Sociality As the Human Condition

by Klien, Rebekka A.; Sitling, Martina

• ISBN13: 9789004191990
• ISBN10: 9004191992
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2011-06-30
• Publisher: Brill Academic Pub

Summary

In addition to being contemplated in the classical disciplines of anthropology, human sociality has been subjected to scientific examination in the natural and social sciences. This book offers a substantial discussion of empirical research programs within current economics (experimental and neuroeconomics), with special regard to the themes of reciprocity and altruism. These themes are discussed from a philosophical perspective informed by phenomenology and hermeneutics, and linked to theories of conflict, recognition and alterity in social philosophy, which are used to show the limitations of the purely science-based naturalistic approaches in economics. Finally, the book introduces the concept of the neighbor in Christian theology and shows how this figure brings a new perspective to the examination of human sociality.

Author Biography

Rebekka A. Klein, Dr. theol. (2009) in Systematic Theology, University of Zurich, is Postdoctoral Researcher at the University of Heidelberg. She has published on Philosophy of Economics and Phenomenological Anthropology including Auf Distanz zur Natur (Wrzburg 2009).

Table of Contents

Volume Foreword	p. xiii
Acknowledgements	p. xv
Introduction	p. 1
Phenomenological Criticism of Science	p. 1
The Primacy of Philosophical Anthropology	p. 3
Natural Foundation of Anthropology in Current Economics	p. 10
The Relational Approach to Anthropology in Social Philosophy	p. 15
The Double Description of Anthropology in Theology	p. 20
Anthropology as a Representation of Humanity	p. 27
Interdisciplinary Anthropology	p. 27
Anthropology and Sociality in the Individual Disciplines	p. 29
Theological Figures of Thought on Nature and Humanity	p. 30
The Difference between 'Natura Lapse? and 'Oeconomia Naturae	p. 32
Isomorphism of Nature, Humanity and Society?	p. 34
Basic Anthropological Paradigms of Experimental Economics	p. 35
Human vs. Rational Behavior	p. 36
Human vs. Animal Behavior	p. 38
Philosophical Points of Entry in;Anthropology	p. 42
Anthropology as Human Self-Inquiry	p. 42
Alternatives: The Dualism and Monism of Anthropology	p. 48
Anthropological Key Differences	p. 50
Heidegger: Humanity as the Truth of Being	p. 52
Agamben: The Dissolution of the Animal Construct	p. 56
Adorno: Dehumanization through Society	p. 63
Conclusion	p. 66
The Human Condition as a Concrete Condition of Existence	p. 67
Barthes: The Human Condition as Myth	p. 68
Arendt: Loss of the Social 'Human Condition'?	p. 70
Plessner: Humanity and Bodily Existence	p. 77
The Broken Relation to the World	p. 81
From the Shared World ('Mitwelt') to Interpersonal Relations	p. 83
Conclusion	p. 87
Concreteness, Objectivity and Phenomenal Excess	p. 89
The Conflict between Egoism and Altruism	p. 91
Possibilities and Limitations of an Empirical Anthropology	p. 91
The Economic Modeling of Human Social Behavior	p. 94
The Methodological Paradigm Shifts of Experimental Economics	p. 97
Skepticism about the Homo Oeconomicus	p. 101
Backgrounds to the Critical Assessment of the Homo Oeconomicus Model	p. 104
The Methodology of Experimental Economics	p. 109
Translatability of Laboratory and Experiential World	p. 111
Empirical Explanation and Methodological Object Constitution in Experiments	p. 111
The Validity of Experimental Findings Outside of the Laboratory	p. 114
Construction Principles of Economic Laboratory Experiments	p. 117
The Experiment as a Strategic Course of Action	p. 118
The Experiment as Selective Replication of Reality	p. 119
Game Theory and Hypothesis Formation in the Behavioral Experiment	p. 123
The Modeling of Social Preferences	p. 129
What are Preferences?	p. 129
The Ultimatum Game and Inequity Aversion of Social Agents	p. 132
Norms for Cooperative Behavior	p. 136
Sanctions in Public Goods Games	p. 136
Social Norms as a Second-Order Public Good?	p. 140
From 'Homo Reciprocans' to 'Homo Altruisticus'	p. 148
Negative Reciprocity: Ultimatum Game	p. 150
Positive Reciprocity: Trust Game	p. 150
Pure Altruism: Dictator Game	p. 152
Strong Reciprocity: Altruistic Punishment and Rewarding	p. 154
The Utility Expectation of Altruistic Agents	p. 157
Psychological Biological, and Moral Altruism	p. 158
Personal Satisfaction in Altruistic Punishment	p. 161
Affective Empathy: The Significance of Social Emotions	p. 167
The Phenomenal Excess of Social Interaction	p. 171
Conclusion	p. 173
Critique	p. 173
Theses	p. 178
On the Sense and Nonsense of Talking about Altruism	p. 184
Difference in the Interpersonal Relation	p. 187
Three Constellations of the Interpersonal Relation	p. 187
Human Nature and its Function for the Legitimation of Political Order	p. 189
The Separation of Politics and Nature in the Model of Societal Order	p. 191
The Genesis of Order from Contingence	p. 195
Antagonism: The Irreducibility of Difference	p. 198
Laclau and Mouffe: Antagonism and Democracy	p. 199
Critical Assessment of the Liberal, Deliberative Model of Society	p. 204
Recognition: The Pacification of Difference	p. 206
Recognition: Normative Demand or Real-Life Practice?	p. 208
Post-Hegelian Perspectives on Recognition	p. 210
Honneth: Recognition and Its Negative Forms	p. 210
Taylor: Recognition and the Risk of Homogenizing Difference	p. 214
Garcia Diittmann: A Critical Assessment of Restorative Recognition	p. 217
Ricceur's Concept of Mutual Symbolic Recognition	p. 221
The Critique of Reciprocity	p. 222
The Critique of Equal Recognition	p. 223
Symbolic Recognition	p. 224
States of Peace: Recognition and Religious Agape	p. 225
Alterity: Difference as the Source of Responsibility	p. 227
Levinas'Ethical Reconception of Humanity	p. 229
The Impossibility of Social Inhumanity	p. 232
The Relationship to the Other as the Third and the Standards of Justice	p. 235
Beyond the Symmetry of Egalitarian Relationships	p. 237
God's Invisibility	p. 238
Conclusion	p. 241
Humanity and Inhumanity in the Love of Neighbor	p. 245
Theological Reservations against an Immanence of the Social	p. 245
Biblical Usage and Hermeneutical Function of the Word'Neighbor'	p. 252
The Biblical Contexts of Caring for the Other Human Being	p. 254
Who is my Neighbor - the Wrong Question?	p. 256
Terminological Delineations	p. 258
Hermeneutical Analysis of the Word 'Neighbor'	p. 259
Proximity and Distance in the Love of Neighbor	p. 260
Social Criticism Instead of Morality	p. 263
Meisinger: Anthropological Awareness of Difference	p. 267
Kierkegaard: Humanity as the Phenomenal Excess of God's Love	p. 271
Kierkegaard's Method of Analysis	p. 271
The Negative Definition of the Neighbor	p. 273
Self-Love and the Deficiencies of Interpersonal Love	p. 279
Beyond Kierkegaard: The Love of Neighbor and Inhumanity	p. 283
Adorno: The Dead Neighbor	p. 284
Zizek, Santner, Reinhard: The Neighbor as a Figure of Inhumanity	p. 287
Humanity and Inhumanity as Reflected by Mercy	p. 291
Lack of Consequences and Resources	p. 291
Lack of Expectations	p. 293
Unpredictability: The Phenomenal Abundance of Practicing Mercy	p. 295
Inhuman Mercilessness	p. 297
Conclusion	p. 299
Final Thoughts	p. 303
Multiperspectivity Instead of Transdisciplinarity	p. 303
Result of this Study	p. 305
Bibliography	p. 309
Index of Names	p. 321
Index of Subjects	p. 323
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