Writing a Name in the Sky

Rancière, Cavell, and the Possibility of Egalitarian Inscription

Dados Bibliográficos

ID3687259
AutoresAletta J Norval (University of Essex, autor correspondente)
Ano2012
Volume106
Fascículo4
Páginas810-826
Data de publicação2012-11-01
Peer ReviewedSim
Open AccessSim
TipoARTICLE
PeriódicoAmerican Political Science Review (JOURNAL)
Identificadores do periódicoISSN: 0003-0554 • E-ISSN: 1537-5943
EditoraCambridge University Press (CUP) (PUBLISHER)
DOI10.1017/s0003055412000445
OpenAlexW2105929509
IdiomaEN
Citações recebidas22
Referências citadas56

Democratic theory is often portrayed as torn between two moments: that of disruption of rule, and the ordinary, ongoing institutionalization of politics. This dualism also marks contemporary democratic theory. In Jacques Rancière's theory of politics it takes the form of an emphasis on the ruptural qualities of the staging of novel democratic demands and the reconfiguration of the space of political argument. The reconfiguration of existing political imaginaries depends upon a moment of inscription, which remains underdeveloped in Rancière's work. Arguing that the possibility of inscription is indeed thematized in Rancière's more historical writings, but is often ignored by commentators, this article seeks to draw out the implications of a focus on inscription for democratic theory and practice. To flesh out this account, the article draws on Cavell's writings on exemplarity and the role of exemplars in fostering both critical reflection and the imagination of alternatives. The focus on such exemplars and an aversive, nonconformist ethos together facilitate a better understanding of what is required for such novel demands to be acknowledged and inscribed into democratic life

Aesthetics · Argument (complex analysis · Democracy · Epistemology · Ethos · Political philosophy · Political science · Politics · Sociology · Critical Theory and Philosophy · Critical Theory and Political Philosophy · Law · Philosophy · Philosophy, Ethics, and Existentialism