Paradoxes of democracy
Rousseau and Hegel on democratic deliberation
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 11342145 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Lorenzo Rustighi (0000-0002-7962-3774, University of Padova, Italy; University of San Martín, Argentina, corresponding author) |
| Year | 2022 |
| Volume | 48 |
| Issue | 1 |
| Pages | 128-150 |
| Publication date | 2022-01-01 |
| Open Access | Yes |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | Philosophy & Social Criticism (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 0191-4537 • E-ISSN: 1461-734X |
| Publisher | SAGE Publications (PUBLISHER • US) |
| DOI | 10.1177/0191453721990700 |
| OpenAlex | W3132405801 |
| Language | EN |
| Citations received | 2 |
| References cited | 29 |
In this article, I engage with what relevant literature addresses as the ‘paradox of democracy’ and trace it back to the dialectic between authorization and representation established by social contract theories. To make my argument, I take Rousseau’s Social Contract as a paradigmatic example of the paradox and analyse it in light of Hegel’s critical response. My aim is to show that, although Rousseau rejects the idea of representing the popular will, representation resurfaces in his Republic from top to bottom and engenders a structural opposition between citizens and rulers: drawing on the Hegelian scrutiny of contractarianism, I focus on three key moments in Rousseau’s theory, namely the Lawgiver, the majority rule and the executive power. After illustrating how the social contract undermines democratic participation in deliberative processes, I suggest that Hegel’s philosophy of right overcomes the paradox by positively assuming it as a dialectical contradiction that requires a specific constitutional approach to democracy. In this sense, I argue, the Hegelian perspective on democratic deliberation helps us to better frame Rousseau’s ambition to conceive the Republic as a free community of equals and urges us to elaborate a more coherent understanding of participation in a pluralistic society
Contradiction · Deliberation · Democracy · Dialectic · Epistemology · Hegelianism · Political science · Politics · Social contract · Sociology · Law · Philosophy · Political Theory and Influence · Rousseau and Enlightenment Thought · Seventeenth-Century Political and Philosophical Thought
Rousseau, Law and the Sovereignty of the People
The Major Political Writings of Jean-Jacques Rousseau
Rousseau
Philosophy Politics and Society
Hegel’s critique of the theory of social contract
Lectures on the History of Philosophy 1825–26
Perspectives without Privileges
Elements of the Philosophy of Right
The Phenomenology of Spirit
Group Agency
Emergency Politics
Hobbesian Absolutism and the Paradox of Modern Contractarianism
Hobbes and the Purely Artificial Person of the State
The Freedom of Desire
Rousseau's Legacy in Two Conceptions of the General Will
Hobbes, Rousseau and the Modern Conception of the State
Universal and General Wills
Rousseau and Republicanism
The Evolution of Rousseau's View of Representative Government
Voting the General Will
Deliberative Rationalality and Models of Democratic Legitimacy
Rousseau's Critique of Representative Sovereignty
Between Decision and Deliberation
Rousseau on Agenda-Setting and Majority Rule
| Citations per year | 1 |
|---|---|
| Citation span | 2024 - 2024 (1) |
| Highly cited | No |