Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior / A presente dissertação tem como objetivo principal investigar o conceito de pós-secularismo na filosofia de Jürgen Habermas. Para tanto, buscamos compreender como a religião aparece ao longo da construção do pensamento habermasiano, pontuando as diversas revisões feitas pelo filósofo e suas escolhas metodológicas, que resultaram numa mudança de perspectiva sobre o papel da religião na esfera pública das sociedades contemporâneas. A discussão de Jürgen Habermas se insere num debate mais amplo sobre o reexame do conceito de secularismo, envolvendo não apenas a filosofia, mas a ampla gama das ciências humanas e sociais. Assim, procuramos apresentar o contexto geral desse debate e os principais interlocutores com quem ou contra quem Habermas constrói sua argumentação. Por fim, tentamos mostrar de que maneira as revisões feitas por Habermas nos seus últimos escritos a respeito da religião, bem como a apropriação do conceito de sociedades pós-seculares, se enquadram na moldura geral da teoria habermasiana, principalmente dentro da estrutura do agir comunicativo e da política deliberativa. / This dissertation aims at investigate the concept of post-secularism in the philosophy of Jürgen Habermas. The work seeks to understand how religion appears throughout the construction of Habermas's thinking, pointing out the different revisions made by the philosopher and his methodological choices, which resulted in a change of perspective about the role of religion in the public sphere of contemporary societies. The Habermasian discussion is part of a broader debate on the revision of the concept of secularism, involving not only Philosophy, but the wide range of humanities and social sciences. Thus, this dissertation presents a general context of this debate and its main interlocutors with whom or against whom Habermas builds his argument. Finally, this work tries to show how the revisions made in his last writings concerning religion, as well as the appropriation of the concept of post-secular societies, fall into the general framework of Habermas theory, especially within the framework of communicative action and deliberative politics.

This study was designed to examine the opinions of Turkish immigrants living in the Houston metropolitan area about the conflict between secularism and Islam in Turkey. The study examined the role of the practice of religion on the opinions about the clash between secularism and Islam. A final sample consisted of 40 immigrants recruited through purposeful and snowball sampling. In-depth interviews and a survey including screening questions were conducted. The results indicated that practice of religion has a partial impact on the opinions of Turkish immigrants about the conflict between secularism and Islam. Future research should further examine if the experience of living abroad for a long period influence Turkish immigrants' opinions about the same issue.

The dissertation examines in detail the concept of neutrality in political theory literature and assesses the arguments of the defenders and critics of Turkey’s laicism in light of such an examination. After showing the weaknesses and problems in the arguments of various political actors in Turkey, the dissertation defends “modus vivendi liberalism” as a possible solution for the conflicts about Turkey’s laicism. In that regard, the dissertation argues that certain aspects of liberal political theory can be appropriated for Turkish politics for the sake of ensuring stability and peace even if there might be problems with the possibility and desirability of neutrality. The dissertation also discusses what can constitute Turkey’s modus vivendi and offer certain ideas about what may and may not ensure stability and peace in Turkey.

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Inspired by the Enlightenment’s principles of rationality, positivistic ideologies as well as the nascent modern-industrial state, sociology since its inception in Europe was conceived as a fundamentally secular enterprise. Whereas positivistic streams have been rather left aside, secularism in sociology still remains as a cornerstone of the discipline’s identity. However, is sociology in the 21st-century really ‘secular’? In this dissertation I present to the reader an empirical research about the epistemological influences of Catholicism upon sociology in Mexico, a constitutionally secular state since the 19th century. Theoretically, I draw from authors who have put forward the epistemological influences of Christianity upon western social science. I argue that these authors have unintentionally re-stated, with interesting additions, Durkheim’s rather neglected theses about the socio-religious origin of our ‘categories of thought’ –‘classification’ and ‘causality’ in particular. Although I will not attempt to trace the origins of sociological classifications and causalities back to Catholicism in Mexico, I will argue that it is possible to find salient similarities between both knowledge fields in terms of these categories and other discursive characteristics. By analysing these resemblances in a (neo)Durkheimian-Weberian frame, I will explain how Catholic discourses in Mexico, combined with the Mexican state’s teleological discourses on democracy, modernisation and progress, influence sociological discourses not through Durkheim’s ‘imitative rites’ and a priori ‘necessary connections’, but through a series of ‘bridge’ institutions and particular cultural-ideological structures. Individuals’ own religious beliefs and their deliberate and unintended interactions with these elements and their emergent properties turn apparently parochial Catholic discourses into a series of ‘discursive offensives’ which subtly yet pervasively shape common sense in society at large and also predispose sociology practitioners to adopt and develop i) ‘mono-causal’ and ‘power-over’ interpretations of social phenomena, ii) implicit and explicit dichotomistic logics as well as iii) normative-prescriptive sociological stances. In arguing this, I account for how Weberian authority models and Weberian-Mertonian religious values are not only key ‘background factors’, but also constitute actual cognitive devices in the production of sociological knowledge. I also offer empirical evidence about the role that individuals’ religious beliefs play in the conception of sociological models of power and causality and, by extension, in the construction of scientific reason or scientific beliefs. These accounts support the view of contemporary religions as plastic discourses whose ideological powers permeate, under certain historical conditions, the knowledge produced in scientific domains whose secularity has been mistakenly taken for granted. And this, I conclude, strongly suggests the need to revise the secularist foundations of sociologies of science and scientific knowledge, of sociology in general as well as current monolithic theories and paradigms of secularism and science-religion dualistic debates.

The role of secularism in government is an important question following the events of the Arab Spring. This report aims to look at how Turkey and India's political systems evolved in the 20th and 21st century against the backdrop of constitutional secularism. Moreover, this report explores some of the consequences of secular principles on economic and societal progress. Turkey, with a stance that separates religion and state, has had numerous problems between secular and religious groups. This strife has led to multiple coups and cycles of progress and political turmoil. The military sees its duty as guarding the secular principles of Turkey -- a problem for politicians perceived as overly religious. In India, which has a concept of secularism that requires government consideration and protection for all religions, what has evolved is a political system that pits a party devoted to secularism against a party that advocates a more Hindu national identity. In both Turkey and India, some social and economic interests are drowned out by more vocal religious political groups. While both these countries have different interpretations of secularism, the current atmosphere in both countries fosters civil unrest and, at times, violence. On a societal level the rhetoric only serves to divide people. So long as this rhetoric and atmosphere exists, there is a limit to economic progress, societal stability, and international influence. This last aspect is especially important for these two countries, which have broad historical reach. In Turkey, previous restrictions on religion have been repealed by the current government in order to follow more democratic principles, however, many also see this as the first step towards a politically Islamic Turkey. In India, the religious rhetoric concerns the religious minority groups. India is a country with relatively high governmental restriction and very high societal hostility towards religion. Much of this hostility manifests as public violence. The emergence and predicted victory of a more Hindu political party only fuels the public debate over secularism. The challenge is to balance secularism with freedom of religion, and perhaps accept an evolving stance that reflects each policy's limit. / text

In this thesis, I outline the normative relevance of religious political parties as carriers of values in the context of contemporary political theory. The central argument of my thesis is that religious political parties are, in ideal terms, vital institutional tools for channelling religious claims into the public political realm of liberal democratic polities, in a way that favours democracy. The reason for my claim is that there is a set of normative criteria that all political parties ought to comply with. These include loyal opposition (i.e. the endorsement of the constitutional and institutional framework in which parties operate), acknowledgement and respect of political pluralism and commitment to pursuing power only through legal means. These normative criteria are grounded in the idea that political parties are “bilingual”, i.e. they occupy a unique position between civil society and public political realm. By complying with these criteria political parties can contribute in channelling and moderating religious and other perfectionist claims in a way that renders them suitable for democratic politics. Furthermore I argue that religious political parties are best incorporated, in ideal terms, by a regime of nonconstitutional pluralism, where no religious faith is officially recognized in the constitution but the political guarantees exist for the expression of religious views in the public political realm through religious political parties. Finally, I examine two specific religious parties, the Justice and Development Party (Adalet ve Kalkinma Partisi - AKP) in Turkey and the former Christian Democratic Party (Democrazia Cristiana - DC) in Italy, in order to assess to which extent they have complied with the normative criteria of party politics and, therefore, contributed in enhancing democracy in their respective polities.

In the last twenty-five years there has been a boom in scholarship on Charles Brockden Brown that connects his work to social developments that occurred in the early American republic. Brown scholars often read him as a man ahead of his time as his writing addresses, hints at, or even inverts social mores. The scholarship around Brown's novel Edgar Huntly has concentrated on how the narrative addresses westward expansion and white settlers' relationship with Native Americans or the ways in which Edgar Huntly connects to Revolutionary society. Kate Ward Sugar engages with this narrative in a different way, exploring the dynamic of sleepwalking as a way to address male homosocial bonds. Scholars though continue to side step the eroticism within this narrative and the implications of somnambulism's status as a mental illness being tied to an unnamed desire. My thesis will therefore address this gap in the scholarship by integrating a queer and historicist reading of Edgar Huntly to suggest that Brown's use of sleepwalking is done to reflect a social fear of the homoerotic. It is the goal of my thesis to explore Edgar Huntly as a narrative that weaves the danger of sodomy to sleepwalking, suggesting an implicit relationship between madness, illness, and same-sex desire. In order to fulfill this goal this thesis will employ a queer historicist approach, which aims to engage with the ambiguity of Brown's work to reveal insights into the early American republic. After all as Brown wrote in Edgar Huntly, "There are two modes of drawing forth the secrets of another, by open and direct means and by circuitous and indirect" (4). To develop this paper's argument, I will need to explore the casual relationship between the loss of Waldegrave's letters and Edgar's emotional distress as the cause of his sleepwalking. Brown himself described this as, "...a supposition not to be endured. Yet ominous terrors haunted me", as Edgar's dread is fixated upon the potential of an unauthorized reader seeing these texts (91). Furthermore, close readings of Brown's description of Edgar's fixation on Clithero will highlight his unspeakable desire. This relationship will also allow us to later compare their fates as Clithero becomes, "a madman whose liberty is dangerous, and who requires to be fettered and imprisoned as the most atrocious criminal," while Edgar leaves for Europe with his fiancé (193). Finally, drawing upon medical and legal texts from this period will show how Edgar Huntly suggests a pathologization of sexuality within the time period, in particular the developing figure of a secularized sodomite. This reading of Edgar Huntly not only expands the scholarship on sexuality in Brown's writing, but also the history of sexuality, pointing towards a social development currently unexplored by scholars of the early American republic.

Quelles sont les stratégies et les attentes que dénote le choix d’un établissement scolaire secondaire français pour les familles tunisiennes et binationales en Tunisie contemporaine ? Comment ce choix s’inscrit-il dans l’histoire du pays et, plus particulièrement, dans l’héritage de son passé colonial ? La recherche étudie les formes de distinctions sociale, culturelle et cultuelle à laquelle ces familles aspirent et les stratégies qu’elles mettent en œuvre dans ce dessein. Entrent particulièrement en jeu la dimension internationale des diplômes, le poids des représentations de la langue et de la culture, ou encore la volonté d’une socialisation laïque. En confiant l’éducation de leurs enfants à l’enseignement français, les parents évitent l’impasse que constitue, à leurs yeux, le système public tunisien et contournent sa politique d’arabisation et de massification. Ils engagent alors leurs enfants dans une institution qui leur apportera un capital dispensateur de profits matériels et symboliques. Le système scolaire français permet ainsi de produire, tant sur le plan national qu’international, des ressources à forte valeur ajoutée, une manière pour les familles de se reproduire socialement. Mais leurs choix éducatifs peuvent aussi être liés à la laïcité de l’enseignement qui correspond à une vision du monde qui rend possible, selon eux, soit la promotion d’une religion peu contraignante et indépendante, soit l’abstention religieuse. En conséquence, dans les établissements français, malgré les conflits entre les champs laïque et religieux, la population scolaire et les parents d’élèves utilisent majoritairement le champ laïque pour faire valoir leurs diverses options en matière de religion et de croyance. La laïcité de l’enseignement permet donc de distinguer culturellement et cultuellement une population peu encline au fondamentalisme religieux. / What are the strategies and expectations of Tunisian and French-Tunisian families who chose a French high school for their children? How does this choice fit with their country's history, especially its colonial past? This research is about the various forms of social, cultural and religious distinctions these families are looking for and the strategies they undertake to meet them. Main aspects of these distinctions consist of the international recognition of French diplomas, the weight of language and culture or the wish for a secular socialisation. By putting their children in the French educational system, parents avoid their perceived dead ends of Tunisian state schools marked by arabisation and standardisation policies. They also involve their children in an institution that will bring in symbolic and material benefits, either on the national or international level, as the French educational system produces highly valued resources, which is a way to ensure social reproduction. These educational choices are also linked to secularism which is credited for enabling a world view with less strict forms of religion or even religious abstention. Thus, given the antagonism between religious and secular fields, students and parents in French high schools would privilege the latter to express their opinions. This population, mainly reluctant to religious fundamentalism, is looking to be different, culturally and religiously, through secular education / بأيّ توجّه وأيّ طموح يشي اختيار بعض الأُسر التونسية أو المزدوجة الجنسيّة تسجيلَ أبنائها في ثانويّة فرنسيّة؟ ما المعنى الذي يحمله هذا الخيار حين يوضع في السياق التاريخي لتونس وحين يُأخذ ماضيها الاستعماري بعين الاعتبار؟ تحمل عمليّة التمايز الاجتماعي والثقافي والإيماني التي تتطلّع إليها الأسر التونسيّة وتعمل لأجل تحقيقها عدّة عناوين رئيسة تتلخّص بالتوجّه نحو شهادة جامعيّة ذات أفق دولي والميل إلى بعض التصوّرات عن اللغة والثقافة الفرنسيّتان والنزوع إلى تنشئة علمانيّة للأبناء. وهي حين توكل تربية هؤلاء إلى المؤسسات الفرنسيّة فإنّها تجتنب انسداد الأفق في التعليم الرسمي التونسي، متفاديةً سياسته في التعريب والاستيعاب المدرسي. هكذا يُنظر إلى اندراج هؤلاء الأطفال في تلك المؤسسة كرأسمال يَعِدُ بفوائد ماديّة ورمزية. أضِف إلى ذلك أنّ المعايير التربويّة المرجوّة لدى هذه الأسر قد ترتبط في أذهانهم بعلمانيّة التعليم التي تميل إلى رؤيةٍ للعالم لصيقةٍ إمّا بالترويج لاعتدال التديّن أو بالدعوة إلى إقصاء الدين تماماً. بناءً على ذلك، فإن النظام التربوي الفرنسي يسمح، على المستويين المحلّي والدولي، بإنتاج مصادر ذات قيمة مضافة مرتفعة تساعد هذه الأسر على إعادة إنتاج نفسها اجتماعيّاً. من ناحية أخرى، تفيد علمانيّة التعليم في إنتاج تمايزٍ اجتماعي وعقائديّ لدى شريحة اجتماعيّة لا يمكن للفكر الديني الأصولي أن ينفذ إليها.

Based upon anthropological fieldwork and contemporary literature as well as an analysis of media reports and statements by government officials such as current president Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, this thesis explores the interrelations between political discourses, lifestyle, and identity construction in contemporary Turkey. In the thesis, it is depicted how certain lifestyle choices are legally limited or (drawing on moral, religious, and nationalist discourses) labeled as 'bad' or 'wrong' by the current AKP government and certain parts of society. The informants interviewed for this thesis, mostly well-educated, young Turkish urbanites, feel like these restrictions of lifestyle choices limit their possibilities to freely construct and express their identities, which leads to feelings of resentment, unhappiness, and discomfort. By analyzing political developments in the 20th and 21st century, it is furthermore illustrated that authoritarianism has been a substantial part of the Turkish state project ever since the founding of the Turkish Republic. The current political events and conflicts about lifestyle and identity construction, it is argued, have to be understood in this context rather than depicting them as based upon a strict dividing line between 'secular' and 'religious' parts of society, as it is often depicted in Western media.