Democracy and Ontology: Agonism between Political Liberalism, Foucault and Psychoanalysis

by Irena Rosenthal, François Ost, Mark Van Hoecke

Overview

This book investigates the relationship between liberal democracies and ontology, that is, philosophical claims about the constitution of agents and the social world. Many philosophers argue that ontology needs to be avoided in political and legal philosophy. In fact, political liberalism, a highly influential paradigm founded by the philosopher John Rawls, makes the avoidance of ontology a core ambition of its 'political, non-metaphysical' programme. In contrast to political liberalism, this book argues that attending to ontological disputes is essential to political and legal philosophy. Illuminating, criticising and developing ontological arguments does not only enhance our understanding of justice, but also highlights key features of democratic citizenship. The argument is built up by bringing together three traditions of thought that have so far not been confronted with one another: political liberalism, the work of Michel Foucault, and the psychoanalytic theories of Sigmund Freud and Donald Winnicott. The book also investigates more concrete implications of ontological disputes by drawing on several case studies: a Dutch political-legal debate about greeting rituals; an American conflict about the legalisation of religious freedom; and the struggles for resilience of two American social movement groups.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781509938285
Publisher:	Bloomsbury Academic
Publication date:	05/28/2020
Series:	European Academy of Legal Theory Series
Pages:	228
Product dimensions:	6.14(w) x 9.21(h) x 0.48(d)

About the Author

Irena Rosenthal is Assistant Professor at PPLE College at the University of Amsterdam.

Table of Contents

Acknowledgements v

1 Introduction 1

I Democracy 5

II Ontology 7

III Political Liberalism, Foucault and Psychoanalysis 12

IV Research Questions 21

V Overview of Chapters 23

2 Politicising Political Liberalism 25

I Introduction 25

II The Democratic Politicisation of Political Philosophy 28

III A 'Freestanding' Justification of Justice 36

IV Politicising Political Liberalism 43

V Conclusion 61

3 The Stimulation of Enlightened Contest 65

I Introduction 65

II 'A Historical Ontology of Ourselves' 68

III A Historical Ontology of Political Philosophy 71

IV Foucault's Ethos of 'Stimulating Contest' 80

V The Stimulation of Enlightened Contest 94

VI Agonic Democracy 101

VII Conclusion 111

4 Agonic Democracy and the Exercise of Rights 113

I Introduction 113

II The Governmentalised State 115

III A Political Liberalist Approach to State-sanctioned Exclusions 121

IV The Ontological Remnants in Tomasi's Social Theory 127

V Politicising Tomasi's Concept of Legal Culture 135

VI Conclusion 144

5 Transit: Renegotiating Political Liberalism and Agonic Democracy 147

6 Drained by a Democratic 'Burn-out': The Emotional Burdens of Agonic Democracy 153

I Introduction 153

II A Democratic 'Burn-out' 156

III A Psychoanalytic Reading of Civic Loss 161

IV Emotional Boundary-marking 185

V Conclusion 188

7 Conclusion 191

I Politicising the Political Liberalist Ontology 191

II An Alternative Ontology of Democratic Politics 193

III The Democratic Politicisation of Ontology 195

Bibliography 199

Index 209