The unstable responsibility: contours of utopia
Research Article
Acknowledgments
The article was prepared with the support of the Russian Foundation for Basic Research and the Expert Institute of Social Research, project no. 19-011-31066 “Symbolic politics in modern Russia: global risks, civil identity and vectors of historical memory”
How to Cite
Gutorov V.A. The unstable responsibility: contours of utopia. Vlast i Elity (Power and Elites). 2019. Vol. 6. No. 2. P. 176–195. DOI: https://doi.org/10.31119/pe.2019.6.2.7 (in Russ.).
Abstract
The purpose of the article is to single out and discuss a number of theoretical and methodological problems identified in the work of I.S. Semenenko “Horizons of responsible development: from scientific discourse to political management”. The I.S. Semenenko’s article, of course, has a programmatic nature and is the first experience related to the interpretation of the concept of responsibility in the Russian political science. In today’s global humanitarian discourse, the study of responsibility problems is extremely diverse and clearly tends to be interdisciplinarity: ethical, philosophical and anthropological issues are closely intertwined with various aspects of political and sociological analysis. Therefore, one should have expected the appearance of works in which the theoretically developed “model of responsibility” will be the basis for the interpretation of the problems of modern global development. The work of I.S. Semenenko, having some parallels with the politicized utopian version of “academic eschatology” presented in the book by F. Fukuyama “The End of History” (1992), attracts attention, first of all, by the characteristic features of scientistic axiomatics that are very clearly seen. It is related to the type of abstract construction of utopian space, which was most fully reflected in the work of A. de Saint-Simon, who very creatively used the ideas of the “social engineering” of “Utopia” by T. More and the “City of the Sun” by T. Campanella. It discusses precisely the ideal of the future, because, having outlined its general contours, the author at the end of his work directly states: “Responsible development is not on the political agenda today. This is an open opportunity, a possible constructive alternative to the negative dynamics of modern social relations”. The apparent lack of interest of the author in various theories of responsibility and its assessments in ethical and epistemological terms suggests that she prefers to formulate her understanding of this concept in a purely pragmatic sense. The article focuses on the contradictions between the theoretical position of I.S. Semenenko, associated with the description of the North European model of “welfare society” and a critical analysis of this model by the theoreticians of the Birmingham School of Critical Analysis, the most striking example of which is the famous Kilburn Manifesto (2013). Similar contradictions are found in the author’s analysis of various aspects of the activities of intellectuals in terms of their promising role as a warrantor of responsible development.
Keywords:
responsible development, scientistic axiomatics, utopianism, sustainable development, ethics, politics, modernization, critical analysis, social dynamics, intellectuals
References
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20. Judt T. The Burden of Responsibility: Blum, Camus, Aron, and the French Twentieth Century. Chicago; L.: The University of Chicago Press, 2007. 196 p.
21. Kellison R. Expanding Responsibility for the Just War: A Feminist Critique. N.Y.: Cambridge University Press, 2019. 256 p.
22. Kershnar S. Total Collapse: The Case against Responsibility and Morality. Cham, Switzerland: Springer, 2018. 193 p.
23. King P., Szelényi I. Theories of the New Class: Intellectuals and Power. Minneapolis; L.: University of Minnesota Press, 2004. 268 p.
24. Moore M.S. Causation and Responsibility: An Essay in Law, Morals, and Metaphysics. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2009. 605 p.
25. More T. Utopia. Revised Edition / ed. by G.M. Logan, R.M. Adams. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2003. 134 p.
26. Peels R. Responsible Belief. A Theory in Ethics and Epistemology. N.Y.: Oxford University Press, 2017. 272 p.
27. Reflections on Ethics and Responsibility: Essays in Honor of Peter A. French / ed. by Z.J. Goldberg. Cham, Switzerland: Springer, 2017. 252 p.
28. Rose J. The Public Understanding of Political Integrity: The Case for Probity Perceptions. L.: Palgrave Macmillan, 2014. 172 p.
29. Said E. Representations of the Intellectual: The 1993 Reith lectures. N.Y.: Vintage Books, 1994. 121 p.
30. Sandhu A. Intellectuals and the People. L.: Palgrave Macmillan, 2007. 243 p.
31. Social Dimensions of Moral Responsibility / ed. by K. Hutchison, C. Mackenzie, M. Oshana. N.Y.: Oxford University Press, 2018. 330 p.
32. Spengler O. Der Untergang des Abendlandes. Umrisse einer Morphologie der Weltgeschichte. München: Deutscher Taschenbuch Verlag, 2003. 1247 S.
33. Tholen B. Virtue and Responsibility in Policy Research and Advice. Cham, Switzerland: Palgrave Macmillan, 2018. 111 p.
34. Unger R.M. What Should the Left Propose? L.; N.Y.: Verso, 2005. 179 p.
35. Wyatt S.J. The Responsibility to Protect and a Cosmopolitan Approach to Human Protection. Cham, Switzerland: Palgrave Macmillan, 2019. 275 p.
36. Zsolnai L. Ethics, Meaning, and Market Society. N.Y.; L.: Routledge, 2017. 86 p.
2. Ackerly B.A. Just Responsibility: A Human Rights Theory of Global Justice. N.Y.: Oxford University Press, 2018. 291 p.
3. After Neoliberalism: The Kilburn Manifesto / ed. by S. Hall, D. Massey, M. Rustin. L.: Lawrence & Wishart, 2015. 223 p.
4. Bailey M., Clarke B., Walton J. K. Understanding Richard Hoggart: A Pedagogy of Hope. Oxford: Wiley-Blackwell, 2011. 219 p.
5. Beck U. Living Your Own Life in a Runaway World: Individualization, Globalization and Politics // Global Capitalism / ed. by W. Hutton, A. Giddens. N.Y.: The New York Press, 2000. P. 163–173.
6. Chomsky N. The Responsibility of Intellectuals. N.Y.: The New Press, 2017. 143 p.
7. Christie I., Warburton D. From Here to Sustainability: Politics in the Real World. L.; Sterling VA: Earthscan Publications Ltd., 2001. 223 p.
8. Crossley C. French Historians and Romanticism: Thierry, Guizot, the SaintSimonians, Quinet, Michelet. L.; N.Y.: Routledge, 1993. 287 p.
9. Cusset F. French Theory: How Foucault, Derrida, Deleuze & Co. Transformed the Intellectual Life of the United States. L.; Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press. 2008. 388 p.
10. Dierksmeier C. Qualitative Freedom — Autonomy in Cosmopolitan Responsibility. Cham, Switzerland: Springer, 2019. 365 p.
11. Fukuyama F. The End of History and the Last Man. N.Y.; Toronto: The Free Press, 1992. 418 p.
12. Giddens A. The Third Way and Its Critics. Cambridge: Polity Press, 2000. 190 p.
13. Gouldner A.W. The Future of Intellectuals and the Rise of the New Class: A Frame of Reference, Theses, Conjectures, Arguments, and an Historical Perspective on the Role of Intellectuals and Intelligentsia in the International Class Contest of the Modern Era. L.; Basingstoke: The Macmillan Press Ltd., 1979. 121 p.
14. Hartman L., DesJardins J. MacDonald Chr. Business Ethics: Decision-Making for Personal Integrity & Social Responsibility. N.Y.: McGraw-Hill; Irwin. 2007. 589 p.
15. Höffe O. Democracy in the Age of Globalization. Dordrecht: Springer, 2007. 350 p.
16. Iggers G.G. The Cult of Authority. The Political Philosophy of the Saint-Simonians. Second Edition. The Hague: Martinus Nijhoff. 1970. 214 p.
17. Inglehart R., Welzel Chr. Modernization, Cultural Change, and Democracy. The Human Development Sequence. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2005. 333 p.
18. Integrity for Good Governance in Latin America and the Caribbean: From Commitments to Action. Paris: OECD, 2018. 128 p.
19. Intellectuals in Twentieth-Century France: Mandarins and Samurais / ed. by J. Jennings. Houndmills, Basingstoke; L.: Palgrave Macmillan, 1993. 233 p.
20. Judt T. The Burden of Responsibility: Blum, Camus, Aron, and the French Twentieth Century. Chicago; L.: The University of Chicago Press, 2007. 196 p.
21. Kellison R. Expanding Responsibility for the Just War: A Feminist Critique. N.Y.: Cambridge University Press, 2019. 256 p.
22. Kershnar S. Total Collapse: The Case against Responsibility and Morality. Cham, Switzerland: Springer, 2018. 193 p.
23. King P., Szelényi I. Theories of the New Class: Intellectuals and Power. Minneapolis; L.: University of Minnesota Press, 2004. 268 p.
24. Moore M.S. Causation and Responsibility: An Essay in Law, Morals, and Metaphysics. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2009. 605 p.
25. More T. Utopia. Revised Edition / ed. by G.M. Logan, R.M. Adams. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2003. 134 p.
26. Peels R. Responsible Belief. A Theory in Ethics and Epistemology. N.Y.: Oxford University Press, 2017. 272 p.
27. Reflections on Ethics and Responsibility: Essays in Honor of Peter A. French / ed. by Z.J. Goldberg. Cham, Switzerland: Springer, 2017. 252 p.
28. Rose J. The Public Understanding of Political Integrity: The Case for Probity Perceptions. L.: Palgrave Macmillan, 2014. 172 p.
29. Said E. Representations of the Intellectual: The 1993 Reith lectures. N.Y.: Vintage Books, 1994. 121 p.
30. Sandhu A. Intellectuals and the People. L.: Palgrave Macmillan, 2007. 243 p.
31. Social Dimensions of Moral Responsibility / ed. by K. Hutchison, C. Mackenzie, M. Oshana. N.Y.: Oxford University Press, 2018. 330 p.
32. Spengler O. Der Untergang des Abendlandes. Umrisse einer Morphologie der Weltgeschichte. München: Deutscher Taschenbuch Verlag, 2003. 1247 S.
33. Tholen B. Virtue and Responsibility in Policy Research and Advice. Cham, Switzerland: Palgrave Macmillan, 2018. 111 p.
34. Unger R.M. What Should the Left Propose? L.; N.Y.: Verso, 2005. 179 p.
35. Wyatt S.J. The Responsibility to Protect and a Cosmopolitan Approach to Human Protection. Cham, Switzerland: Palgrave Macmillan, 2019. 275 p.
36. Zsolnai L. Ethics, Meaning, and Market Society. N.Y.; L.: Routledge, 2017. 86 p.
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[1]
Gutorov, V.A. 2019. The unstable responsibility: contours of utopia. Vlast i Elity (Power and Elites). 6, 2 (Oct. 2019), 176–195. DOI:https://doi.org/10.31119/pe.2019.6.2.7.
Section
Problems of Morality and Ethics in Politics
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