Verteidigungen der Demokratie in der Wiener Spätaufklärung: Neurath, Mises, Kelsen
Sprache des Vortragstitels:
Deutsch
Original Tagungtitel:
Die Österreichische Schule für Nationalökonomie und ihr Umfeld in der Zwischenkriegszeit
Sprache des Tagungstitel:
Deutsch
Original Kurzfassung:
One perspective on the political spectrum of interwar Vienna juxtaposes liberal representatives of the Austrian School with socialist members of the Left Vienna Circle. A different and often neglected perspective highlights the democratic convictions which united many members of both movements despite an overwhelmingly anti-democratic intellectual environment. Notwithstanding the tensions between socialism and democracy and between liberalism and democracy, the socialist Otto Neurath and the classical liberal Ludwig Mises staunchly defended democracy with very similar arguments (and both sometimes seem to underestimate aforementioned tensions). Mindful of the critical stance towards democracy taken by some scholars in the Misesean tradition, this paper reconstructs and compares Neurath?s and Mises?s notions of democracy.
(i) The defining feature in Neurath?s account of democracy is that the administration and policies can be altered without use of force. Neurath and Mises advocate democracy with arguments different from the most famous theory of democracy developed in interwar Vienna, namely Hans Kelsen's.
(ii) Both Neurath and Mises consider language barriers as a major obstacle to non-indoctrinating education and ultimately a threat to peace, especially in democratic social orders.
(iii) Neurath, Mises, and Kelsen perceive ?differences of opinion based on commonly known facts? (Neurath 1945/1996, p. 251) as an integral component of democracy. Such a pluralistic notion of democracy opposes populist democratic theories according to which wide-ranging consensus in all political matters will be among the effects of adequate democratic education.
Sprache der Kurzfassung:
Englisch
Vortragstyp:
Hauptvortrag / Eingeladener Vortrag auf einer Tagung
Forschungs-