Figures of Speech Democracy, Deliberation and the Political Subject
Date of Award
2007
Document Type
Thesis
Degree Name
Bachelors
Department
Social Sciences
First Advisor
Fitzgerald, Keith
Keywords
Dialogue, Self, Politics
Area of Concentration
Political Science
Abstract
This investigation is an attempt to reconcile the modem multiple and dynamic political subject with the leveling force of liberal universalism. Through an examination of three proposed models of political public speech, I explore the connections between identity and democratic dialogue. The deliberative, discursive and agonal perspective each reveal an understanding of the interplay of public citizen and public self in the preservation of a just and functioning democracy. These three models are explored through the works of each of their major theorists, John Rawls, Jtirgen Habermas and Hannah Arendt respectively. I follow each theorist separately and explore how their varying conceptions of political subjectivity orders and reveals their vision of a just and functional society. In the end, I propose a mesh of discursive, and agonal space to meet the needs of modem political subjectivity. The discursive approach understands subjectivity as something communicatively produced and created. The agonal approach, while advocating a more static approach, views difference as integral to political action. It also allows individuals the ability to perfomatively enact and affIrm their identity within the public sphere. This non-atomistic, communicative, and plural understanding of the political subject is thereby able to recognize and reconcile the homogenizing effects of liberal universalism.
Recommended Citation
Padilla, Nikki M., "Figures of Speech Democracy, Deliberation and the Political Subject" (2007). Theses & ETDs. 3836.
https://digitalcommons.ncf.edu/theses_etds/3836
Rights
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