ABSTRACT Neoliberal policies have dominated the global arena over the past decades, but it remains difficult to give a clear definition of neoliberalism. Taking my cue from the European debt crisis, I argue that – contrary to common belief – neoliberalism should not be conflated with any trend in contemporary economic thought. Rather, neoliberalism should be seen as a more general and abstract art of reasoning which has become widespread in several areas of study, and which ultimately serves the purpose of debunking the very idea of social justice. Viewed in this light, neoliberalism resembles and somehow revives ancient sophistry, as it does not name any propositive doctrine but only a particular diversified set of arguments, all of which aim at deligitimizing any attempt to oppose the concept ‘might is right’. Thus, the advance of neoliberalism and the retreat of all philosophical theories about the ‘good society’ ultimately appear as the two sides of the same coin.

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欧洲、新自由主义和政治哲学的倒退

摘要 在过去的几十年里，新自由主义政策主导了全球舞台，但仍然很难给新自由主义下一个明确的定义。从欧洲债务危机中汲取灵感，我认为——与普遍看法相反——新自由主义不应与当代经济思想的任何趋势混为一谈。相反，新自由主义应该被视为一种更普遍和抽象的推理艺术，它已在多个研究领域得到广泛应用，并最终达到揭穿社会正义理念的目的。从这个角度来看，新自由主义类似于并在某种程度上复兴了古代诡辩，因为它没有命名任何积极的学说，而只是一组特定的多样化论点，所有这些论点的目的都是使反对“可能是对的”概念的任何尝试合法化。因此，