A World of Persons
(2023) In Lund Political Studies- Abstract
- This is a study of subjecthood in international thought. Human beings and states, while often held to be opposed to one another, share this: they are international thought’s key subjects. The following chapters attempt to answer the question of why that is. The main argument advanced is that this is because of the particular language in which subjecthood is articulated, the language of personhood, which stipulates certain criteria—chief among them rationality—by which someone or something becomes a person and thus a subject. This theoretical argument is one that is made historically: rather than explaining why this needs to be the way in which subjecthood is assigned, it is a study of how this came to be. Through a study of key texts in... (More)
- This is a study of subjecthood in international thought. Human beings and states, while often held to be opposed to one another, share this: they are international thought’s key subjects. The following chapters attempt to answer the question of why that is. The main argument advanced is that this is because of the particular language in which subjecthood is articulated, the language of personhood, which stipulates certain criteria—chief among them rationality—by which someone or something becomes a person and thus a subject. This theoretical argument is one that is made historically: rather than explaining why this needs to be the way in which subjecthood is assigned, it is a study of how this came to be. Through a study of key texts in the history of international thought from the seventeenth-century to today, it purports to document both this language’s emergence and its effects. It traces, on the one hand, how the language of personhood became a central language of international thought and how this has led to the prioritization of human beings and states, on the other. The final chapter of this study broadens the scope to discuss other implications this language has had upon international thought in general and humanity and the state in particular, arguing that it has not only cemented these two as international thought’s central subjects, but also made them dependent upon one another, which in turn makes it exceedingly difficult to specify which of the two ought to be taken as the most important subject of international thought. (Less)
- Abstract (Swedish)
- Detta är en studie i det internationella tänkandets subjekt. Människor och stater, om än ofta betraktade som varandras motsatser, delar en sak: de är det internationella tänkandets huvudsakliga subjekt. Avhandlingens argumentet är att orsaken till detta står att finna i det språk genom vilket subjektskap artikuleras, personbegreppets språk, som stipulerar vissa kriterier – i första hand rationalitet – genom vilket någon eller något blir en person och således ett subjekt. Detta teoretiska argument görs i avhandlingen historiskt: istället för att förklara varför det är genom detta språk som subjektskap måste tillskrivas, är detta en studie i hur ett sådant språk kom till. Genom en studie av nyckeltexter i det internationella tänkandets... (More)
- Detta är en studie i det internationella tänkandets subjekt. Människor och stater, om än ofta betraktade som varandras motsatser, delar en sak: de är det internationella tänkandets huvudsakliga subjekt. Avhandlingens argumentet är att orsaken till detta står att finna i det språk genom vilket subjektskap artikuleras, personbegreppets språk, som stipulerar vissa kriterier – i första hand rationalitet – genom vilket någon eller något blir en person och således ett subjekt. Detta teoretiska argument görs i avhandlingen historiskt: istället för att förklara varför det är genom detta språk som subjektskap måste tillskrivas, är detta en studie i hur ett sådant språk kom till. Genom en studie av nyckeltexter i det internationella tänkandets historia, från sextonhundratalet till idag, söker avhandlingen dokumentera dess tillkomst och effekter. Den spårar, å ena sidan, hur personbegreppets språk kom att bli det internationella tänkandets centrala språk, och å den andra hur detta kom att prioritera människor och stater. Avhandlingens avslutande kapitel utvidgar diskussionen till de implikationer som detta språk haft för det internationella tänkandet i allmänhet, samt för mänskligheten och staten i synnerhet, och argumenterar för att det har inte bara cementerat dessa två subjekt som det internationella tänkandets centrala subjekt, utan också gjort dem ömsesidigt beroende, vilket i sin tur har gjort det svårt att specificera vilket av de två som bör betraktas som det mest centrala subjektet i internationellt tänkande. (Less)
Please use this url to cite or link to this publication:
https://lup.lub.lu.se/record/d240935b-45d3-4240-aa2c-5371cfc8cfe5
- author
- Gade Viksand, Sindre LU
- supervisor
-
- Jens Bartelson LU
- Ted Svensson LU
- opponent
-
- Professor Bell, Duncan, Cambridge University
- organization
- publishing date
- 2023
- type
- Thesis
- publication status
- published
- subject
- keywords
- History of international thought, Humanity, The state, Personhood
- in
- Lund Political Studies
- issue
- 212
- pages
- 254 pages
- publisher
- Lunds universitet, Media-Tryck
- defense location
- Eden Auditorium, Paradisgatan 5H, Lund
- defense date
- 2023-06-02 10:00:00
- ISSN
- 0460-0037
- 0460-0037
- ISBN
- 978-91-8039-704-9
- 978-91-8039-705-6
- project
- A World of Persons
- language
- English
- LU publication?
- yes
- id
- d240935b-45d3-4240-aa2c-5371cfc8cfe5
- date added to LUP
- 2023-05-03 14:26:09
- date last changed
- 2024-02-08 10:09:01
@phdthesis{d240935b-45d3-4240-aa2c-5371cfc8cfe5,
abstract = {{This is a study of subjecthood in international thought. Human beings and states, while often held to be opposed to one another, share this: they are international thought’s key subjects. The following chapters attempt to answer the question of why that is. The main argument advanced is that this is because of the particular language in which subjecthood is articulated, the language of personhood, which stipulates certain criteria—chief among them rationality—by which someone or something becomes a person and thus a subject. This theoretical argument is one that is made historically: rather than explaining why this needs to be the way in which subjecthood is assigned, it is a study of how this came to be. Through a study of key texts in the history of international thought from the seventeenth-century to today, it purports to document both this language’s emergence and its effects. It traces, on the one hand, how the language of personhood became a central language of international thought and how this has led to the prioritization of human beings and states, on the other. The final chapter of this study broadens the scope to discuss other implications this language has had upon international thought in general and humanity and the state in particular, arguing that it has not only cemented these two as international thought’s central subjects, but also made them dependent upon one another, which in turn makes it exceedingly difficult to specify which of the two ought to be taken as the most important subject of international thought.}},
author = {{Gade Viksand, Sindre}},
isbn = {{978-91-8039-704-9}},
issn = {{0460-0037}},
keywords = {{History of international thought; Humanity; The state; Personhood}},
language = {{eng}},
number = {{212}},
publisher = {{Lunds universitet, Media-Tryck}},
school = {{Lund University}},
series = {{Lund Political Studies}},
title = {{A World of Persons}},
url = {{https://lup.lub.lu.se/search/files/145740234/Viksand_Sindre_Gade_A_World_of_Persons.pdf}},
year = {{2023}},
}