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А "Philosophy to Come" in International Relations:
Fred Dallmayr's Apophatic Democracy

Kocherov O.S.,

Institute of Philosophy, Russian Academy of Sciences, Moscow, Russia, kocheroviphras@gmail.com

elibrary_id: 994679 | ORCID: 0000-0002-2745-5991 | RESEARCHER_ID: V-8082-2018

DOI: 10.17976/jpps/2020.06.12

Rubric: Reflecting on Matters in Print

For citation:

Kocherov O.S. А "Philosophy to Come" in International Relations: Fred Dallmayr's Apophatic Democracy. – Polis. Political Studies. 2020. No. 6. https://doi.org/10.17976/jpps/2020.06.12

Abstract

This paper attempts to analyze Fred Dallmayr’s intellectual heritage through the lens of international relations philosophy. The author considers issues related to the construction of international relations philosophy as an independent discipline in the context of multiplicity of philosophies in contemporary world. As the volume “Cosmopolitan Civility: Global-Local Reflections with Fred Dallmayr” – a dialogue amongst scholars of various cultural backgrounds sharing Dallmayr’s views – elaborates Dallmayr’s notion of apophatic democracy, this paper contributes to the discussion by analyzing this concept as a local and global political ideal. The author examines the resources that non-Western cultures may use to conceptualize and practise apophatic democracy, and investigates the strengths of apophatic democracy as against liberal and agonistic democracy models from the standpoint of international relations theory. It is suggested that non-Western countries should employ not only their mainstream philosophical traditions when articulating domestic and external policies, but other schools of thought as well. Apophatic democracy may be regarded as a potential ethical ideal of world politics: its achievement is rooted in the reconceptualization of contemporary international relations theories within the framework of a global philosophy of international relations “to come” that would include non-Western epistemological, ethical, and other relevant philosophical notions. An example of such reconceptualization in international relations is E. Dussel’s idea of three constituents of political space: human relations, political actors, and the common good as the political goal. 

Keywords

Fred Dallmayr, international relations philosophy, non-Western IR theories, apophatic democracy, liberal democracy, agonistic democracy.

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