Fecha de recepción: junio 2008 Fecha de aceptación y versión final: julio 2008Resumen El siguiente trabajo es un intento por articular algunas reflexiones en torno a la redefinición de lo público en el marco de las transformaciones en la relación sociedad civil-Estado. Se parte de ciertos discursos políticos y académicos que invocaron la necesidad de fortalecimiento de un espacio de lo público, en un intento de clarificación conceptual que apunta a los deslizamientos y matices presentes en esos discursos. Por supuesto, no se pretende zanjar la discusión a través de la estipulación de definiciones convencionales sino, a lo sumo, de tratar de entender cómo esas ambivalencias y equivocidades aparecen en las distintas estrategias de los actores políticos y sociales. Sin pretensiones de realizar una historia conceptual rigurosa, el trabajo analiza el deslizamiento de lo público-estatal a lo público-social, y concluye con una aproximación a las innovaciones que trae consigo "la vuelta del Estado".Palabras clave: público, privado, Estado, sociedad civil, gestión pública AbstractThe following work offers a reflection on how the public sphere has been redefined. These reflections are considered within the parameters of the transformations that have taken place in the relationship between the State and civil society. The article begins by looking at some of the academic and political discourses that expressed the need to strengthen the public space. This point of departure emphasizes the need to clarify the definition of public space, as well as the need to demystify the complex matrix of forces that underlie the discourses in question. Needless to say, this work does not pretend to bind the debate to traditional definitions, but rather to understand how such ambivalence and misunderstandings have come to feature in the strategies adopted by political and social actors. Without attempting to undergo a rigorous conceptual history, this work analyzes the transformation of the state-public sphere into the state-social sphere, concluding with some brief comments on the innovations that have accompanied the "return of the State".

Kant rehabilitates, in his so-called “political writings” and in his philosophy of law, the notion of public reason as a control instance of legislation and of the political measures which affect a community. The “public use” of reason fulfills, in the first place, a basic task of enlightment. But it also has other ramifications. By means of the formulation of the publicity principle, the predicate “public” (in the sense of something being visible) can be brought to bear on the practicing of power. And finally, presupposing a public use of reason may allow us to reach public coincidence, i.e., a consensus in the elaboration of the rational will. The first goal of the paper is to examine the political scope of such rehabilitation of public reason. The second goal is to formulate a number of problems which emerge, since Kant, whenever the issue of public space is approached. Finally, a few questions are posed bearing on Kant’s conception of politics: although politics appears to fall under the larger categories of morals and law in Kant’s writings, the author seems in some places to hint at a recognition of a prudential sphere for politics alone which, however, must be made compatible with morals and law. [Traducción: Héctor Islas]

Público/Privado

Las reseñas no incluyen resumen.

No abstract