A Critique of Poverty: Exploring the Underground of Social Philosophy

• Authors: Hélio Alexandre Silva

Title variants

PL

Krytyka ubóstwa: Eksploracja podziemi filozofii społecznej

Abstracts

PL

Głównym tematem tego artykułu jest ubóstwo, w szczególności zaś jego krytyka, a nie tylko opis. Nie będzie przesadą stwierdzenie, że jedną z powszechnych podstaw teorii ubóstwa jest definiowanie biednych jako tych, którzy systematycznie doświadczają swojego życia w niedostatku, a mianowicie posiadają określone minimum, jeśli chodzi o potrzeby takie, jak mieszkanie, żywność, zdrowie, edukacja, czas wolny itp. Istnieje zatem teoretyczna i społecznie akceptowana orientacja sprzyjająca wytwarzaniu głębokiego pokrewieństwa między ubóstwem a minimum. Na opartym na takim rozumowaniu horyzoncie pojawia się rodzaj niewyraźnej akceptacji, że przezwyciężenie ubóstwa można osiągnąć poprzez przyznanie ubogim czegoś ponad minimum, niezależnie od tego, jak elementarne może być to „coś ekstra”. Jeśli więc doświadczenie ubóstwa wiąże się z jakimś rodzajem braku lub niedostatku i jeśli ten warunek może być spełniony przez coś, co zostało już społecznie wytworzone, to co uzasadniałoby fakt, że jedni ludzie są w stanie go spełnić, a inni (ubodzy) mogą zapewnić sobie tylko absolutne minimum? W świetle tego być może lepiej nie kwestionować dopuszczalnego „minimum”, ale raczej pytać: dlaczego pojęcie ubóstwa miałoby kierować się tym normatywnym kryterium? Dlatego sposobem na opisanie mojej szerszej hipotezy dotyczącej ubóstwa byłoby zrozumienie, że należy je mierzyć na podstawie poziomu odmowy dostępu do tego, co zostało społecznie wytworzone. Im dalej od dostępu do bogactwa społecznego, tym biedniejsi są ludzie. Wreszcie, ta tendencja do asymilacji ubóstwa i minimum wywołuje depresyjny wpływ na żądania zmiany społecznej.

EN

Poverty is the primary focus of this paper; more particularly, the critique of poverty and not its mere description. It would not be an overstatement to say that one of the common grounds for poverty theories is that they describe the poor as those who systematically experience their lives in privation, namely around having the minimum when it comes to needs such as housing, food, health, education, free time, etc. There is, therefore, a theoretical and socially accepted orientation that promotes the sedimentation of a deep affinity between poverty and the minimum. Based on this reasoning, what is set on the horizon is a kind of non-explicit acceptance that the overcoming of poverty can be achieved by granting the poor something beyond the minimum, however elementary that “something extra” may be. Thus, if the experience of poverty involves some sort of lack or privation, and if this condition can be fully filled by something that has already been socially produced, then what would justify the fact that some people are able to fully fill it while others (the poor) can only secure the bare minimum? In light of this, perhaps it would be better not to question the acceptable “minimum” but, rather, to ask: Why would the notion of poverty be guided by this normative criterion? Therefore, a way of describing my broader hypothesis on poverty would be to understand that it should be measured based on the level of denial of access to what has been socially produced. The further one is from accessing social wealth, the poorer one is. Finally, this tendency toward assimilation between poverty and the minimum engenders a depressive effect on demands for social change.

Keywords

EN

poverty; minimum; social philosophy

PL

ubóstwo; minimum; filozofia społeczna

• Publisher: Uniwersytet im. Adama Mickiewicza w Poznaniu
• Journal: Praktyka Teoretyczna
• Year: 2021
• Volume: 42
• Issue: 4
• Pages: 139-165

Dates

published

2021

Contributors

author

Hélio Alexandre Silva

• São Paulo State University

• https://orcid.org/0000000236361591

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Identifiers

DOI

10.14746/prt2021.4.6

Biblioteka Nauki

15593986