Articulations of populism: the Nordic case

Populism as a concept is elusive and has been connected to very different political movements. Generally, populism’s connotations are rather negative and the term is often used pejoratively in the academic field as well. However, Ernesto Laclau has approached populism by arguing that populist reason is a manifestation of political logic in which group identification – formed through various signifiers such as ‘the people’, which are articulated as part of an ‘equivalence chain’ – eventually establishes political agency as a totality. This paper uses Laclau’s articulation theory to analyse the public construction of contemporary populism in the Nordic countries of Sweden, Finland, Norway and Denmark. The analysis demonstrates that mainstream media frame populism rather negatively, although examples of the term’s positive identification with ‘the people’ are available, especially in the tabloid media. Thus, the positive identification behind the forming of populist movements clashes with the media discourse that prioritizes established journalistic views, practices and sources, making populism a ‘floating signifier’, that is, a concept that has several meanings which are contested in various public discourses. A general pattern in the construction of populism in Northern European multi-party democracies can be discerned, thus identifying the central role of nationalist and nativist identifications in contingent populist articulations. However, the differences between the Nordic countries emphasize a context-driven approach.     

怀疑主义与认知价值

当代知识论越来越重视认知价值的研究，但从认知价值角度去重新思考传统怀疑主义问题的研究却很少。历史上的怀疑主义者既认为我们无法拥有任何知识，又主张我们应该悬置判断。因此，他们不仅预设了一个高的知识标准，而且预设了一个价值标准：任何达不到知识标准的认知状态都是没有认知价值的。但这个价值标准是错误的，所以我们即使无法达到怀疑主义者所设定的知识标准，也不必悬置判断。假设怀疑主义者认为我们无法拥有任何知识，同时认可“有些达不到知识标准的认知状态也有认知价值”，那么怀疑主义就没有很大的威胁性，因为即使我们无法获取知识，也可以获得具有认知价值的东西，取得认知进步。此外，摩尔主义、语境主义、溯因主义这几种对怀疑主义的主要回应是否成功，最终都依赖于对认知价值的讨论。     

知识论语境主义对怀疑主义难题的解答

怀疑主义难题是怀疑主义最基本的论证形式,知识论语境主义是当代西方知识论中占支配地位的反怀疑主义理论。知识的归因具有语境敏感性,受归因对象和归因主体的影响。进行知识归因必须遵循语境补全原则和最佳知识论语境原则,运用知识论语境主义可以对怀疑主义难题作出新的解答。     

Cultural studies in the present tense

Cultural studies professed ‘radical contextualism’ imbues the project with a particular orientation toward ‘the present,’ a consideration of ‘the current moment’ as a configuration of forces shaping possibilities for politically engaged practice and affording concrete potentials for telling better stories. This essay elaborates these claims by way of tribute to Lawrence Grossberg. It is neither retrospective nor prospective. Instead – and in a manner more befitting a figure who continues to champion the political-intellectual practice of cultural studies here and now, in the present – this essay reflects on the author’s experiences learning with and from Grossberg in order to explore the the temporality of the cultural studies project.     

语境理论与文化思想—以美国清教文化思想为例

本文以美国清教文化为个案,采用语境理论对美国文化进行了分析,试图论证语境理论对文化思想的影响并说明利用该理论在解释美国文化中的重要作用,是语境理论在论证文化这样具体事例中的应用。     

维特根斯坦与后现代反本质主义思潮

反本质主义是后现代主义哲学的理论旗帜和根本特点,它在具体的发展和演变过程中形成和表现为后现代解构论、整体论和多元论等不同的理论形态.文章主要探讨维特根斯坦后期哲学中语言游戏论、语用论和语境论等思想与后现代反本质主义思潮之间的呼应之处与内在联系,指出了维特根斯坦哲学在西方哲学向后现代的发展过程中的理论和方法贡献与奠基和启发作用.     

语境主义的异议与辩护

语境主义是现有解答怀疑主义难题中最合理的理论。然而，对于语境主义解答方案，许多知识论者提出了各种不同的异议。这些异议概括地说有来自无用论的异议、来自缺陷论的异议和来自替代论的异议。分析发现反语境主义者对语境主义的批判要么是误解的，要么是无关痛痒的，要么是可辩解的。因此，虽然语境主义有需要修正之处，但是说“语境主义仍是现有解答怀疑主义难题中最合理的理论”是成立的。     

The Generality of Theory and the Specificity of Social Behavior: Contrasting Experimental and Hermeneutic Social Science

Since its inception, experimental social psychology has arguably been of two minds about the nature and role of theory. Contemporary social psychology's experimental approach has been strongly informed by the “nomological‐deductive” approach of Carl Hempel in tandem with the “hypothetico‐deducive” approach of Karl Popper. Social psychology's commitment to this hybrid model of science has produced at least two serious obstacles to more fruitful theorizing about human experience: (1) the problem of situational specificity, and (2) the manifest impossibility of formulating meaningful general laws of human social behavior. It is argued that a social psychology based on the search for this kind of lawfulness, under the auspices of either a strict or loose interpretation of the largely Hempelian model, is ultimately unworkable. An alternative approach to social psychology that is attentive both to the need for understanding individual situations and behaviors and to the need for generalized understanding of actual human behaviors is offered. This approach is grounded in the hermeneutic tradition.     

Failure is always an option: the necessity,promise & peril of radical contextualism

This essay pays tribute to Lawrence Grossberg and his influence through a consideration of radical contextualism – an analytical process that: (1) understands reality as contingently relational, complex, and always open to alteration; and (2) attempts to narratively represent the messiness and complexity of empirical reality as rigorously as possible (with an explicit recognition of the limits of our ability to do so). The piece opens by reflecting briefly on these principles with respect to the genre of intellectual tribute – that is, to contextualize what it means to talk about Larry and his work within the framework of the advisor/advisee relationship. How do you combine the care of engagement with the ethics of argumentation to make a statement that is as personal as it is intellectual? From there, I situate radical contextualism within Cultural Studies as both an ethical-intellectual commitment and an analytical practice. The goal here is to discuss both the positive and negative potential of this process. I end by reflecting on how Larry’s intellectual commitment to radical contextualism also works as a personal form of radical contextuality.     

语境论的自然进化观

语境论作为一种新的世界观,它的本体论是把自然看作有层次、有结构,并不断进化的复杂实体；认识论是经验的自然主义,主张人与自然的关系不仅与生物学特征有密切联系,而且也与心理学特征密切相关；方法论是基于自然主义的境遇分析方法,主张事件的意义是在特定境遇中显现的,也就是特定语境决定特定事件的含义.这三个方面是一个有机整体,构成了语境论的自然进化观.