Die Aristotelies-politieke hermeneutiek - die voortgaande grondslae-diskoers oor politokratiese kommunitarisme Translated title: Form, matter and the Aristotelian-political hermeneutic. The continuing paradigm debate on politocratic communitarianism

Abstract

Die antieke Griekse kultuur was ooglopend religieus; dit was nie georiënteer volgens die belange van die individu nie, maar gerig op die Griekse polis. In 'n vorige artikel is daarop gewys dat politokratiese kommunitarisme se organismiese politieke filosofie tot ooglopende dilemmas lei: abstrakte universalisme en abstrakte partikulariteit; 'n "alternatief-moderne" dialektiese bemiddelingsteorie; 'n trans-individuele utopie van abstrakte gemeenskapslewe; 'n totalitêre (en absolutistiese) vorm van verstaatlikte politieke gemeenskap; voorkeur vir 'n staatstipe wat sonder erkenning van fundamentele regte funksioneer; asook politieke gemeenskap wat 'n beeld van innerlik-teenstrydige proporsies na vore bring en wat 'n ongedifferensieerde vorm van verstaatlikte assosiasie onderskryf. In antwoord daarop identifiseer Danie Goosen die leemte van "onhermeneutiese hermeneutiek" aan die kant van "Dooyeweerdse denkers" en bemerk pogings tot "sisteembou" by Aristoteliese kritici, terwyl Koos Malan die feit bekla dat sy werke en dié van sy mede-Aristoteliaan Goosen (binne die konteks van die staatsfilosofiese grondslae-debat) nie na behore gelees word nie. 'n Wesenlike leemte in die diskoers is dat Aristoteliese kommunitariërs nie voldoende aandag aan die grondmotiewe, grondidees en ideologiese ladings van wetenskaplike begrippe in die antieke Griekse politieke denke skenk nie. Bygevolg is tot dusver in die diskoers onvoldoende oor die Aristoteliese grondmotief, die grondidees wat daaruit voortspruit en die grondbegrippe wat die vorm van die Aristoteliese polis-staat bepaal, besin. Ter verrekening van die implikasies van politokratiese kommunitarisme word daarby stilgestaan. Die verwagting is dat, anders as wat die politokraat Alasdair MacIntyre tot dusver gepropageer het, politokrate die teoretiese erfenis van relativistiese politieke diskoers vir 'n diepgaande gesprek - met 'n nie-relativistiese inslag - oor grondslagkwessies sal verruil.

Translated abstract

Greek culture was emphatically religious; its centre of orientation was not the individual and his fulfilment, but rather the city-state and its destiny. In a previous article it was pointed out that politocratic communitarianism's embrace of the organismic state culminates in state absolutism. According to Eric R. Dodds, classical Greece was closer to the Japan of the Samurais than to modern civilization. At the heart of Greek religious and philosophical thought was the form-matter motive. This religious force, which was fundamental to Greek thought, drew no line of demarcation between gods and men; the difference between gods and men was not a difference of being, but a difference of power and station. The concept of continuity of being manifested in distinct ground ideas of a dialectical nature: amongst others, chaos and order; the one and the many; and space and place. These dialectical tensions were hermeneutically interpreted in terms of the ground idea of the hierarchy of being. The chaos-order dialectic stands against the background of continuity, so that ultimately the hermeneutic vision is one of unity. Chaos and order represent aspects of being and stages of growth. Chaos is brought to order by the principle of the androgyn. The city-state is the androgyn manifestation of the mystical bond of heaven and earth, and the polis wholly comprehends man's life. Whereas Heraclitus viewed change as the key to understanding reality, Parmenides took Being to be the cosmic substance, which is the same as thought. Politocratic communitarianists ground their views on place on Parmenides' theory of static being. The upshot is that this manifestation of Aristotelian communitarianism remains encapsulated in insurmountable conflicts of and tensions between the political "place" of the Greek polis and the conceptual "space" of the "territorial" state.