Seminar on philosophy of the social sciences [ LFILO2940 ]

Reflexive Theory of Collective Action : From Philosophical Pragmatism to Radical Phenomenology

The emergence of various forms of non-state collective action has changed the conventional approach to look at public institutions. Examples of these are collective action through self-regulation and co-regulation in domains such as the Internet and faire trade; and direct forms of negotiation between consumers and producers to promote sustainable development. This change also had consequences both on contemporary political philosophy and in theory development in the human and social sciences.

The objective of the seminar is to analyze the theoretical underpinnings of these new forms of collective action. First, the seminar will present the new epistemological framework that emerged in contemporary philosophy of human and social sciences, in response to these developments. This framework combines elements both from contemporary philosophical pragmatism and from radical epistemology. In a second step, the seminar will apply this framework to the critical evaluation of the modes of production of new norms in various case studies.

Topics of the seminar

• 1. Introduction : the role of non-state collective actors in governance
• 2. Impediments to non-state collective action
  • The history of privatisation of public goods from the 1980ies
  • Changes in social norms and social activism
• 3. Options/models to improve upon the current situation
  • Vertical forms of control of representative democracy 
  • Horizontal forms : network governance, commons and other intermediary organizations
• 4. Critical evaluation of the modes of production of new norms
  • The pragmatist criticism of the positivist approach to collective action
  • Pragmatist self-understanding of validity of norms in communities of practice
  • Phenomenological approach toward the validity of norms
  • The genetic approach in theory of governance
• 5. Implications of the epistemological analysis for organizing and evaluating research in the social and human sciences

Key references of the seminar

• TEXTE 1 : Dedeurwaerdere, T. 2007. Théories de la gouvernance et société de l'information : introduction.
• TEXTE 2 : Putnam, H. Fait/Valeur. Chapitre 2 : L'enchevêtrement des faits et des valeurs, pp. 37-54.
• TEXTE 3 : Husserl, E. 1972 (ed. originale 1923-1924). Philosophie Première 1 : le positivisme de Hume, pp. 226-232.
• TEXTE 4 : Husserl, E. 1972 (ed. originale 1923-1924). Philosophie Première 2 : le second chemin de l'ouverture de la sphère d'expérience transcendantale, pp. 203-211.
• TEXTE 5 : Lenoble, J. et M. Maesschalck. Synthesis Report 2. Gouvernance Réflexive : quelques clarifications et approfondissements de la quatrième approche (approche génétique), pp. 14-19.
• TEXTE 6 : Tom Dedeurwaerdere et Marc Maesschalck, 'Autorégulation, éthique procédurale et gouvernance de la société de l'information', in Les Carnets du Centre de Philosophie du Droit, n°91, 2001.
• TEXTE 7 : Tom Dedeurwaerdere, 'Bioprospection, gouvernance de la biodiversité et mondialisation', in Les Carnets du Centre de Philosophie du Droit, n°104, 2003.
• TEXTE 8 : Dedeurwaerdere, T.  2010. The Contribution of Network Governance to overcoming frame conflicts.

Other References Used in the Seminar

• Anheir, H.K. 2005. Nonprofit organizations. Theory, management, policy. Abingdon: Routledge.
• Hunold Ch. and Dryzek, J. 2005. Green Political Strategy and the State: Combing Political Theory and Comparative History. In: The State and the Global Ecological Crisis, ed. J. Barry and R. Eckersley. MIT Press, pp. 75-96.
• Keane, J. 2009. The life and death of democracy. New York: Norton.
• Malena, C. 2009. From political won't to political will. Building support for participatory governance. Sterling, VA: Kumarian Press.
• Ostrom, E. 2007. Understanding Institutional Diversity. Princeton: Princeton university Press.
• Putnam, H. 2004. Ethics without ontology. Harvard : Harvard University Press.
• Von Weizsäcker E.U., O. Young, and M. Finger. 2005. Limits to Privatization. How to avoid too much of a good thing. London : Earthscan

Evaluation:  Evaluation of performance will be based on a paper written by the student and on participation in seminar discussions.