argues that just as national interests and security concerns dominate Big Science, so do financial motives and procedures of the marketplace control the research agendas of the scientific community. Economic pressures can distort the ethos of science and direct scientists in universities as well as industrial complexes into areas of research that they wouldn’t have chosen on their own; moreover, these scientists might be forced to practice their trade in compromising ways, from keeping trade secrets to furbishing misleading data.
Rethinking Politics, Economics and Science
Theoretical Medicine, 1987
Social Epistemology, 1997
Radical Philosophy Review, 2014
Philosophy of the Social Sciences, 2008
quick expansion of Christianity within the Roman Empire. Following Tocqueville and Boudon, Christ... more quick expansion of Christianity within the Roman Empire. Following Tocqueville and Boudon, Christian beliefs’ diffusion and pagan beliefs’ dissolution are explainable on the basis of individual reasons identifiable in relation to specific facts given in context. In particular, the expansion of Christianity within the Roman Empire can be ascribed, among other things, to the fact that the image of a unique God called up to the Romans that of the emperor, and the Romans’ commitment to the emperor called up that to God, and that this commitment was extended to all levels of society. In a central part of the book, Boudon argues that, as for Weber, Durkheim, Popper, and Hayek, also for Tocqueville the process of causal imputation to single sociohistorical phenomena lies on a large number of conditional laws empirically controllable (of the form “if A, then B”). A conditional law is plausible, underlines Boudon, if the causal relation between two events may be considered the product of motivations and reasons understandable to the individuals involved. A good theory for Tocqueville is therefore a theory that explains a social phenomenon as a consequence of behaviors, representations, and beliefs understandable to the individuals involved. To Boudon, Tocqueville applied therefore that methodological individualism that would have been later defined as such in Weber and Schumpeter. This brought him to reject those philosophies of history, “absolute systems that make all events of history depend on great first causes linked together by the chain of fate,” like Auguste Comte’s developmental law. This is an important heritage passed down by Tocqueville, Boudon stresses, since it allows one to fight all those sociological, psychological, and psychoanalytic currents of thought spread around at the end of 19th century and the beginning of the 20th that considered man as moved by occult cultural, psychic, social determining forces. I am sympathetic with Boudon in believing that the above methodological thesis, together with (1) the importance accorded to fallibilism conceived as a fundamental condition of human freedom (and theorized well before Popper and Hayek), (2) an evolutionistic approach, and (3) the use of ideal types as models of knowledge before the explicit theorization of Weber, make Tocqueville for today very contemporary. The lasting impression of Boudon’s work is therefore that of an informative, thorough, and, last but not least, pleasant read that allows the reader to catch the relevance of a number of instruments that date back to Tocqueville and that are essential to understanding the evolution of past and present societies.
The Journal of Medical Humanities and Bioethics, 1988
A unique relationship exists between physicians and philosophers -- one that expands on the const... more A unique relationship exists between physicians and philosophers -- one that expands on the constructive potential of the liaison between physicians and, for example, theologians, on the one hand, or, social workers on the other. This liaison should focus in the scientific aspects of medicine, not just the ethical aspects. Philosophers can provide physicians with a perspective on both the philosophy and the history of medicine through the ages -- a sense of how medicine has adapted to the social, cultural, and ethical needs of each period. This perspective, while emphasizing medicine as science, should not be limited to matters of methodology, or to criteria for distinguishing science from other intellectual pursuits, but should be concerned also with the history, sociology, and politics of science. Both physicians and philosophers stand to gain from a strengthening of their active liaison now as never before; but most of all, the public will be the beneficiary.
Annals of Internal Medicine, 1991
Relativism and Post-Truth in Contemporary Society, 2018
The Wiley-Blackwell Encyclopedia of Social Theory
... alk. paper) 1. Constructivism (Philosophy) I. Gould, Carol C. B809.13 .C66 2002 149dc21 2002... more ... alk. paper) 1. Constructivism (Philosophy) I. Gould, Carol C. B809.13 .C66 2002 149dc21 2002009257 Printed in the United States of America *& The paper used in this publication meets the minimum requirements of American National Standard for Information Sciences ...
We were optimistically mistaken to think that the work of the Frankfurt School and Critical Theor... more We were optimistically mistaken to think that the work of the Frankfurt School and Critical Theory was accomplished by the end of the twentieth century. The flaws of the liberal-modernist state with its economic system of market capitalism were laid bare by the time the global Great Recession of 2008–2012 was in full view. If the Habermasian attempt to reconcile old concerns with contemporary discursive options seemed reasonable—replacing the instrumental with the communicative rationality of the decades of prosperity in the Europe-American axis—by now we realize that more is needed to ensure a path toward any kind of radical change that offers some modicum of human dignity or even economic (if not social and political) emancipation, personal or communal. Are the messianic dreams of emancipation still valid by the twenty-first century? In what follows, Andrew Feenberg’s contribution of Critical Theory in general and the philosophy of technology in particular are reviewed so as to sh...
In his new book, The Price of Public Intellectuals, Raphael Sassower surveys the range of roles a... more In his new book, The Price of Public Intellectuals, Raphael Sassower surveys the range of roles assigned to public intellectuals throughout history and across societies. Today public intellectuals remain overshadowed by the financial prowess of billionaire agendas and the popular tides of anti-intellectualism have further limited these voices. The goal of his book is to wake us up to the need for gadflies and jesters, critics and translators, whose intellectual insights can benefit society as a whole.
Technoscientific Angst: Ethics and Responsibility by Gregg M. Horowitz Raphael Sassower, Technosc... more Technoscientific Angst: Ethics and Responsibility by Gregg M. Horowitz Raphael Sassower, Technoscientific Angst: Ethics and Responsibility (Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press, 1997), xv + 140 pp. Raphael Sassower's Technoscientific Angst is.