Abstract
The rabble, considered as a possible threat to the rule of law or as a group unworthy of civil rights, is a concept present in many languages, yet every word conveys a slightly different meaning, The article is an attempt to present the conceptual plurality of the rabble, in a way inspired by Cassin’s Dictionary of Untranslatables. The term which may be considered as a starting point is Polish motłoch, which can be translated both as ‘rabble’ and as ‘mob’. The content is organized according to some semantic patterns that can be observed in various languages and that can be used for further philosophical analysis. The article is neither an exhaustive presentation of the semantic variety related to the term motłoch, nor a philosophical analysis of social exclusion, but rather an attempt to show the plurality of meanings across languages and how it may affect and inspire philosophical inquiry.
References
Agamben, Giorgio. 2000. Means without End. Notes on Politics. Translated by Vincenzo Binetti and Cesare Casarino. Minneapolis/London: University of Minnesota Press.
Airaksinen, Timo. 1985. “Hegel on Poverty and Violence.” In Economic Justice: Private Rights and Public Responsibilities. Edited by Kenneth Kipnis and Diana T. Meyers. Lanham: Rowman & Littlefield.
Arendt, Hannah. 1962. The Origins of Totalitarianism. Cleveland/NewYork: Meridian Books.
Canetti, Elias. 2001. Masse und Macht. Wesentliche Zusammenhänge zum Verständnis unseres Zeitalters. Berlin: Fischer Taschenbuch Verlag.
Cassin, Barbara, Crépon, Marc, Moatti Claudia 2014. “People/Race/Nation.” In Dictionary of Untranslatables. A Philosophical Lexicon. Edited by Barbara Cassin. Translation edited by Emily Apter, Jacques Lezra, and Michael Wood. Princeton and Oxford: Princeton University Press.
Cassin, Barbara. 2014. “Énergie des intraduisibles – La traduction comme paradigme pour des sciences humaines.” In Philosopher en langues. Les intraduisibles en traduction. Edited by Barbara Cassin. Paris : Éditions Rue d’Ulm.
Chang, Jeff. 2016. We Gon’ Be Alright. New York: Picador.
Cinept. 2019. “O Zé-Povinho na Revolução (1978).” Cinema português. http://www.cinept.ubi.pt/pt/filme/3336/O+Z%C3%A9-Povinho-+na+Revolu%C3%A7%C3%A3o.
Connolly, Joy. 2006. “Crowd Politics: The Myth of the ‘Populus Romanus’.” In Crowds. Edited by Jeffrey T. Schnapp and Matthew Tiews. Stanford: Stanford University Press.
De Vivo, Sebastian. 2006. “‘Ochlos’: Ancient Greek.” In Crowds. Edited by Jeffrey T. Schnapp and Matthew Tiews. Stanford: Stanford University Press.
Descombes, Vincent. 2013. Rozterki Tożsamości.Translated by Michał Krzykawski. Warszawa: Kurhaus.
Die Welt. 2015. “‘Wir sind das Pack’ – Merkel wird ausgebuht”. Die Welt, 26 August. https://www.welt.de/politik/deutschland/article145659437/Wir-sind-das-Pack-Merkel-wird-ausgebuht.html.
Dudenredaktion (o. J.). 2019. “Pöbel.” https://www.duden.de/rechtschreibung/Poebel.
“Exodus.” 2019. New American Standard Bible. https://www.bible.com/bible/100/EXO.12.38.NASB.
Feinberg, Ashley, Shirazi, Nima and Johnson, Adam. 2018. “The Civility Fetish.” Citations Needed. Episode 40. https://citationsneeded.libsyn.com/episode-40-the-civility-fetish#.
Figurski, Paweł and Grzesiczak, Łukasz. 2017. Radny Wantuch przeciw pomaganiu bezdomnym na Plantach. “Chciałbym, by były piękne.” Gazeta Wyborcza. 20 April. https://krakow.wyborcza.pl/krakow/7,44425,21664885,radny-wantuch-przeciw-pomaganiu-bezdomnym-na-plantach-chcialbym.html.
Fitzpatrick, Kevin and Myrstol, Brad. 2011. “The Jailing of America’s Homeless: Evaluating the Rabble Management Thesis.” Crime & Deliquency 57(2).
Focus. 2015. “Gabriel attackiert Fremdenhasser: ‘Pack, das eingesperrt werden muss” FOCUS online, 24 August. https://www.focus.de/politik/videos/spd-chef-spricht-klartext-gabriel-attackiert-rechtefluechtlingshetzer-pack-und-mob-das-eingesperrt-werden-muss_id_4899288.html.
Foucault, Michel. 2003. “Society Must Be Defended”. Lectures at the Collège de France 1975-76. Translated by David Macey. New York: Picador.
Hegel, Georg Wilhelm Friedrich. 2005. Die Philosophie des Recht. Vorlesungen von 1821/22. Frankfurt: Suhrkamp.
Hegel, Georg Wilhelm Friedrich. 2008. Outlines of the Philosophy of Right. Translated by Thomas Malcolm Knox. Oxford/New York: Oxford University Press.
Jonsson, Stefan. 2006. “The Invention of the Masses: The Crowd in French Culture from the Revolution to the Commune.” In Crowds. Edited by Jeffrey T. Schnapp and Matthew Tiews. Stanford: Stanford University Press.
Jornal de Nóticias. 2018. “O Zé Povinho saiu à rua com cravos em Lisboa e no Porto.” Jornal de Nóticias. 25 April. https://www.jn.pt/nacionalgalerias/o-ze-povinho-e-outros-milhares-sairam-a-rua-comcravos-em-lisboa-9285466.html.
Kuczok, Wojciech. 2019. “Oto nadchodzi polski paździerznik.” Gazeta Wyborcza.
September. http://wyborcza.pl/7,154903,25249829,wojciechkuczok-oto-nadchodzi-polski-pazdzierznik.html.
Laclau, Ernesto. 2005. On Populist Reason. London/New York: Verso.
Larousse. 2019. “Populace.” In Dictionnaire de la langue française. https://www.larousse.fr/dictionnaires/francais/populace/62609?q=populace#61905.
Le Bon, Gustave. 1895. Psychologie des foules. Paris: Félix Alcan.
Lis, Tomasz and Stuhr, Jerzy. 2019. “Jerzy Stuhr: Moje największe sympatie budzi odradzająca się lewica.” https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rvK6dlJzV68.
Luther, Timothy C. 2009. Hegel’s Critique of Modernity: Reconciling Individual Freedom and the Community. Lanham: Lexington Books.
Maciejko, Paweł. 2011. The Mixed Multitude. Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press.
Mattingly, Harold B. 1997. “The date and purpose of the pseudo-Xenophon constitution of Athens.” Classical Quarterly 47.
Merriam-Webster. 2020. “Identity.” In Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary. https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/identity.
Negri, Antonio. 2002. “Pour une définition ontologique de la multitude.” Multitudes 9(2). English translation by Arianna Bove : https://www.multitudes.net/Towards-an-Ontological-Definition/.
Negri, Antonio and Hardt, Michael. 2009. Commonwealth. Cambridge: Harvard University Press.
Nogaś, Michał and Kołodziejczyk, Marcin. 2019. “Kim są bohaterowie Prymitywu?” Gazeta Wyborcza. 16 Spetember. http://wyborcza.pl/7,75517,25186895,bohaterowie-prymitywu-to-kto-kolodziejczyk-to-sa-suwereni.html.
Nye, Robert A. 1977. The anti-democratic sources of elite theory: Pareto, Mosca, Michels. Beverly Hills: Sage Press.
Plato. 1969. The Republic. Translated by Allan Bloom. New York: Harper Collins.
Plato. 2001. Państwo. Translated by Władysław Witwicki. Kęty: Antyk.
Priberam. 2019. Dicionário Priberam da Língua Portuguesa. https://dicionario.priberam.org/.
Pons, Alain. 2014. “Civiltà.” In Dictionary of Untranslatables. A Philosophical Lexicon. Edited by Barbara Cassin. Translation edited by Emily Apter, Jacques Lezra, and Michael Wood. Princeton and Oxford: Princeton University Press.
Pulham, Sheila. 2005. “Inflammatory Language.” The Guardian. 8 November. https://www.theguardian.com/news/blog/2005/nov/08/inflammatoryla.
Resina, Joan Ramon. 2006. “From Crowd Psychology to Racial Hygiene: The Medicalization of Reaction and the New Spain.” In Crowds. Edited by Jeffrey T. Schnapp and Matthew Tiews. Stanford: Stanford University Press.
Rettman, Andrew. 2016. “Poles and Muslims insulted after Brexit vote.” EUobserver. 27 June. https://euobserver.com/justice/134044.
Ruda, Frank. 2011. Hegel’s Rabble. An Investigation into Hegel’s Philosophy of Right. London / New York: Continuum.
Saussy, Haun. 2006. “Crowds, Number, and Mass in China.” In Crowds. Edited by Jeffrey T. Schnapp and Matthew Tiews. Stanford: Stanford University Press.
Schwab, Justin Jon. 2011. The Birth of the Mob: Representations of Crowds in Archaic and Classical Greek Literature [PhD Thesis]. Berkeley: University of California. https://escholarship.org/uc/item/7hf7312f.
Sigov, Konstantin. 2014. “Ukrainien – Nous adressant à l’autre, devenons nous-même: le défi du Vocabulaire européen en Ukraine.” Translated by Pierre Defontaines. In Philosopher en langues. Les intraduisibles en traduction. Edited by Barbara Cassin. Paris: Éditions Rue d’Ulm.
Smoleński, Paweł. 2019. “Narody, które się mordowały. Prestiżowy laur za Naszą wojnę dla Włodzimierza Borodzieja i Macieja Górnego.” Gazeta Wyborcza. 7 October. http://wyborcza.pl/alehistoria/7,121681,25265887,narody-ktore-sie-mordowaly-prestizowy-laurza-nasza-wojne.html.
Sofroniew, Alexandra Katherina T. 2006. “‘Turba’: Latin.” In Crowds. Edited by Jeffrey T. Schnapp and Matthew Tiews. Stanford: Stanford University Press.
Sombart, Werner. 1924. Der proletarische Sozialismus (‘Marxismus‘): 2 Bde. Jena: G. Fischer.
Szkudlarek, Tomasz et al. 2016. “Podziały klasowe i demokracja” https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tmYHk-ay4Yw
Tamari, Assaf. “Erev rav (erev-rav).” Adapted into French by David Lemler. In Philosopher en langues. Les intraduisibles en traduction. Edited by Barbara Cassin. Paris: Éditions Rue d’Ulm.
Tavlin, Zachary. 2018. “The real of the rabble: Žižek and the historical truth of the Hegelo-Lacanian dialectic.” Contemporary Philosophy Review 51.
Vedder, Björn. 2018. Reicher Pöbel. Über die Monster des Kapitalismus. Marburg: Büchner Verlag.
Žižek, Slavoj. 2012. Less than Nothing. Hegel and the Shadow of Dialectical Materialism. London/New York: Verso.
License
“Theoretical Practice” seeks to put into practice the idea of open access to knowledge and broadening the domain of the commons. It serves the development of science, thinking and critical reflection. The journal is published in open-access mode under the CC-BY-NC-SA 4.0 license (detail available here: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/). Articles published in the journal may be freely distributed, stored, printed and utilized for academic and teaching purposes without restrictions.
They should not be, however, used for any commercial purposes or be reconstructed into derivative creations. Access to the journal may not be limited or offered for a fee by any third party.
Prospective authors are obliged to fill in, sign and send back the publishing contract compliant with the CC licencing. [PL.pdf, PL.doc, EN.pdf,EN.doc].
According to this contract, authors grant the journal a non-exclusive right to publish their work under the creative commons license (CC-BY-NC-SA 4.0) without any financial obligation on both sides of the contract.
Before submission authors should make sure that derivative materials they use are not protected by copyright preventing their non-commercial publication. Authors are responsible for any respective copyright violations.