![]() ![]() ![]() However, the status of the label ‘radical democracy’ is ambiguous in the book. The aim is thus to pave the way towards a construct capable of resolving the difficulties faced by each model/concept/tradition. Its intention, rather, is to draw from the writings of certain pragmatist authors theoretical intuitions which offer a way of moving beyond the false opposition between representative (or liberal) democracy, on the one hand, and radical democracy on the other. The book is explicit about the fact that it does not aim to provide a full account of the pragmatist tradition. Here Le Goff does not seek to establish any direct lineages but rather tries to show the enduring nature of the topics at the heart of the original pragmatist project, including, in particular, those linked to an abandonment of the model of representative democracy in favour of experiments based on the participation and deliberation of citizens. The book’s third and final chapter is devoted to current debates about participative and deliberative democracy in contemporary political philosophy-a debate which has, broadly speaking, been pursued independently of the pragmatist tradition in the strictest sense. Īfter an initial chapter devoted to John Dewey, the second chapter focuses on the work of Charles Wright Mills, a sociologist with an ambivalent relationship to pragmatism. The author adopts a very broad approach to the notion of radical democracy, perhaps even too broad as she includes authors such as Hannah Arendt, Claude Lefort, Cornelius Castoriadis, Jacques Rancière, Chantal Mouffe, and Sheldon Wolin, whereas the relevance of some of the connections made, most notably between Arendt and Mouffe, could be questioned. All these theories “examine the autonomy or the specificity of the political they champion an adversarial democracy as opposed to a liberalism perceived as seeking consensus they champion a plural and dynamic conception of identity they develop critical discourse about the processes of institutionalisation that are suspected of ‘betraying’ democratic dynamics” (p. Le Goff builds out from her critical perspective on the contemporary discourse of radical democracy, which she sees as united around a few common themes. Or at the very least, it is legitimate to ask whether or not their political philosophies can be considered to come under the category of participative or deliberative approaches. However, choosing to study this idea from the standpoint of pragmatism remains useful because if we follow Le Goff and take radical democracy to mean all participative and deliberative approaches to democracy, then the pragmatists can very easily be considered proponents of these approaches. With the exception of a short text by the philosopher John Dewey, the notion of radical democracy does not appear as a key concept in pragmatist political philosophy. Alice Le Goff’s book is part of this revival and offers a fresh perspective on ‘radical democracy’ based on the contributions of American pragmatism, which she views through the prism of a selection of major authors of this school of thought. For several years now, in France as elsewhere, political philosophy has been rediscovering American pragmatism whether by studying its classical texts or by drawing on its arguments in contemporary debates, for example those on deliberative democracy, epistemic democracy, or critical theory. ![]()
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |