Sanctioned Justifications: Censorship and Hegemony

(Dagmar Comtesse)

The effect of historical context on the development, persistence, and change of justificatory apparatuses can be looked at from different perspectives.  By focusing on the effect of sanctions—understood as censorship and other mechanisms of hegemony—it is possible to observe that the justifications of normative orders are conditioned by power constellations and domination.  Censorship, as a political instrument by which a society controls publications and speech, is a part of establishing asymmetries of power and hegemony.  The question is therefore twofold: First, what are the effects of censorship and hegemony on structures of justification?  Second, in what way do other mechanisms of sanction affect structures of justification?

This panel focuses on the connection between censorship and justification in relation to the development, repression, and production of justifications of new normative orders.  Censorship, both in the past and at present is of interest, and thus both history and political science are relevant disciplines.  Empirically oriented approaches—with, for example, concrete demonstrations of how censorship and other sanctions affect a particular justificatory structure or practice, or studies of the publication practices of different societies—are of interest as well.  At the same time, hegemony also implies discourse analysis, discourse history, and discourse ethics.  The subtle or violent power of discourses can be looked at by analyzing the use and omission of certain terms, arguments, or ideas, which influence possibilities of thinking and acting.  Thus the formation and control of justification in discourse could be the subject of these more theoretical approaches.

The addressees of this panel are therefore young academics in history, political science, philosophy, linguistics, or media sciences.  Especially feminist and postcolonial approaches can exemplify the impact of discourse power on justification narratives.  The same extraordinary critical perspective can be found in the history and philosophy of science.

Sonntag, 25.10.
IG Farben-Gebäude 1.411

9.00-9.45 Uhr   
Cordelia Heß  (Stockholm): Was heilig ist, bestimmt der Papst? – Freiwillige Selbstzensur in spätmittelalterlichen Kanonisationsprozessen

9.45-10.30 Uhr   
Mechthild Hetzel (Frankfurt/Innsbruck): Dass nicht sein kann, was nicht sein darf – Hegemonie und Diskurse epistemologischer Rechtfertigung

10.30-10.45 Uhr   
Kaffeepause

10.45-11.30 Uhr   
Alexander Weiß (Hamburg): Zensur als Sprachspiel: demokratietheoretische Überlegungen nach Chantal Mouffe

11.30-12.15 Uhr   
Frieder Vogelmann (Frankfurt): Im Namen der Öffentlichkeit: Transparenz als Selbstzensur

Commentator: Martin Nonhoff (Bremen)