It is possible to pose many difficult and fascinating problems and criticisms for the various theses and arguments in Escape from Leviathan (EfL). This occurred while writing it, and various sharp minds did it on reading drafts or the final product. However, some reviews misunderstand, or ignore, what is written and reassert conventional views. But it is best to answer all published criticisms if only to show how they fail, lest anyone thinks they are sound, and even poor criticisms can (...) sometimes elicit elucidation. Thus, we now turn to the review. (shrink)

The aim of this article is twofold. First, I want to offer an introduction of and a comparison between three accounts of philistinism. Secondly, I show how the phenomenon of philistinism, a failure to speak for oneself, helps to develop an original perspective on Wittgenstein’s moral thought. It is often claimed that Wittgenstein’s personal ethics were quite unorthodox because he repeatedly seems to have supported destruction, war and slavery. I argue that, in the light of my discussion of (...) philistinism, the remarks upon which such conclusions are based should be read differently. (shrink)

The aim of this article is to analyze the semantic change of the German ideal of Bildung in the time of Nietzsche and the reinterpretation that the philosopher proposes of the concept. Bildung is one of the fundamental concepts of modernity in Germany, and in its classical formulation designated a moral imperative of self-improvement of the individual and humanity as a normative ideal. Nietzsche criticized the degradation of this ideal in mere general culture and the cultural philistinism of his (...) time. In its place, Nietzsche proposes a typology of cultures. He reinterprets the concept of culture as a unit of style and the idea of cultivating individuality as a new imperative of the individual who has disengaged himself from traditional morality. (shrink)

The article analyzes the phenomenon of ownership in its legal, economic, political and philosophical perspectives. Ownership is considered as an opportunity and as a guarantee of sustainable development. Comparative context is used to identify the specificity of the bourgeois model of owners’ power (social state) and the domestic concept of power-ownership (including socialist state). The author draws conclusions about ways to overcome the competition between the state and the market for the human resource and proposes to explore the ideological provision (...) of power-ownership in order to appreciate its progressive potential and predilection in relation to the liberal model of social development . (shrink)