<p> Science has exerted a tremendous influence on modern thought. This occurrence has brought with it its share of benefits and problems. Science has offered humankind the growing ability to understand and master nature. This benefit has also brought with it the critical problem of environmental destruction. Within its philosophical roots, science is tied to a cosmology that has alienated humanity from its 'spiritual' experience. This includes aesthetic and theological experience. Two extremes choices are possible: either to reject the scientific cosmology or to reject 'spirituality' as central to the functioning of reality. For those who wish to include the integrity of all human experience in a cosmology, the hope of synthesizing the scientific with the 'spiritual' stands as an ideal.</p> <p> The thought of Alfred North Whitehead is an attempt at such a synthesis of thought. This thesis examines Whitehead's metaphysical synthesis. It begins, in the first and second chapters, with an examination of what Whitehead understands as the problem. The first chapter deals with his description of the mechanist-materialist understanding of nature. The second chapter shows the deep problems which make such an understanding untenable. In the third chapter we explicate Whitehead's attempt at a more plausible metaphysical synthesis. Lastly, we apply Whitehead's thought to questions of ecological ethics. In this chapter we note how reintegrating the idea of a living nature occupied by things with 'inherent value' with a renewed assessment of the importance of human aesthetic and theistic experience, form together a mandate for the ethical treatment of nature.</p> / Thesis / Master of Arts (MA)

Esta tese estuda a teoria política de Roberto Mangabeira Unger. Parte da premissa de que a esquerda experimenta hoje o seu pior momento histórico desde quando emergiu como movimento político informada teoricamente pelas idéias de Karl Marx e Friedrich Engels. Uma das explicações a ser desenvolvida nela é a de que esta situação é resultado de uma compreensão equivocada de como se organizam e de como ocorrem as transformações estruturais nas sociedades modernas (Capítulo 1). Essa circunstância intelectual resultou no descuido e na fraqueza com que essa tradição política e intelectual lidou com a questão das instituições (Capítulo 2). Sustenta que a teoria política produzida por Roberto Mangabeira Unger, em especial o seu conceito de experimentalismo, é um esforço promissor, no interior do pensamento progressista, de abordar a temática das instituições em uma direção que ajuda a esquerda a renovar suas desgastadas energias (Capítulo 3). Conclui que, a despeito do capitalismo ter como característica principal a proliferação de profundas divisões de classes e enormes desigualdades e exclusões que incapacitam e humilham a maioria da humanidade, ele não é o maior problema das sociedades contemporâneas. O seu maior problema é a incapacidade de imaginar os instrumentos institucionais e práticos com que superar essa situação de bloqueio e injustiça. A separação entre a crítica e a imaginação programática transformou a primeira em protesto e denúncia impotentes, desperdiçando oportunidades, disseminando desesperança e cultivando frustração. / This thesis studies the political theory of Roberto Mangabeira Unger. It starts from the premise that the Left currently finds itself in its worst historical moment since the political movement that was informed by the ideas of Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels first emerged. One of the explanations developed here is that this situation results from a mistaken comprehension of how structural transformations in modern societies occur (Chapter 1). These intellectual circumstances resulted from the carelessness with which this intellectual and political tradition dealt with the issue of institutions (Chapter 2). The thesis sustains that Unger´s political theory, especially his concept of experimentalism, is a promising effort in the interior of progressive thought to approach institutions in a way that can help the Left renew its exhausted energies (Chapter 3). It concludes that, although the main characteristic of capitalism is the proliferation of deep class divisions and enormous inequalities and exclusions that incapacitate and humiliate the majority of humanity, this economic system is not the main problem of contemporary societies. The main problem is the incapacity to imagine the institutional instruments and practices that might overcome this situation of stagnancy and injustice. The separation between criticism and programmatic imagination has transformed the first into innocuous protest and denunciation, wasting opportunities, disseminating despair and cultivating frustration.

Esta tese estuda a teoria política de Roberto Mangabeira Unger. Parte da premissa de que a esquerda experimenta hoje o seu pior momento histórico desde quando emergiu como movimento político informada teoricamente pelas idéias de Karl Marx e Friedrich Engels. Uma das explicações a ser desenvolvida nela é a de que esta situação é resultado de uma compreensão equivocada de como se organizam e de como ocorrem as transformações estruturais nas sociedades modernas (Capítulo 1). Essa circunstância intelectual resultou no descuido e na fraqueza com que essa tradição política e intelectual lidou com a questão das instituições (Capítulo 2). Sustenta que a teoria política produzida por Roberto Mangabeira Unger, em especial o seu conceito de experimentalismo, é um esforço promissor, no interior do pensamento progressista, de abordar a temática das instituições em uma direção que ajuda a esquerda a renovar suas desgastadas energias (Capítulo 3). Conclui que, a despeito do capitalismo ter como característica principal a proliferação de profundas divisões de classes e enormes desigualdades e exclusões que incapacitam e humilham a maioria da humanidade, ele não é o maior problema das sociedades contemporâneas. O seu maior problema é a incapacidade de imaginar os instrumentos institucionais e práticos com que superar essa situação de bloqueio e injustiça. A separação entre a crítica e a imaginação programática transformou a primeira em protesto e denúncia impotentes, desperdiçando oportunidades, disseminando desesperança e cultivando frustração. / This thesis studies the political theory of Roberto Mangabeira Unger. It starts from the premise that the Left currently finds itself in its worst historical moment since the political movement that was informed by the ideas of Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels first emerged. One of the explanations developed here is that this situation results from a mistaken comprehension of how structural transformations in modern societies occur (Chapter 1). These intellectual circumstances resulted from the carelessness with which this intellectual and political tradition dealt with the issue of institutions (Chapter 2). The thesis sustains that Unger´s political theory, especially his concept of experimentalism, is a promising effort in the interior of progressive thought to approach institutions in a way that can help the Left renew its exhausted energies (Chapter 3). It concludes that, although the main characteristic of capitalism is the proliferation of deep class divisions and enormous inequalities and exclusions that incapacitate and humiliate the majority of humanity, this economic system is not the main problem of contemporary societies. The main problem is the incapacity to imagine the institutional instruments and practices that might overcome this situation of stagnancy and injustice. The separation between criticism and programmatic imagination has transformed the first into innocuous protest and denunciation, wasting opportunities, disseminating despair and cultivating frustration.

This dissertation examines the scope and limitations of the re-appropriation of the term barbarism by modern Jewish intellectuals in conversation with Third World social movements. Emmanuel Lévinas is my paradigmatic example of this re-appropriation, as his Talmudic interpretations illuminate this process, and his work is located on the axis of the encounter between Jewish and decolonial thinking. I contend that Lévinas follows a classic line of modern European interpreters who expressed their discomfort with the description of the Jewish people as barbaric. While this discomfort can be traced within this orthodox interpretation of Lévinas, I argue that his particular solution for the problem can only be explained by a more heterodox exploration. Lévinas’ positive re-appropriation of the term is part of contextual conversations that he sustained with other peoples characterized as barbarians (i.e. Third World decolonial theorists). While this re-appropriation was originally conceived in order to establish an East-East revolutionary conversation between Eastern European rabbinical interpreters and other radical Eastern projects (i.e. Maghrebi Marxism) it became an East-South decolonial conversation between Jewish and Afro-Caribbean/Latino-American intellectuals. This conversation, however, ultimately challenges the apologetic Jewish re-appropriation of exteriority in the concert of multiple barbarians. I explore the limitations of Jewish thought to engage with this community and cross from an apologetic to a critical barbarism. This dissertation, in conclusion, seeks to make an original contribution in the interrelation between Jewish and post-colonial studies. I aim to do so by first, demonstrating that the Jewish return to classical sources is historically and conceptually a decolonial counter-narrative that was influenced by (and in turn influenced) Third World discourses; second, explaining the reasons and consequences of the persistence of Jewish imagery and influences in Third World decolonial theory; third, exploring the limits of Jewish thinking and the benefits of the expansion of Jewish apologetical dialogues into barbaric critical conversations. And finally, challenging most contemporary scholarship in modern Jewish philosophy, which holds that Jewish thought and the modern re-reading of its sources can only be understood in the context of Western consciousness.

This dissertation examines the scope and limitations of the re-appropriation of the term barbarism by modern Jewish intellectuals in conversation with Third World social movements. Emmanuel Lévinas is my paradigmatic example of this re-appropriation, as his Talmudic interpretations illuminate this process, and his work is located on the axis of the encounter between Jewish and decolonial thinking. I contend that Lévinas follows a classic line of modern European interpreters who expressed their discomfort with the description of the Jewish people as barbaric. While this discomfort can be traced within this orthodox interpretation of Lévinas, I argue that his particular solution for the problem can only be explained by a more heterodox exploration. Lévinas’ positive re-appropriation of the term is part of contextual conversations that he sustained with other peoples characterized as barbarians (i.e. Third World decolonial theorists). While this re-appropriation was originally conceived in order to establish an East-East revolutionary conversation between Eastern European rabbinical interpreters and other radical Eastern projects (i.e. Maghrebi Marxism) it became an East-South decolonial conversation between Jewish and Afro-Caribbean/Latino-American intellectuals. This conversation, however, ultimately challenges the apologetic Jewish re-appropriation of exteriority in the concert of multiple barbarians. I explore the limitations of Jewish thought to engage with this community and cross from an apologetic to a critical barbarism. This dissertation, in conclusion, seeks to make an original contribution in the interrelation between Jewish and post-colonial studies. I aim to do so by first, demonstrating that the Jewish return to classical sources is historically and conceptually a decolonial counter-narrative that was influenced by (and in turn influenced) Third World discourses; second, explaining the reasons and consequences of the persistence of Jewish imagery and influences in Third World decolonial theory; third, exploring the limits of Jewish thinking and the benefits of the expansion of Jewish apologetical dialogues into barbaric critical conversations. And finally, challenging most contemporary scholarship in modern Jewish philosophy, which holds that Jewish thought and the modern re-reading of its sources can only be understood in the context of Western consciousness.