Unit:
Κατεύθυνση Κοινωνιολογία του ΔικαίουLibrary of the School of Law
Author:
Flytzanis Ioannis
Dissertation committee:
Ελένη Ρεθυμιωτάκη, Αναπληρώτρια Καθηγήτρια Νομικής Σχολής ΕΚΠΑ, Τομέας: Ιστορίας και Θεωρίας του Δικαίου.
Φίλιππος Bασιλόγιαννης, Αναπληρωτής Καθηγητής Νομικής Σχολής ΕΚΠΑ, Τομέας: Ιστορίας και Θεωρίας του Δικαίου.
Βίκυ Ιακώβου, Μόνιμη Επίκουρη Καθηγήτρια, Τμήμα Κοινωνικής Ανθρωπολογίας και Ιστορίας, Πανεπιστήμιο Αιγαίου.
Βασίλειος Βουτσάκης, Αναπληρωτής Καθηγητής Νομικής Σχολής ΕΚΠΑ, Τομέας: Ιστορίας και Θεωρίας του Δικαίου.
Άρης Στυλιανού, Αναπληρωτής Καθηγητής, Τμήμα Πολιτικής Επιστήμης, ΑΠΘ.
Κωνσταντίνος Ράντης, Αναπληρωτής Καθηγητής, Τμήμα Φιλοσοφίας, Πανεπιστήμιο Ιωαννίνων.
Γεράσιμος Κακολύρης, Επίκουρος Καθηγητής, Τμήμα Φιλοσοφίας, ΕΚΠΑ.
Original Title:
Κριτική κοινωνική θεωρία για τη δημοκρατία και πολιτική δικαιωμάτων. Επανεξετάζοντας το έργο του Henri Lefebvre.
Translated title:
Critical social theory for democracy and politics of rights. Re-examining Henri Lefebvre's work.
Summary:
Thesis attempts to reconstruct the thought of the French social thinker Ηenri Lefebvre with a focus on democracy, examining his work through a dialogue with other social thinkers, on specific issues and in the light of modern developments in critical social theory. Τhe thesis is developed in three parts that contain: a) Lefebvre's main democratic consideration and its influences, b) the conceptual map of democracy, i.e. political alienation and civil society, with the tensions that run through them and c) his reflection on the organizational dynamics of the city and on the politics of rights.
Τhe introductory chapter highlights the particularity of Henri Lefebvre's scientific approach within French thought during the period in which his work was developed. Ιt connects his critical theory with the theoretical core of the sociology of law, i.e. a social theory of law, democracy and rights which had initially developed by classical sociologists, but it expands till nowadays with the prevailing examples of systemic and critical theories. Then the thesis locates elements of a critical social theory of law and democracy in the work of H. Lefebvre.
Τhe first part refers to three theoretical components and two thinkers, who shape Η. Lefebvre's conception of democratic potential. In the first chapter, H. Lefebvre conceives democracy with reference to social relations and he is critical to a political/ economical system in isolation. Moreover, he forms his concept of democracy in a humanitarian direction and through a revision of romanticism. The second chapter analyzes two supporting pillars of French thinker's democratic theory: the Marxian conception of "true democracy " in combination with elements of Rousseau's republicanism.
In the second part, two key concepts, alienation and civil society, are developed, interpreting the tensions of democracy and at the same time indicating their overcoming. The third chapter analyzes H. Lefebvre's reinterpretation of the concept of alienation in a double way. On the one hand, the French thinker examines the notion not in the level of economy and labor relations, but in politics. On the other hand, he locates alienation in the field of knowledge, the latter instead of developing conscious citizens, it obscures the functioning conditions of the political, legitimizing social injustice. The fourth chapter investigates H. Lefebvre's concept of civil society as a field of social action and solidarity with reference to his influences both from Hegel’s theory and Marxian thought. It highlights the importance of daily life and the historical crystallizations of a "democratic ethos": the period of Renaissance humanism, the golden age of 18th century modernity, the democratic self-organization in 19th century Paris and the mobilizations of May '68. Finally, it emphasizes the connection of human temporality with the development of a citizens' public space (rythmanalysis).
The third part presents in a systematic manner, H. Lefebvre's reflections on the city as a possibility for democratic participation in combination with his politics of rights. The fifth chapter, underlines the contradictory dynamics of the city for the realization of democracy, since it has a two-sided function, either as a place of privileged mediation of a reorganized civil society, or as a tool for a technocrat-led political and economic system. The sixth chapter summarizes Η. Lefebvre's perception of a politics of rights, having prior analyzed two related models of rights: a french post-Marxist and a normative socio-theoretical. H. Lefebvre's conception of rights combines the two above models of thought, announcing the modern theoretical tendency to bring elements of each other together. It combines struggles with institutionalization and division with a fragile "we" of solidarity. The aim of rights claiming is the appropriation of the forces of a differentiated civil society. Anti-essentialist differences are interconnected, offering unity to the social and leading to a universal reason that controls them (the radical universalism of rights). Rights, in Lefebvre’s conception, appear as a movement, an eternal work, the result of struggles that bring the marginalized subjects to the center of political life. Finally, they are mentioned potential objections to H. Lefebvre's politics of rights and they are given answers to them through the work of the French thinker. The conclusion highlights how relevant is H. Lefebvre's thought in relation to current challenges for today's democracy and to the associated theoretical debate.
Main subject category:
Law and Legislation
Other subject categories:
Sociology of Law
Keywords:
democracy, civil rights, critical social theory, open totality, dialectics, flexible reason, neo-marxism, post-marxism, normative theory, true democracy, Diesseits, social reproduction, humanism, freedom, romanticism, utopia, bureaucracy, technocracy, alienation, ideology, fetishism, mystification, civil society, daily life, democratic ethos, Renaissance, Modernity, 19th century Paris, May '68, bodily rhythms, rhythmanalysis, city, social space, struggles for rights, difference, Frankfurt School, deliberation, sphere of dialogue, social freedom, cross‐cultural dialogues, recognition of difference, french post-marxism, the right to have rights, wild democracy, equaliberty, re-distribution of the sensible, authoritarianism, anti-rights discourse.
Number of references:
431
File:
File access is restricted until 2024-06-01.
ΔΙΑΤΡΙΒΗ Γ.ΦΛΥΤΖΑΝΗΣ.pdf
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File access is restricted until 2024-06-01.
