Bourdieus ethische ommekeer?

Samenvatting

Bourdieu's Ethical Turn?. The last phase of Pierre Bourdieu's work is critically reviewed, asking whether his later, critical work has to be interpreted as the result of what might be called an "ethical turn." A clarification of the critical potential present in Bourdieu's general methodological and theoretical presuppositions is given. It can be seen that Bourdieu's analyses have, owing to their antiessentialist relational logic, always been critical, and that there is a definite continuity between his "older" work and his later work. However, there is still a case for the idea of an ethical turn in his oeuvre, for his analyzes have become harsher in tone. The foundations of Bourdieu's critique are critically examined. First, it is noted that his change in tone reveals a theoretical inconsistency between his earlier work and his later writings. Second, a critique is given of the theoretical basis of all of Bourdieu's work, the relational logic. It is argued that his antiessentialism is founded on -- in Putnam's words -- a "God's eye point of view" that seems to be incompatible (even if ever attainable) with precisely this antiessentialist analysis. 40 References. Adapted from the source document.