Towards Philosophy and Dialectic of Social Change

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Towards Philosophy and Dialectic of Social Change

In his famous book, Future Shock, Alvin Toffler formulates the following definition of change: « the future which invades » the present. 1 In the logic of this statement we may go beyond Toffler and draw the conclusion that the authenticity of the change will be determined by the authenticity and the truthfulness of the invading future. The truth, which is the integrating center of this future, becomes the source of inspiration around which the present gravitates in the process of receiving its shape, definition and content. It is a formation and reformation process of creativity and vision in which the present gradually grows into the future traveling toward the horizon of its full consummation and incarnation.

Social Despair and Transcendence

Social Despair is generated out of the claustrophobic sense of finitude within the context of a present reality controlled by institutional structures which have the claim to represent the end (to be the te/os) of history, and therefore to be the only alternative for future social order. This despair may originate in various spheres and dimensions of the complex social existence: economic, political, cultural, ecological, juridical, etc. However, it is always based on the ultimate fear of alienation: from the possibility of a personal and corporate future beyond the present frame of reference, from the potential for self-development and self-fulfillment, and from personal and communal meaning; alienation from life, per se.

The New Humanity: Its Essence and Formation

The ideal of the New Humanity runs parallel to the hope for the realization of the future of humanity. In most of the philosophical constructs offering a dialectic for social transformation, « new » as a term does not indicate the alienation and substitution of something « old » with something different in origin and essence. It rather represents the fully realized and developed potential and nature of humanity, present as an organically integrated factor in the totality of the novum, and the inbreaking horizon of infinite future. « New, » as a part of this vision, is a symbol of an accomplishment of the process of the progressive growth of humanity into its fullness of social meaning and humanizing therapeutical presence within the world; as a guarantor of the world’s continuity and harmonization in the embrace of its natural environment, which has been recultivated and redeemed from the abuses of human civilization.

Human Alienation and Freedom

After examining different paradigms of Liberation, we can easily come to the conclusion that the ultimate striving of humanity is for liberation from alienation. Depending on the context of each separate philosophical paradigm, this longing for liberation may express itself in a fight against the alienation from the self, the fellow human, the means of production, the personal or corporate present and future, etc. Different strategies are offered for achieving the final goal of Liberation: the proletarian revolution of Marx, the hunger-drive toward the novum of Bloch, the libido drive in Freud, educational process of Freire, etc. There are different formulations in relation to identifying the chains that have to be broken.

The Revolutionary Praxis: An Eastern European Prospective on some Aspects of Political Theology

Political Theology and its developments in the works of John Baptist Metz, Jurgen Moltmann and others in their dialogues with Bloch’s Esoteric Marxism, brought to the attention of the theological process the need of critical analysis of our sociopolitical presence in the world and called the Christian community out of the internalization of the faith-experience towards revised, constructive social praxis, inspired by the horizon of eschatological hope.

The Marxist Moral Theory of Historicism

In discussing the relation of Marxism to morality, it has often been argued (by the Marxists) that morality is ideological in nature, while « by contrast with ideology of any form » Marxism is scientific. Further, the traditional Marxist view takes the position that  » … morality always and necessarily has been chronically incapacitating within any scientific critique of society. »11 In contrast to this assumption, George Paterson points out that.

Table of Contents :

• Chapter 1 Towards Philosophy and Dialectic of Social Change
  • Social Despair and Transcendence
  • The Transforming Hope
  • The New Humanity: Its Essence and Formation
  • Towards Philosophy and Dialectic of Social Change
  • Social Despair and Transcendence
  • The Transforming Hope
  • The New Humanity: Its Essence and Formation
• Chapter 2 Dialectic of Liberation
  • Human Alienation and Freedom
  • The Revolutionary Praxis: An Eastern European Prospective
  • on Some Aspects of Political Theology
  • The Marxist Moral Theory of Historicism
  • The Marxist View on Human Rights, Equality and Freedom
  • The Marxist Revolution
  • The Spiritual Revolution: A Dialogue with Nicolai Berdyaev
  • in the midst of Post-Revolutionary Social Despair
  • The Political Theology of the Cross and the Eschatological
  • Hope of the Kingdom
• Chapter
  • The Drive Towards Social Transformation in the Post-Modern World:
  • Finding a Trajectory to the Future
  • Towards Understanding of Modernity and the Post-Modern Self
  • The Position of Deconstruction and The Postmodern Vision of
  • Social Transformation
  • « The Other » as the Focal Point of Postmodern Ethics
  • The Postmodern Concept of Truth, History, Time, and Space
  • The Cyber-construct of the Virtual Postmodern World
  • Some Concluding Thoughts in Regards to the Postmodern
  • Agenda for Social Transformation
• Chapter
  • Towards a Strategy for the Church in the Postmodern Setting
  • The Christian Concept of Truth, History, Time and Space
  • Called to Incarnate the Word
  • Generation X
  • The Strategies of the Church in the Postmodern Setting
  • Instead of Conclusion: The Postmodern Reconstructions
  • of Reality ahd the Relevance of the Church
  • Bibliography

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ATTHE CROSSROADS OF SOCIAL TRANSFORMATION: AN EASTERN-EUROPEAN THEOLOGICAL PERSPECTIVE