Intensifying and De-intensifying Distinctions: A Meditation on Imagining the Form of a Border
In this article I explore different ways of imagining distinctions in the form of borders and on the attitudes that people assume towards them. A distinction is primarily a cognitive operation, but appears as such in human communication (people talking about differences and identities), and in const...
| Autor principal: | |
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| Tipo de documento: | Electrónico Artículo |
| Lenguaje: | Inglés |
| Verificar disponibilidad: | HBZ Gateway |
| Interlibrary Loan: | Interlibrary Loan for the Fachinformationsdienste (Specialized Information Services in Germany) |
| Publicado: |
[2020]
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| En: |
Interdisciplinary journal for religion and transformation in contemporary society
Año: 2019, Volumen: 5, Número: 2, Páginas: 493-515 |
| (Cadenas de) Palabra clave estándar: | B
Distinción
/ Límite
/ Percepción
|
| Clasificaciones IxTheo: | AD Sociología de la religión ZB Sociología ZC Política general |
| Otras palabras clave: | B
Conflict
B Transgresión B distinctions B Identity B Borders |
| Acceso en línea: |
Volltext (doi) Volltext (kostenfrei) |
| Sumario: | In this article I explore different ways of imagining distinctions in the form of borders and on the attitudes that people assume towards them. A distinction is primarily a cognitive operation, but appears as such in human communication (people talking about differences and identities), and in constructions that shape the material space people live in (borders, buildings, and the like). I explore two extreme positions, the one de-intensifying distinctions by focusing on their logical and contingent forms, the other intensifying distinctions by making them a potential cause of conflict. The first one is exemplified by Spencer Brown’s and Niklas Luhmann’s reflection on the logical and sociological aspects of distinctions; the second one by Carl Schmitt’s theory of ‘the political’ and its key notion of the distinction between friend and enemy. Both positions are relevant to understand a major debate and struggle in the world of today between liberal cosmopolitans and authoritarian nationalists. I show in what way both positions are aspects of the human condition, and what makes that alternately the one or the other is stressed. |
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| ISSN: | 2364-2807 |
| Obras secundarias: | Enthalten in: Interdisciplinary journal for religion and transformation in contemporary society
|
| Persistent identifiers: | DOI: 10.30965/23642807-00502010 |
