Articles by Gonzalo Bustamante
Argumentos. Revista de Crítica Social, 2024
Este artículo examina la emergencia del constitucionalismo neoliberal como una forma de régimen p... more Este artículo examina la emergencia del constitucionalismo neoliberal como una forma de régimen político distinta tanto del autoritarismo competitivo como de la democracia plena. Se argumenta que NEOLIBERAL CONSTITUTIONALISM: THE HAYEK-SCHMITT CONFLUENCE AND ITS IMPACT ON THE CHILEAN CONSTITUTION OF 1980
History of Philosophy Quaterly, 2024
This article rereads Benedict de Spinoza and recent interpretations of him as an epistemic democr... more This article rereads Benedict de Spinoza and recent interpretations of him as an epistemic democrat through the prism of contemporary debate on the conditions for deliberation in a democracy. Through a reconstruction of Spinoza's arguments and theories of deliberation and its preconditions, we argue that, for deliberation to produce the benefits Spinoza recognizes, the process must be inclusive, and those deliberating must be both intellectually humble and autonomous. This interpretation is new and diverges from those recently advanced by Justin Steinberg and Sandra Leonie Field. In particular, on our reading, Spinoza's critique of humility does not extend to intellectual humility as it is understood today in political theory. Both autonomy and humility, as epistemologically conceived by political theorists today, can therefore be considered Spinozian civic virtues.
Problemos, 2024
This article examines the subtle nuances of Hobbes's and Kant's perspectives on rhetoric and mate... more This article examines the subtle nuances of Hobbes's and Kant's perspectives on rhetoric and materialism, contextualising them within the broader framework of political philosophy. Despite both philosophers being critics of rhetoric, their approaches exhibit notable divergences. Hobbes, who advocated for monarchy, criticized rhetoric from the perspective of a materialist anthropology influenced by Lucretius. However, he paradoxically employed rhetorical strategies in his new scientia civilis. Despite critiquing both Lucretian materialism and rhetoric, Kant incorporated certain rhetorical elements compatible with his philosophical framework, particularly in relation to Epicureanism. This study analyses their interpretations of paradiastole and the implications for the political thought. The argument is that both thinkers, in seeking a rational foundation for the political order, anchor their notions of rationality in Epicurean materialism, by reconfiguring rhetorical elements to suit their respective philosophies. The article elucidates Kant's republican proclivities and his aspiration to maximize the citizens' autonomy, which contrasts with Hobbes's monarchical orientation. This research contributes to a more nuanced understanding of the early modern political thought and its relevance to the contemporary republican and democratic theory.
Hobbes Studies, 2024
This contribution to a symposium on Samantha Frost's Lessons from a Materialist Thinker considers... more This contribution to a symposium on Samantha Frost's Lessons from a Materialist Thinker considers her innovative reinterpretation of Thomas Hobbes's philosophy, situating him as a precursor of New Materialism. Frost's reading emphasizes Hobbes's conception of human beings as 'thinking bodies' inextricably intertwined with their environment. This materialist conception leads to a relational, peace-oriented ethic rooted in our interdependence. Frost's interpretation is contrasted with those of Arash Abizadeh and Stephen Darwall. Abizadeh identifies two normative dimensions in Hobbes's ethics: the prudential and the juridical. This perspective highlights the role of contractual obligations, which is less prominent in Frost's interpretation. Darwall's projectivist interpretation suggests that Hobbes saw ethical judgments as projections of our desires onto the world, which potentially challenges Frost's materialist reading. While acknowledging the tensions between these interpretations, it is argued that Frost's reinterpretation offers valuable insights for addressing contemporary ethical and political challenges.
BOLETÍN DE LA ASOCIACIÓN DE ESTUDIOS HOBBESIANOS, 2023
Este trabajo estudia cómo el materialismo epicúreo y la crítica a la
metafísica de Lorenzo Valla ... more Este trabajo estudia cómo el materialismo epicúreo y la crítica a la
metafísica de Lorenzo Valla influyen en la retórica en Thomas Hobbes.
Se recurre a teóricos de la retórica contemporáneos, como Struever,
Burke y Nienkamp, para dar cuenta de las diferentes dimensiones que
se siguen de la retórica hobbesiana.
Philosophy & Rhetoric, 2021
For Victoria Kahn, Hobbes’ argument that fear of violent death is “the passion to be reckoned up... more For Victoria Kahn, Hobbes’ argument that fear of violent death is “the passion to be reckoned upon” in explaining what inclines men to peace must be interpreted
as a mimetic argument. However, Kahn then notes a paradox that makes Hobbes’ thinking problematic: whereas love and the desires are appetites that produce an imitative effect, fear is different. Though also a passion, fear lacks that capacity to produce a mimetic effect or, therefore, to generate a contract. My hypothesis is that resolving the dilemma presented in Kahn’s interpretation of Hobbes requires a shift in attention from mimesis to rhetoric and, more specifically, to biological rhetoric as defined by Nancy Struever. This approach to Hobbes makes it possible
to understand the rhetorical role of fear in generating and maintaining the social contract, and how the problem that Kahn signals—the impotence of fear in relation to mimesis—can be resolved.
Keywords: Hobbes, rhetoric, biological rhetoric, mimesis, fear
Philosophy & Social Criticism, 2021
Indigenous conservation through patrimonialization is the product of political and legal decision... more Indigenous conservation through patrimonialization is the product of political and legal decisions made by a non-indigenous agent: the liberal state, using the law to retain a form of bios. We propose that patrimonialization is the device by which liberal states have processed and integrated indigenous claims into a form of bios ultimately designed to safeguard state legal structures. We argue that, to uphold the rule of law in contexts of struggle and resistance that challenge the very understanding of the law, states respond by wielding the law in the form of the rule by law, that is, pushing the law to the limit to give normative content to the criteria by which the state conducts its affairs, without straying from the individual rights framework. We hold that the rule by law is an operation that defines the patrimonialization of indigenous peoples. It increases their visibility while imposing limits on political action to keep them from becoming sui juris subjects capable of breaching the distinction between zoe and bios. In this article, we try to understand the political–ideological intent of these decisions, the intentions beyond the letter of the law of patrimonialized peoples.
Problemos, 2020
This article suggests that human action in Machiavelli is both materialistic and temporalized. It... more This article suggests that human action in Machiavelli is both materialistic and temporalized. It further argues that Reinhart Koselleck's view of Machiavelli's understanding of time as historical circularity is misleading. The author is making the case that Machiavelli drew from Lucretian materialism to strip political concepts of content via an animal-materialist anthropology and ontology holding that man, as any animal, is material reality acting under an atomic arrangement wherein no time, whether linear or circular, can exist. The conclusion is that Koselleck's interpretation of the circularity of time in Machiavelli kept him from seeing his role as an antecedent of the conceptual and temporal revolution underlying the Sattelzeit. Machiavellio revoliucija ir Kosellecko Sattelzeit Santrauka. Žmogiškasis veiksmas Machiavellio darbuose apibūdinamas kaip materialistinis ir temporalizuotas. Straipsnyje teigiama, kad Reinharto Kosellecko požiūris į Machiavellio laiko kaip istorinio cikliškumo suprati-mą yra klaidinantis. Autorius bando pagrįsti tai, kad Machiavellis rėmėsi Lukrecijaus materializmu siekdamas politinius konceptus atskirti nuo turinio. Tai darydamas jis pasitelkė gyvūnišką-materialistinę antropologiją ir ontologiją, teigiančią, kad žmogus, kaip bet kuris kitas gyvūnas, yra materiali realybė, veikianti pagal savo atominę sąrangą, kurioje negali egzistuoti joks laikas-nei linijinis, nei ciklinis. Išvadose teigiama, kad tai, kaip Koselleckas interpretavo laiko cikliškumą šio filosofo darbuose, neleido jam įžvelgti Machiavellio vaidmens konceptualinėje ir temporalinėje revoliucijoje, davusioje pagrindą Sattelzeit.
politicka misao, 2018
Seneca’s figure has been retrieved as relevant to understand the emergence of sovereignty and mod... more Seneca’s figure has been retrieved as relevant to understand the emergence of sovereignty and modern representation. The idea put forth by the author of De Clementia would be one of the bases for Bodin’s writings and is also present in Hobbes’ work. During the Renaissance, De Clementia served as promotion for monarchical forms.
In these interpretations, this Stoic philosopher presents Nero in a depersonalised form., He is not only the sovereign capable of shaping a multitude, representing it in its whole and giving it the character of ‘people’, but also who secures peace and rules with justice. Thus, in Seneca, there would be a proto-theory of sovereignty and representation, with decisionism as its result.
If these readings of Seneca are plausible, genealogies of modern concepts that interpret their emergence as a revolutionary trennung (eg, Schmitt and early Conceptual History) could be facing a problem of oblivion. This could also imply that modern liberal democracy’s concept of representation would be closer to Seneca’s monarchical idea, in which absolute sovereignty would guarantee private property, contracts, and a sui iuris apolitical soul.
Keywords: Seneca, Begriffsgeschichte, representation, democracy, sovereignty.
In this article, I suggest that it is plausible to argue that Skinner's methodology is inseparabl... more In this article, I suggest that it is plausible to argue that Skinner's methodology is inseparable from his intention to retrieve republicanism. This makes itself evident in the way he structures his critique of John Rawls. In line with Hobbes, this British historian interprets Rawls's A Theory of Justice as another example of theory being politically neutralized. I will present the main aspects of Skinner's analysis of Rawlsian liberalism from a neo-Machiavellian perspective, and discuss to what degree this analysis is or is not conclusive vis-à-vis the relationship between Rawls and republicanism. Finally, I will assess to what extent it is ideology that motivates the British historian to put his methodology in line with republicanism.
The interview took place in Santiago, Chile in November 2015 and was conducted by Gonzalo Bustama... more The interview took place in Santiago, Chile in November 2015 and was conducted by Gonzalo Bustamante, professor of political philosophy at Universidad Adolfo Ibáñez. Martin Jay in the course of this interview addresses the links between Critical Theory, Cambridge School, and Conceptual History, giving special attention to an "event" as a limited category, critical rationality and the contextual genealogies of the different branches of historical studies mentioned before. Jay concludes that one of the possible limitations of the "in context' work of authors such as Quentin Skinner and the so-called Cambridge School is given by the impossibility to reduce the perlocutionary effect of events to the illocutionary intentions of the authors. In line with Claude Romano, in the interpretation of Jay, an 'event' always has an "an-archic" condition that makes its limitation to previous networks of meaning impossible.
[1] Simona Forti es profesora de historia del pensamiento político en la Universidad del Piemonte... more [1] Simona Forti es profesora de historia del pensamiento político en la Universidad del Piemonte Orientale, Italia. Es una reconocida experta en Hannah Arendt y el tema del totalitarismo, entre otros.
Resumen: El autor expone los argumentos centrales desarrollados tanto por Höffe como por Luhmann ... more Resumen: El autor expone los argumentos centrales desarrollados tanto por Höffe como por Luhmann respecto de los fundamentos de un orden normativo institucional que garanticen una justicia política y no-metafísica. Así, presenta las contribuciones de ambos pensadores; explica -en la primera sección-la ética luhmaniana, y más adelante describe la crítica de Höffe al positivismo luhmanniano. Finalmente, el autor rescata las contribuciones de Luhmann y Höffe y las ubica como las más relevantes de las últimas décadas en materia de filosofía del derecho alemán.
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Articles by Gonzalo Bustamante
metafísica de Lorenzo Valla influyen en la retórica en Thomas Hobbes.
Se recurre a teóricos de la retórica contemporáneos, como Struever,
Burke y Nienkamp, para dar cuenta de las diferentes dimensiones que
se siguen de la retórica hobbesiana.
as a mimetic argument. However, Kahn then notes a paradox that makes Hobbes’ thinking problematic: whereas love and the desires are appetites that produce an imitative effect, fear is different. Though also a passion, fear lacks that capacity to produce a mimetic effect or, therefore, to generate a contract. My hypothesis is that resolving the dilemma presented in Kahn’s interpretation of Hobbes requires a shift in attention from mimesis to rhetoric and, more specifically, to biological rhetoric as defined by Nancy Struever. This approach to Hobbes makes it possible
to understand the rhetorical role of fear in generating and maintaining the social contract, and how the problem that Kahn signals—the impotence of fear in relation to mimesis—can be resolved.
Keywords: Hobbes, rhetoric, biological rhetoric, mimesis, fear
In these interpretations, this Stoic philosopher presents Nero in a depersonalised form., He is not only the sovereign capable of shaping a multitude, representing it in its whole and giving it the character of ‘people’, but also who secures peace and rules with justice. Thus, in Seneca, there would be a proto-theory of sovereignty and representation, with decisionism as its result.
If these readings of Seneca are plausible, genealogies of modern concepts that interpret their emergence as a revolutionary trennung (eg, Schmitt and early Conceptual History) could be facing a problem of oblivion. This could also imply that modern liberal democracy’s concept of representation would be closer to Seneca’s monarchical idea, in which absolute sovereignty would guarantee private property, contracts, and a sui iuris apolitical soul.
Keywords: Seneca, Begriffsgeschichte, representation, democracy, sovereignty.
metafísica de Lorenzo Valla influyen en la retórica en Thomas Hobbes.
Se recurre a teóricos de la retórica contemporáneos, como Struever,
Burke y Nienkamp, para dar cuenta de las diferentes dimensiones que
se siguen de la retórica hobbesiana.
as a mimetic argument. However, Kahn then notes a paradox that makes Hobbes’ thinking problematic: whereas love and the desires are appetites that produce an imitative effect, fear is different. Though also a passion, fear lacks that capacity to produce a mimetic effect or, therefore, to generate a contract. My hypothesis is that resolving the dilemma presented in Kahn’s interpretation of Hobbes requires a shift in attention from mimesis to rhetoric and, more specifically, to biological rhetoric as defined by Nancy Struever. This approach to Hobbes makes it possible
to understand the rhetorical role of fear in generating and maintaining the social contract, and how the problem that Kahn signals—the impotence of fear in relation to mimesis—can be resolved.
Keywords: Hobbes, rhetoric, biological rhetoric, mimesis, fear
In these interpretations, this Stoic philosopher presents Nero in a depersonalised form., He is not only the sovereign capable of shaping a multitude, representing it in its whole and giving it the character of ‘people’, but also who secures peace and rules with justice. Thus, in Seneca, there would be a proto-theory of sovereignty and representation, with decisionism as its result.
If these readings of Seneca are plausible, genealogies of modern concepts that interpret their emergence as a revolutionary trennung (eg, Schmitt and early Conceptual History) could be facing a problem of oblivion. This could also imply that modern liberal democracy’s concept of representation would be closer to Seneca’s monarchical idea, in which absolute sovereignty would guarantee private property, contracts, and a sui iuris apolitical soul.
Keywords: Seneca, Begriffsgeschichte, representation, democracy, sovereignty.
Presentamos este volumen como una invitación a reflexionar más allá de las barreras geográficas, temáticas y generacionales. Asimismo, el libro deviene en una plataforma propicia para discutir problemas filosófico-políticos suscitados por la aludida convergencia de disciplinas.
causas y consecuencias de la Guerra Civil Inglesa (1642-1651). Por
esta razón, la discusión que interesaría a Hobbes es ideológica,
como lo indican Skinner (1978b), Tully (1988) y Pocock (1979),
esto es: el desafío semántico y argumentativo que enfrenta un agente (en este caso el bando monárquico vía Hobbes) dentro de un escenario dado, para que sus acciones sean legitimadas y aceptadas en vista a un objetivo. En efecto, no se trata solo del problema fundamental de transmutar el lenguaje político-normativo existente para que se adecue a un proyecto, sino también de la habilidad de ajustar sus propuestas para armonizar con los valores hegemónicos coetáneos, lo cual es un desafío distinto. Por consiguiente, el análisis de discursos políticos, como los de Hobbes, guarda relación con disputas semánticas, únicamente en segundo lugar, con el vínculo entre los aportes personales en dichos debates y la configuración lógico-analítica de ellos. Dentro de ese contexto, se tratará un capítulo de esa guerra lingüístico-discursiva. Existe un concepto, el de pueblo, que jugó un papel clave, así como una tradición en pugna: la lex regia. Nuestra tesis propone que Hobbes abordó la fundación del orden político en relación con estas dos controversias. A continuación, analizaré cómo el concepto de pueblo tiene un papel en la negación de Hobbes de la idea de soberanía popular de los monarcómacos, para unirlo posteriormente con la contienda respecto a la lex regia, y luego finalizaré con una reflexión sobre las posibilidades de una monarquía popular en el autor del Leviatán.
Editors: Sazo, Bustamante
Editor: Diego Sazo,
Publisher: Ediciones CAIP-RIL
Pages: 117-142.
Editor: Aldo Mascareño
Publisher: RIL Editores
Pages: 219-233