Toward an Ethos for Democracy: The Early Bakhtin and Habermas on Democratic Procedures
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2023-11-09
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en
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Procedures form an integral part of modern-day democracy. They make sure democracy is organized properly and fairly, and exist to prevent arbitrariness. However, there has been a tendency in democratic theory to consider procedures only legitimate because of their inherent rationality. This tendency, present in thinkers such as Jürgen Habermas, runs counter to the idea that, in a democracy, the demos is the foremost source of legitimacy. I argue that Mikhail Bakhtin’s Toward a Philosophy of the Act can be used to articulate a more democratic relationship between people and procedures, as his notion of the act demonstrates how an ethical, emotional engagement is present in everything we do, including following procedures, and that having some sort of ethos is thus unavoidable.
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Faculteit der Filosofie, Theologie en Religiewetenschappen