Name: Marvin Astrada
Section: Political Theory
Professional Email: [email protected]
Professional Status: Practitioner
Institution: Federal Judicial Center/NYU
Scheduling Preference: Friday Afternoon
Proposal Type: Paper
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Co-author info: Scott B. Astrada, Georgetown University Law Center, [email protected]
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Paper Title: Theory of Ideology: A Critical Exploration of Ideology in Political & Legal Communicative Enterprises
Abstract:
This paper critically explores the nexus between thought, language, and the communicative enterprise vis-à-vis politics, law, and society, which, in turn, is impacted by the nexus between knowledge, truth, and power. The latter is effectuated, in part, via ideology. Configurations of Order, e.g., procedural democracy, variants of socialism, economic system, and sociocultural dynamics undergirding the norms and values perpetuated in each of the aforementioned nexuses, rely upon ideology. Ideology is a factor that must be weighed and mediated in the articulation of law and policy. An examination of ideology, as a structural variable, thus reveals the complex power-dynamics that inform communication. The overarching aim of this work is to critically analyze the character and content of ideology in the realms of political and legal discourse, and ascertain the power-dynamics and effects of clarity in the establishment of truth regimes.

Name: Spiros Makris
Section: Political Theory
Professional Email: [email protected]
Professional Status: Associate Professor
Institution: University of Macedonia, Thessaloniki, Greece & Rothereme American Institute (RAI), Humanities Division, University of Oxford, UK
Scheduling Preference: Saturday Morning
Proposal Type: Paper
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Paper Title:  The meaning of political philosophy in Leo Strauss's thought: 'The problem of Socrates'
Abstract:
The case of Socrates plays an absolutely critical part in the way that the eminent thinker Leo Strauss determines the meaning of political philosophy. It is well-known that he defines the relevant case as 'the problem of Socrates'. Actually, and from a psychoanalytic point of view, behind his definition concerning political philosophy dominates so-called 'Plato's trauma'. The tragic fact that the democratic Athena led Socrates to a kind of self-suicide, it is perceived by Strauss as a hard evidence, so to speak, for the existential and phenomenological crisis of polis itself. To put it differently, for him, the persecution of Socrates from Athenian democracy brings to the fore the onto-theological tension between philosopher and political community. Throughout his life, from the very beginning in the Weimar Germany and then more and more in postwar America until he passed away in 1973, Leo Strauss strived hard to find out the proper balance between vita activa and vita contemplativa, if I can say so, by offering us the fine opportunity to reflect further on the content of political philosophy not as mere academic discipline but as a 'way of life'. Undoubtedly, 'the problem of Socrates' took in his eyes an entirely huge significance due to the enormous impact of Nazis' totalitarian regime on the life of so many thinkers since 1933 onwards, especially for them with Jewish origins. In fact, the case of Socrates has at the same time a very strong contextual aspect. Additionally, drawing his inspiration from so-called Medieval Enlightenment, Strauss built a whole methodology of making political philosophy against power, in which dominates the conceptual dipole between esoteric writing and exoteric teaching. The political philosopher owes to protect himself from the arrogance of power, even the democratic one. As a matter of fact, by bringing to light the basic traits of so-called ancient liberalism, Strauss formulates a way of life for the citizen itself. Protecting our lives from power is like to protect power from its abyssal explosions. This is very critical today where the phenomenon of populism covers as a dark blanket not only the Western democracies but the global political scene. This onto-theological tension between the thinking citizen and the ruling mob in the name of a supposed populist democracy gives us the mental fortitude to rethink the fragile relationship between man and polis. This is exactly the crucial stake that Strauss places at the heart of political philosophy. Doubtless, Socrates personifies this immense stake in the most proper and reflective way.