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UDK 009 ISSN 1408-5348 Anali za istrske in mediteranske študije Annali di Studi istriani e mediterranei Annals for Istrian and Mediterranean Studies Series Historia et Sociologia, 23, 2013, 2 KOPER 2013 ANNALES · Ser. hist. sociol. · 23 · 2013 · 2 ISSN 1408-5348 UDK 009 Letnik 23, leto 2013, številka 2 UREDNIŠKI ODBOR/ Simona Bergoč, Furio Bianco (IT), Milan Bufon, Lucija Čok, COMITATO DI REDAZIONE/ Lovorka Čoralić (HR), Darko Darovec, Goran Filipi (HR), Vesna BOARD OF EDITORS: Mikolič, Aleksej Kalc, Avgust Lešnik, John Martin (USA), Robert Matijašić (HR), Darja Mihelič, Edward Muir (USA), Claudio Povolo (IT), Vida Rožac Darovec, Mateja Sedmak, Lenart Škof, Tomislav Vignjević, Salvator Žitko Glavni urednik/Redattore capo/ Darko Darovec Editor in chief: Odgovorni urednik/Redattore Salvator Žitko responsabile/Responsible Editor: Gostujoče urednice/Guest editors Ana Kralj, Andreja Vezovnik, Alenka Švab, Irena Rožman Prevajalci/Traduttori/Translators: Petra Berlot Kužner (ang., it., slo.) Oblikovalec/Progetto grafico/ Dušan Podgornik , Darko Darovec Graphic design: Tisk/Stampa/Print: Grafis trade d.o.o. Izdajatelj/Editore/Published by: Zgodovinsko društvo za južno Primorsko - Koper / Società storica del Litorale - Capodistria© Za izdajatelja/Per Editore/ Salvator Žitko Publisher represented by: Sedež uredništva/Sede della redazione/ SI-6000 Koper/Capodistria, Garibaldijeva/Via Garibaldi 18, Address of Editorial Board: tel.: ++386 5 62 73 296, fax 62 73 296; e-mail: [email protected], internet: http://www.zdjp.si/ Redakcija te številke je bila zaključena 15. 12. 2013. Sofinancirajo/Supporto finanziario/ Javna agencija za raziskovalno dejavnost Republike Slovenije Financially supported by: (ARRS) Annales - Series historia et sociologia izhaja dvakrat letno. Letna naročnina je 16 EUR, maloprodajna cena tega zvezka je 11 EUR. Naklada/Tiratura/Circulation: 300 izvodov/copie/copies Revija Annales, Series historia et sociologia je vključena v naslednje podatkovne baze / La rivista Annales, Series historia et sociologia è inserita nei seguenti data base / Articles appearing in this journal are abstracted and indexed in: Thomson Reuters (USA): Arts and Humanities Citation Index (A&HCI) in/and Current Contents / Arts & Humanities; IBZ, Internationale Bibliographie der Zeitschriftenliteratur (GER); Sociological Abstracts (USA); Referativnyi Zhurnal Viniti (RUS); European Reference Index for the Humanities (ERIH); Elsevier B. V.: SCOPUS (NL). ANNALES · Ser. hist. sociol. · 23 · 2013 · 2 Anali za istrske in mediteranske študije - Annali di Studi istriani e mediterranei - Annals for Istrian and Mediterranean Studies UDK 009 Letnik 23, Koper 2013, številka 2 ISSN 1408-5348 VSEBINA / INDICE GENERALE / CONTENTS Jernej Pikalo & Igor Lukšič: Conceptions of Nature Marios Vryonides & Maria Kalli: The effect of age in in the History of Political Thought ....................... 191 the way adolescents report and experience interethnic Concezioni della natura nella storia violence in five European countries ..................... 275 del pensiero politico Le conseguenze dell’età sul comportamento degli Pojmovanje narave v zgodovini politične misli adolescenti quando riportano o fanno esperienza di violenza interetnica in cinque paesi Europei Mitja Sardoč: The anatomy of toleration .............. 203 Vpliv starosti na način kako mladostniki poročajo o in L’anatomia della tolleranza doživljajo medetnično nasilje v petih evropskih državah Anatomija tolerance Mirjana Ule: Governance of educational Mateja Sedmak, Zorana Medarić & Maja Zadel: trajectories in Slovenia: Dilemmas Challenges in researching interethnic relations and contradictions .............................................. 291 from an intercultural perspective ......................... 215 Il Governamento delle traiettorie educative Sfide nella ricerca di relazioni interetniche in Slovenia: dilemmi e contraddizioni in prospettiva interculturale Upravljanje z izobraževalnimi poteki Izzivi v preučevanju medetničnih odnosov v Sloveniji: Dileme in protislovja skozi medkulturno perspektivo Andreja Vezovnik: Children Whose Donatella Greco & Chiara Zanetti: Problems First Language is Not Slovenian in the Slovenian and solutions toward bullying and (peer) violence: Educational System: A Critical Analysis existing good practices ....................................... 229 of Normalisation ................................................ 303 Problemi e soluzioni di violenza tra pari e bullismo: Allievi scolastici la cui prima lingua no è sloveno le buone pratiche nell sistema d’educazione sloveno: un’analisi Problemi in rešitve medvrstniškega nasilja: critica della normalizzazione pregled dobrih praks Otroci katerih prvi jezik ni slovenščina v slovenskem izobraževalnem sistemu: kritična analiza normalizacije Ana Kralj, Tjaša Žakelj & Martina Rameša:Iinterethnic relations and peer violence in Austrian, Italian Tjaša Žakelj, Alenka Švab & Metka Mencin Čeplak: and Slovenian schools ......................................... 245 The role of parents in young people’s educational Violenza interetnica e violenza tra pari nelle scuole trajectories in Slovenia ........................................ 317 in Austria, Italia e Slovenia Il ruolo dei genitori nelle traiettorie educative Medetnični odnosi in vrstniško nasilje v avstrijskih, dei giovani in Slovenia italijanskih in slovenskih šolah Vloga staršev v izobraževalnih poteh mladih ljudi v Sloveniji Birgit Sauer & Edma Ajanović: Doing masculinity, doing femininity. interethnic violence Andreja Živoder: Students’ educational choices in the school enviroment ..................................... 261 and future orientations in Slovenia ...................... 329 Fare mascolinità, fare femminilità. violenza Scelte educative degli studenti e gli orientamenti interetnica in ambito scolastico futuri in Slovenia Ustvarjanje moškosti, ustvarjanje ženskosti. Izobraževalne izbire in orientacije za prihodnost medetnično nasilje v šolskem okolju učencev in učenk v Sloveniji ANNALES · Ser. hist. sociol. · 23 · 2013 · 2 Anali za istrske in mediteranske študije - Annali di Studi istriani e mediterranei - Annals for Istrian and Mediterranean Studies Eduardo Barberis: Between institutional Tomaž Petek: Jezikovna (ne)pravilnost zapisov fragmentation and local discretion: zemljepisnih lastnih imen na cestnih krajevnih the governance of transitions in the italian tablah v Republiki Sloveniji s poudarkom education system ................................................ 343 na slovenski Istri ................................................. 439 Tra frammentazione istituzionale e discrezione Sbagli linguistici nei nomi propri geografici scritti locale: la governance di transizioni nel sistema su cartelli stradali nella Repubblica di Slovenia, di istruzione italiana in particolare nell’Istria slovena Med institucionalno fragmentacijo in lokalno Linguistic (in)correctness of geographical names diskrecijo: upravljanje prehodov v italijanskem on location signs in the Republic of Slovenia izobraževalnem sistemu with emphasis on slovenian Istria Mojca Žefran & Majda Cencič: Tesnobnost Lada Duraković: Tragovima pulske glazbene pri pouku angleškega jezika ................................ 355 samosvojnosti – stvaratelji glazbenog identiteta L‘ansia nell‘insegnamento della lingua inglese grada u prvoj polovini 20. stoljeća: Anxiety in the foreign language classroom Antonio Illersberg i Mario Carlin ......................... 451 Samo Pavlin, Matjaž Uršič & Marjan Hočevar: Sulle tracce dell‘ individualità musicale Changing the context of researchers’ work polese - i creatori dell‘identità musicale della in academia ........................................................ 365 città nella prima metà del xx secolo Cambiamenti nel contesto del lavoro Trails of Pula‘s musical individuality - creators dei ricercatori universitari of the city‘s musical identity in the first half Spremenjen kontekst dela akademskih raziskovalcev of the 20th century Darja Zaviršek: Folikli, transferji, zamrznjenčki: Nataša Urošević: Modeli artikulacije urbanog identiteta reproduktivne izbire in nove etične dileme .......... 377 u monografiji Puna je Pula Mate Balote ............... 463 Follicoli, transfer, embrioni congelati: scelte I modelli di articolazione di identità urbana riproduttive e nuovi dilemmi etici nella monografia Puna je Pula di Mate Balota Follicles, transfers, frozen embryos: reproductive Models of articulation of urban identity in the Mate choices and the new ethical dilemmas Balota’s monograph Puna je Pula Sanja Cukut Krilić: Pomoč »naravi«?: o postopkih Sandro Cergna: Fluidità di discorso e fluidità oploditve z biomedicinsko pomočjo di potere: casi d’internamento nell’ospedale v tiskanih medijih ............................................... 389 psichiatrico di Pola d’Istria tra il 1938 e il 1950 .. 475 Aiutare »la natura«?: sui processi della fecondazione Fluidity of Discourse and Fluidity of Power: Cases biomedicalmente assistita nei mezzi of Committal to the Mental Hospital of Pula di informazione a stampa in Istria from 1938 to 1950 Helping “nature”? public discussion on medically Gladkost govora in gladkost moči: primeri assisted reproduction in print media vmešavanja v psihiatrični bolnišnici v Pulju, v Istri med 1938 in 1950 Metka Mencin Čeplak: Heteronormativnost in regulacije rodnosti .......................................... 403 Martina Jakovčić, Josip Kajinić, Slaven Gašparović: Eteronormatività e regolazione della fertilità Prenamjena vojnih brownfield lokaliteta: primjer Heteronormativity and fertility regulation prenamjene vojarne Karlo Rojc u Puli ................. 487 Riuso dei brownfield siti militari: esempio del riuso Irena Rožman: Nevidna reproduktivna della caserma Karlo Rojc a Pola hendikepiranost žensk ......................................... 415 Redevelopment of military brownfield sites: example of L‘ invisibile handicap riproduttivo delle donne redevelopment of military complex Karlo Rojc in Pula Invisible women’s reproductive disability Sanja Lozić, Ante Šiljeg, Kristina Krklec: Strukturne Beáta Grabovac: Translating Emotions - the značajke suhozidne mreže kao pokazatelji Representation and Processing of Emotion-laden antropogenog utjecaja na krajobraz – primjer and Evaluative words in Bilingual and Monolingual južnog dijela otoka Visa, Hrvatska ....................... 501 individuals from Serbia ....................................... 423 Caratteristiche strutturali della rete dei muretti Tradurre le emozioni – la rappresentazione ed elabo- a secco come indicatori di impatti antropogenici razione di parole cariche di emozioni ed espressioni sul paesaggio - esempio della parte meridionale valutative in persone bilingui e monolingui in Serbia dell‘isola di Vis, Croatia Prevajanje čustev – predstavljanje in predelovanje s Dry stonewalls structural features as indices of čustvi nabitih in vrednotenjskih besed pri dvojezičnih anthropogenic impact on landscape – example in enojezičnih posameznikih iz Srbije of southern part of Vis island, Croatia ANNALES · Ser. hist. sociol. · 23 · 2013 · 2 Anali za istrske in mediteranske študije - Annali di Studi istriani e mediterranei - Annals for Istrian and Mediterranean Studies IN MEMORIAM Kazalo k slikam na ovitku ...................................... 526 Indice delle foto di copertina Stane Južnič (1928-2013) (Karmen Medica) ........ 521 Index to pictures on the cover OCENE IN POROČILA Navodila avtorjem ................................................. 527 Istruzioni per gli autori Dragana Antonijević: Stranac ovde, stranac tamo. An- Instructions to authors tropološko istraživanje kulturnog identiteta gastarbajte- ra (Karmen Medica) ............................................ 522 Dimitrij Rupel: Negotovo življenje 176. članice OZN (Salvator Žitko) ................................................... 523 ANNALES · Ser. hist. sociol. · 23 · 2013 · 2 original scientific article UDK 32.01:5(091) received: 2012-09-17 CONCEPTIONS OF NATURE IN THE HISTORy OF POLITICAL THOUGHT Jernej PIKALO University of Ljubljana, Faculty of Social Sciences, Kardeljeva pl. 5, 1000 Ljubljana, Slovenia e-mail: [email protected] Igor LUKŠIČ University of Ljubljana, Faculty of Social Sciences, Kardeljeva pl. 5, 1000 Ljubljana, Slovenia e-mail: [email protected] Theoretical sciences study things of nature, while practical sciences study those things that were created by man by immitating nature. (Aquinas, 1990, 42) ABSTRACT The paper examines the relationship between the nature and its explanans natural sciences and political concepts, their trajectories of change, showing the impact of the changes in one for the other. It shows examples from the Ancient, Medieval and Modern political thought. It particularly focuses on crucial modern divide between politics and nature, whereby in contrast with prevailing attitude in literature shows how nature and natural concepts are deeply embedded in politics and vice versa. Key words: nature; natural law; physics; history of political thought; Machiavelli; Hobbes. CONCEZIONI DELLA NATURA NELLA STORIA DEL PENSIERO POLITICO SInTESI L’articolo studia la relazione tra le concezioni della natura, le spiegazioni della stessa nelle scienze naturali e i concetti politici. Contrastando l’opinione generale che la natura e la politica siano due sfere separate, l’articolo illu- stra i vari tipi di collegamento e interazione tra loro in diversi periodi storici. Studiando casi della storia del pensiero politico antica, medievale e moderna, l’articolo presenta i modi di collegamento tra la natura e la politica, i cambiamenti nel rapporto tra di loro e l’influenza reciproca. Parole chiave: natura; legge naturale, fisica, storia delle idee politiche, Machiavelli, Hobbes 191 ANNALES · Ser. hist. sociol. · 23 · 2013 · 2 Jernej PIKALO, Igor LUKŠIČ: CONCEPTIONS OF NATURE IN THE HISTORy OF POLITICAL THOUGHT, 191–202 INTRODUCTION humans are zoon-politikons, Plato compared a political leader with a physician, Cicero (1991, 34ff) analogized Throughout history nature has had an important role tyrannicide with cutting off an infected member, Aqui- in politics. Natural concepts have been used in various nas argued that wisdom imitates nature, Machiavelli historical periods to generate and influence percep- (1988, 61) was trying to show Lorenzo de’ Medici that tions of politics. Politics was usually seen on the re- rulers can rule either by employing properly human ceiving end of the nature-politics relationship, borrow- means (i.e. laws) or by imitating the beasts. Ancient writ- ing imagery and vocabulary from natural sciences that ers taught this political skill to ancient rulers by using were, especially since the modern times, progressively allegorical tale of Achilles and other rulers who were thought of as explanans of nature. Some older (Ullmann, entrusted to Chiron the centaur to raise them. Having a 1961) and some recent critical studies (e.g. Keller, 1995; mentor who was half-beast and half-man signifies that a Shogimen, 2007) have, however, shown that there is a ruler needs to use both natures, human and beastly. relationship of mutual construction, and that concepts The origins of political references to nature can be in the natural sciences are themselves affected by politi- traced back to ancient Greece. They are diverse, encom- cal, technological and informational concepts. passing many aspects of nature that are allegorically or Each historical period brought different conceptions metaphorically then used in political matters. An analogy of the main political concepts, often based on the per- most used is the idea of body politic as a living organism. ceptions of nature. As the conceptions of nature by natu- It can be traced back to the age of Pericles when Atenian ral sciences changed, so have the concepts in politics. polis achieved an extraordinary amount of political uni- Revolutions in scientific knowledge of the 20th century ty and developed organic analogy to express this unity brought reflexivity and subjectivity into natural scienc- (Hale, 1971, 18). The Athenian citizen was only fulfilling es, something social sciences have long been based on. himself as a member of polis, as someone who takes part Social sciences no longer ‘borrowed’ from natural sci- in the public affairs of polis. This basically meant discus- ences, but rather contributed its concepts for describing sion, debate, deliberating, election, holding office - parti- and performing in natural sciences. cipating actively in public life in general. Despite of these recent exchanges and mutual influ- First examples of human body as an analogy to ences, it still seems that the prevailing attitude is that express unity of the state could be traced back to Areo- there is a profound difference between nature and poli- pagiticus (c. 355 BC) of Isocrates: »For the soul of a state tics.1 Politics is regarded as a social activity, something is nothing else than its polity, having as much power not to be mixed with natural activity or natural process- over it as it does the mind over body; for it is this whi- es. In contrast with this common attitude that has been ch deliberates upon all questions, seeking to preserve persisting for centuries with no clear end, we would like what is good and to ward off what is disastrous; and it is to argue that nature and natural concepts are deeply em- this which of necessity assimilates to its own nature the bedded in politics. We will show, by the way of selected laws, the public orators and the private citizens; and all examples from the history of political thought, the em- the members of the state must fare well or ill according beddedness of politics in the concepts of nature. The to the kind of polity under which they live« (Isocrates, paper will examine the relationship between the nature 1961, 7.14). Isocrates emphasized the participation of and its explanans natural sciences and political con- all citizens in the political life of polis and the depen- cepts, their trajectories of change, showing the impact dence of their welfare on the proper functioning of the of the changes in one or the other domain for the other. consitution of the city It will look into the linkages, modifications and revolu- Plato in Republic (c. 380 BC) speaks of the »healthy tions. We will begin by providing some examples from state« and »fevered state« (Book III)2, while Aristotle the Ancient and Medieval political thought, then we will (1996, 13) in Politics (Book I, 1253a, I, 4-5) says that »... move on to focus on the crucial modern divide between it is evident that the state is a creature of nature and that politics and nature, and finish with the consequences of man is by nature a political animal«. This reaffirms two Copernican revolution for political thinking. basic principles of the idea of body politic: that society is natural, not the creation of man and that man’s highest THE IDEA OF NATURE IN ANCIENT AND MEDIEVAL nature is to be part of society, not an individual (Hale, POLITICAL THOUGHT 1971, 21). Metaphorically wise we can speak of perso- nification, when nonhuman becomes human (cf. Lakoff, Since ancient Greece, Western political thought has Johnson, 1980/2003, 33). been full of natural metaphors, analogies with nature, The idea of body politic is made possible by Greek and references to nature. Aristotle was convinced that science, whose view of nature was generally accepted 1 This attitude is best summarized in Latour's Chapter 2 of Politics of nature (2004). 2 Plato in the Republic also speaks of a metaphor of »fashioning« a happy city and he makes comparison to painting a statute (Zashin, Chapman, 1974, 303). 192 ANNALES · Ser. hist. sociol. · 23 · 2013 · 2 Jernej PIKALO, Igor LUKŠIČ: CONCEPTIONS OF NATURE IN THE HISTORy OF POLITICAL THOUGHT, 191–202 in Western thought until the Renaissance. In this view, frequently repeated as an admonition against disagree- the universe was created according to the most perfect ment and dissention among the Churches. model, Living Creature. The life and the psychological St. Augustine in The City of God (c. 410) brought order that an individual posseses is identical with the organic thinking further and developed the idea of a life and order of polis and the Cosmos (Hale, 1971, 23). mystical body (corpus mysticum) (Hale, 1971, 31-32).4 It is important to note that ancient Greek, like other mo- This body has, in contrast to Athenian polis or Stoics dern languages (including English), has two important universe, no real meaning in this world, but is rather meanings for the word »nature« (physis). In one sense it community of the saved. The story is about the spiritual is a sum of all created things, and in the other, it is also a body, Christ being the head and members of the Church defining principle of a thing, like quality of a thing. This the body. The unity of the body and the head is achived has an important consequnce for the discussion about through sacraments, for those who have eaten the body the idea of body politic. The state is in this respect is of Christ in the form of eucharisteia are incorporated in seen as a human organism: each member of the state has his body. an important function which is natural and appropriate Throughout the Middle Ages the debate about my- for both the part and the whole of which it is a part stical and real body of Christ continued. In the early (Hale, 1971, 23). Aristotle (quoted in Hale, 1971, 23) Christian era both bodies were being kept apart, but even says that the constitution of an animal resembles at about the eight century, the concepts began to fuse that of well-governed city-state. According to him there (Hale, 1971, 35). Body of the Church also ceases to be is no need for special ruler with arbitrary powers in an just a community of believers, but becomes a supreme ordered city, as there is no need for soul in each part of ecclestical hierarchy whose head is Pope. Papal supre- the animal body, because the nature has taken care of macy is in ever stronger conflict with emerging national the functioning of the body, so that it performs functions monarchies, whose response to the was the appropriati- in natural way (Hale, 1971, 23-24). on of the language of political theology and use of body In Hellenic and Roman times close ties (including politic metaphor influenced by the recent rediscovery of close family ties) of polis were replaced by other mo- Aristotle’s Politics. Hale (1971, 38-39) talks of three pos- des of inclusion into society. Political morality based on sible answers to Papal supremacy: either rulers ackno- membership of a polis as a natural relation of the who- wledged Papal claims and identified king or emperor le and its parts no longer seemed an appropriate mode as a heart and stressed the importance of this organ to of inclusion for larger territories and empires. Political the head. Or they could define distinct corpus naturale thinking went along with new political conditions and (secular body) with its own head, thus making things Roman Stoics conceived political morality in terms of schizophrenic. Or, most radically, they could maintain one’s relations with other individuals and not with a po- that only Christ, and not the Pope, is the head. lis (cf. Cooper and Procope, 1995). Seneca (1917-25, Analogies to nature in political thinking are neither 91) writes in the 95th Epistle to Lucilius: »I can lay down limited nor exclusive to the Western political thought. for mankind a rule... for our duties in human relation- They can be found in Islamic, Indian and Japanese ships: all that you behold, that which comprises both writings. The Arabic philosopher Al-Farabi, sometimes god and man, is one - we are all parts of one great body. referred to also as Islamic Plato, compared physician Nature produced us related to one another, since she and the king, the ancient Indian political thinker Sukura created us from the same source and to the same end.«3 compared seven parts of the state with the organs of the The idea of organic society from the later Stoics was human body, and the Tokugawa Japanese political phi- passed into early Christian tradition. St. Paul in his First losopher Ogyu Sorai often analogized political rule with Epistle to Corinthians makes a number of points which medical treatment (Shogimen, 2007, 208-209). Natural are familiar with that of Stoics. He »assumes of hierar- and medical analogies and metaphors in political writ- chiacal order, established by God (or nature), of diffe- ings relate to anatomical, physiological, diagnostical as- rentiated parts, all of which are necessary to the body pects, or treatment. While in Western medieval political and which ought not, therefore, to reard themselves as discourses the medical treatment analogies often refer to either independent of the body or as superior to other coercive and punitive aspects of government, in Tokoga- members« (Hale, 1971, 29). This organic metaphor is wa Japan they serve to accentuate the government’s role 3 As already mentioned in the Greek view of the universe, Stoics also thought that the world is a single, rational animal. The ‘world-animal’ or Nature was identified with Zeus, ‘world-animal’’s body is Zeus’s body, its mind directing its movements in a perfectly rational way. Everything that happens in the world of nature is caused by his thought and always occurs for a good reason. Apart from animals, the only other rational animals are human beings, who are being governed by Zeus (that is, Nature) though use of human rational capabilities (cf. Cooper and Procope, 1995, xvii-xviii). 4 Organic analogies in medieval political writings have long attracted scholarly attention. Already at the turn of the twentieth century Otton von Gierke (1900) identified ‘organic’ analogies as distinctive feature in medieval European political discourses. See also works by Tilman Struve (1978) on organic metaphors in Middle Ages, Ernst Kantorowicz’s classic The King’s Two Bodies (1957), or Coker’s Organismic Theories of the State (1910). 193 ANNALES · Ser. hist. sociol. · 23 · 2013 · 2 Jernej PIKALO, Igor LUKŠIČ: CONCEPTIONS OF NATURE IN THE HISTORy OF POLITICAL THOUGHT, 191–202 of preventing conflicts and maintaining stability without of explaining its explanandum. Delegitimization of God recourse to coercive measures (Shogimen, 2008, 80). as world creator and interpreter happens simultaneous- ly with legitimization of science as nature’s explanans. IN MODERN ERA, GOD IS REPLACED By NATURE Natural sciences thus become reflections of modern period, through natural sciences modern civilization gets The concept of the modern world as distinct from an its awareness. ancient or medieval world is based on a premise that By introduction of a new explanans in the form of there has been a profound change, driven by human natural sciences, God is stripped of its “competenc- efforts to better the situation. Change was greater and es” of explaining the world and is left only with initial profounder than ever before. Change was also different creation.6 This process has foremost been going on in and by then not yet seen before. Transformation from an physics and is not yet finished.7 Physics seems to be Old to the Modern is usually described as revolutionary, the principal science of the modern age, as it provides bringing advances in all areas of human activity – poli- awareness of the modern era. Therefore it can be de- tics, industry, society, medicine, technology, economics, scribed as an ideology of the modern age: in physics transport, communication, mechanization, culture, etc. Western civilization gets a basic consciousness about Biblical value system was altered, monarchical system itself, its conflicts, creates its identity, and solves the of government revalued, feudal economic system abol- conflicts.8 The physics has a privilege to define what is ished, liberal and democratic ideas introduced in the the real, and with that what is the nature. Other sciences areas of science, politics, sociology, economics. Dis- can on that basis create or discover only partial and/or tinct scientific methods were developed, which rejected derived realities. Although for Kant the premier science myths and religious explanations of the world people is mathematics, it lacks direct touch with reality and na- lived in. New information about the world was discov- ture. Mathematics can only be connected with reality ered via empirical observation and deduction, leaving through physics (Kant, 1989, 12). Modern science has sole use of reason and religious arguments aside.5 been so successful that it has become a “set of principles Modern era thus begins by replacing the idea of God for ordering, acquiring and interpreting all knowledge” with idea of nature. World out there had been no longer (Landau, 1961, 336). In other words, the findings of the God given, either as reward or punishment for human physics have been prone to such generalizations that sins, but rather as neutral and independent entity that they profoundly affect “common understanding”. is capable of objective and value free observation, and The crucial question every modern science has to is subjected to simple, non-teleological, i.e. mechan- answer is: What is natural? Only secondary comes the ical laws (Jones, 1966, 20). Instead of thinking itself issue of an object of study of specific science. In that through God, Modern era thinks itself through nature. sense is the object of study of political science “deter- Sacredness, that had previously been a part of the le- mined” by the explanation of the world through phys- gitimization of religious worldview, is now passed on ics. By defining what is real, it defines also limits of the to science. Science is the new explanans of nature. Sci- political.9 ence begins to be seen as being the only one with the Physics has been at the forefront of natural sciences proper relationship with nature and therefore capable because “history of physics clearly shows that the intro- 5 One of the examples of this division between humanist and scientific worldview is Hobbes’s life and its reflection in political theory. Leo Strauss was the first to point out the dichotomy between Hobbes as humanist and scientist, while Tuck (1996, xxi) believes that a dichotomy between ‘humanism’ and ‘science’ is false, since for humanists of the late 16th century the status of natural sciences was bound up with moral philosophy. One can see this division as a moment in history where one paradigm was slowly being replaced by the other. 6 Hobbes, for example, believed that reflection on the nature of the universe would lead back to a concept of its creator – the being or event which started the mechanical processes which have persisted ever since (Tuck, 1996, xxiii). 7 Recent confirmation of an existence of an elementary particle called Higgs boson in July 2012 was described in mainstream media as discovery of »God particle«. Higgs boson is supposed to be, once it is completely confirmed, a particle that proves existence to the hypo- thetical Higgs field, in which elementary particles acquire mass through interaction. »God particle« may be the name of Higgs boson in the sensationalist media, but in historical perspective it is line with Modernity thinking of God as an initial creator and physics as nature’s explanans. 8 Physics did not just define the new era in terms of a new awareness, but also served as ideological platform for capitalism as a production system. Physics models have influenced ideology of a class struggle, democratic resistances and revolutions, as well as other historic changes. See, among many of Althussers’s works dealing with relations among philosophy, science, ideology and politics, Philosophy and the Spontaneous Philosophy of the Scientists (1990). 9 This is the dominant explanation that rests on a simple timeline of events. Modern social sciences have constituted themselves in the 19th century, after the physics had already taken place as the premier science. This dominant interpretation does not take into account the mutual transfers of knowledge and epistemical changes. See T. Kuhn’s classic The Structure of Scientific Revolutions (1962) on paradigms and paradigmatic shifts. (Post)modern constructivists are highly critical about reality as an objective entity that is not susceptible to the creative power of thought. They see it as a common philosophical error, because it presumes that reality is one, single super-thing, where- as looking at the ways in which we endlessly renegotiate reality as our discourses, images, practices of Self, resistances, mechanisms of Self-creation leads to quite another philosophically significant conclusion (Putnam, 1994, 452). 194