The role of a pragmatic and valuable approach in the decentralization and liberalization of society
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.31874/2309-1606-2024-30-2-8Keywords:
decentralization, pragmatist approach, values, polycentrism, self-organization of society, feedback, ethical reflectionAbstract
Overcoming the ecological, economic, and military-political crisis in which the modern world is located is possible on the path of human development and the creation of a new quality of social relations, expressed in a free consolidated productive interaction between individuals. Such liberalization and decentralization of the political, economic and cultural life of society is achieved through self-organization of society “from below”, when individuals and their groups, through discourse, find understanding in establishing the rules of interaction in society. Decentralization is possible in a society of equal, active and morally responsible individuals who mutually respect each other and ensure stability and consolidation of people through common aspirations (Allen Mendenhall). Individuals and communities achieve a balance of self-interest in order to coordinate actions in the interests of society voluntarily, and not under the influence of institutional violence. Decentralization creates a competitive environment in which a pluralistic approach makes it possible to harmonize the interests and values of interacting social Subjects in order to optimize social relations and improve the lives of individuals and society as a whole. Totalitarian political regimes support centralization and strict universalism in the application of legal norms, generate political and economic polarization of their own societies, interfere in the internal affairs of other societies, and the best way to overcome such regimes is their decentralization. Optimal for understanding the meaning and implementation of decentralization of society is a pragmatist approach, which is well aligned with the concept of self-organization of society. The pragmatist approach with its empirical intentions focuses on the practical verification and implementation of knowledge through information feedback, which is a universal regularity of natural and social self-organizing polycentric processes. In social systems, informational feedback at certain developed levels of social self-organization has a reflexive nature. An important component of the regulation of human social actions is ethical reflection, which aligns these actions with both its current needs and the strategic values of society. Decentralization is one of the effective ways to strengthen self-organizing network connections in society, increase creative activity and well-being of citizens, harmonize social relations and reduce the level of antagonistic tension in society, which reduces the likelihood of aggressive wars.
References
Castels, M. (2011). A Network Theory of Power. International Journal of Communication, 5, 773–787.
Cenci, A. (2011). The “Economic Method” and Its Ethical Component: Pluralism, Objectivity and Values in Amartya Sen’s Capability Approach. In W. J. Gonzalez (ed.). Methodological Prospects for Scientific Research. From Pragmatism to Pluralism. (Pp. 207–234). Cham: Springer. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-52500-2_11
Ferrari, M. (2017). William James and Vienna Circle. In S. Pihlström, et al. (eds.). Logical Empiricism and Pragmatism, Vienna Circle Institute Yearbook 19, P. 15–42. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-50730-9_2
Greene, C., & Steuer, M. (2020).The Methodology of Theories in Context: The Case of Economics Clustering. In W. J. Gonzalez (ed.). Methodological Prospects for Scientific Research. From Pragmatism to Pluralism. (Pp. 121–140). Cham: Springer. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-52500-2_7
Fuchs, C., & Shlemm, A. (2005). The Self-Organization of Society. In R. E. Zimmermann, & V. Budanov (eds.). Towards Otherland. Languages of Science and Languages Beyond. (P. 81–109). Kassel, Germany: Kassel University Press.
Guillian, A. (2020). Methodological Incidence of the Realms of Reality: Prediction and Complexity. In W. J. Gonzalez (ed.). Methodological Prospects for Scientific Research. From Pragmatism to Pluralism. (Pp. 81–98). Cham: Springer. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-52500-2_5
Harari, Y. N. (2021). Sapience. A Brief History of Humankind. Demianchuk O. (Trans.). [In Ukrainian]. Kyiv. Fors Ukraina.
Hickman, L. A. (2019). Pragmatism as Post-Postmodernism. Lessons from John Dewey. New York, NY: Fordham University Press. https://doi.org/10.1353/book.63578
Honnacker, A. (2020). Environmentalism and Democracy. Pragmatist Perspective on a Precarious Relation. European Journal of Pragmatism and American Philosophy, XII (2. Democracy as a Form of Life), 1–22. https://doi.org/10.4000/ejpap.2132
Ibanez, B. P. (2021). The (Very Needed) Experimental Turn in Ethics. European Journal of Pragmatism and American Philosophy, XIII(2. Pragmatist Ethics: Theory and Practice), 1–17. https://doi.org/10.4000/ejpap.2455
Jaspers, K. (2020). The Origin and Goal of History. Yale University Press.
Klenk, M. (2021). Pragmatism and Moral Objectivity. European Journal of Pragmatism and American Philosophy, XIII(2. Pragmatist Ethics: Theory and Practice), 1–19. https://doi.org/10.4000/ejpap.2677
Koskinen, H. (2017). On Rational Restraints of Ontology. In S. Pihlström, et al. (eds.). Logical Empiricism and Pragmatism, Vienna Circle Institute Yearbook 19, P. 103–123. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-50730-9_6
Legg, C., & Reynolds, J. (2022). Habits of Mind. New Insights for Embodied Cognition from Classical Pragmatism and Phenomenology. European Journal of Pragmatism and American Philosophy, XIV(2. Pragmatism and Phenomenology: A Metaphilosophical Reconsideration), 1–21. https://doi.org/10.4000/ejpap.2994
Marchetti, S. (2021). Introduction to Pragmatist Ethics: Theory and Practice. European Journal of Pragmatism and American Philosophy, XIII(2. Pragmatist Ethics: Theory and Practice), 1–8. https://doi.org/10.4000/ejpap.2664
Maslow, A. H., & Honigmann, J. J. (1970). Synergy: Some notes of Ruth Benedict. American Anthropologist, 72(2), 320–333. https://doi.org/10.1525/aa.1970.72.2.02a00060
Mendenhall, A. (2020). The Three Ps of Liberty. Pragmatism, Pluralism, and Polycentricity. Cham: Palgrave Macmillan. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-39605-3
Pihlström, S. (2017). On the Viennese Background of Harvard Neopragmatism. In S. Pihlström, et al. (eds.). Logical Empiricism and Pragmatism, Vienna Circle Institute Year¬book 19, P. 139–166. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-50730-9_8
Pinker, S. (2019). Enlightenment Now. The Case for Reason, Science, Humanism and Progress. Liubenko O. (Trans.). [In Ukrainian]. Kyiv. Nash format.
Rescher, N. (2020). Methodological Pragmatism. In W. J. Gonzalez (ed.). Methodological Prospects for Scientific Research. From Pragmatism to Pluralism. (Pp. 69–80). Cham: Springer. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-52500-2_4
Rifkin, J. (2011). The Third Industrial Revolution: How Lateral Power is Transforming Energy, the Economy, and the World. New York, NY: Palgrave Macmillan.
Romisi, D. (2017). Classical Pragmatism and Metaphysics: James and Peirce on Scientific Determinism. In S. Pihlström, et al. (eds.). Logical Empiricism and Pragmatism,
Vienna Circle Institute Yearbook 19, P. 43–66. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-50730-9_3
Rosling, H., Rosling O., & Rosling-Ronnlund A. (2020). Factfulness. Ten Reasons We’re Wrong About the World – and Why Things Are Better Than You Think. Yemelianova I. (Trans.). [In Ukrainian]. 2nd ed. Kyiv: Nash format.
Rubeis, G. (2017). Beyond Realism and Antirealism? The Strange Case of Dewey’s Instrumentalism. In S. Pihlström, et al. (eds.). Logical Empiricism and Pragmatism, Vienna Circle Institute Yearbook 19, P. 67–82. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-50730-9_4
Santarelli, M. (2021). Between Problematization and Evaluation. Some Remarks on Pragmatism and Genealogy. European Journal of Pragmatism and American Philosophy. XIII (2. Pragmatist Ethics: Theory and Practice), 1–18. https://doi.org/10.4000/ejpap.2450
Schulenberg, U. (2021). Pragmatism, Humanism and Form. European Journal of Pragmatism and American Philosophy, XIII(2. Pragmatist Ethics: Theory and Practice), 1–22. https://doi.org/10.4000/ejpap.2563
Stadler, F. (2017). Ernst Mach and Pragmatism – The Case of Mach’s Popular Scientific Lectures (1895). In S. Pihlström, et al. (eds.). Logical Empiricism and Pragmatism, Vienna Circle Institute Yearbook 19, P. 3–14. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-50730-9_1
Stepanenko, V. (2015). Civil Society: Discourses and Practice. [In Ukrainian]. Kyiv. Institute of Sociology of the National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine.
Tegmark, M. (2019). Life 3.0. Being Human in the Age of Artificial Intelligence. Korablina Z. (Trans.). [In Ukrainian]. Kyiv: Nash format.
Uebel, T. (2017). American Pragmatism, Central-European Pragmatism and the First Vienna Circle. In S. Pihlström, et al. (eds.). Logical Empiricism and Pragmatism, Vienna Circle Institute Yearbook 19, P. 83-102. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-50730-9_5
Downloads
-
PDF (Українська)
Downloads: 5
Published
How to Cite
Issue
Section
License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.
- Authors who publish with this journal agree to the following terms:
- Authors retain copyright and grant the journal right of first publication;
- Authors are able to enter into separate, additional contractual arrangements for the non-exclusive distribution of the journal's published version of the work (e.g., post it to an institutional repository or publish it in a book), with an acknowledgement of its initial publication in this journal.
