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Project

A possible typification of the alterglobalisation movement based on Charles Taylor's renewed understanding of modern identity. (FWOAL474)

The alterglobalisation movement is a heterogeneous group of people involved in a variety of social and political issues worldwide. According to social scientists, it is difficult to say what this 'more humane alternative' implies. They generally argue that existing categories cannot adequately be used for investigating the particular actions of alterglobalists. A comprehensive analysis and a scientifically informed overview of this movement continue to be major goals, however. In this study, we will assess what common aspects, if any, can be discerned if we focus on the movement's underlying discourse and ideals rather than its concrete actions. The same questions have been asked by social scientists before, but without yielding any systematic investigation results to date. To establish any underlying coherence at the conceptual level, we will refer to the wider worldview perspective offered by the 'Malaise of Modernity' concept, as developed by the Canadian philosopher Charles Taylor (1989, 1991, 2004). The Malaise of Modernity assumes modern Western man to be alienated from himself and from his social and ecological environments. The cause of this alienation is diagnosed as a narrowed perspective of the self. Taylor's answer is a well-wrought plea for a perceptually widened view of human being and becoming. We hypothetically assume that the Malaise of Modernity perspective may enable gaining an improved insight into the various cultural criticisms of the alterglobalisation movement, as well as a more profound understanding of the normative intents of their diagnoses and answers.
Date:1 Jan 2008 →  31 Dec 2011
Keywords:Mathematics
Disciplines:Mathematical sciences and statistics