Paradoxes of democracy: Rousseau and Hegel on democratic deliberation

2021 ◽  
pp. 019145372199070
Author(s):  
Lorenzo Rustighi

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.

2015 ◽  
Vol 22 ◽  
pp. 58
Author(s):  
José Assunção Fernandes Leite

O filósofo genebrino Jean-Jacques Rousseau, em suas reflexões políticas, mais precisamente, no primeiro livro Do Contrato Social, ao expor sobre de quem deveria ser a responsabilidade de pensar sobre as formas de governar, argumenta: “Entro na matéria sem demonstrar a importância de meu assunto. Perguntar-me-ão se sou príncipe ou legislador, para escrever sobre política. Se fosse príncipe ou legislador, não perderia meu tempo, dizendo o que deve ser feito; haveria de fazê-lo, ou calar-me”. Ora, como não somos nem príncipes e nem governantes, faremos o que fez Jean-Jacques, investigaremos que mérito é esse recebido por alguns homens para que possam governar. Para esta investigação recorreremos a Platão como contra ponto ao filósofo iluminista, ao utilizar-se do conceito de alma e suas potências para legitimar os estamentos de uma cidade justa e o governo do filósofo n’A República. Para esse confronto utilizaremos o Discurso sobre a origem e os fundamentos da desigualdade entre os homens onde o filósofo faz sua análise das formas de governo e qual seria a melhor delas para os homens viverem e, os discursos empregados como forma de persuadir os demais para aceitarem as formas de governo. Palavras-chave: Alma. Governante. Mérito pessoal. Discurso.  PLATÃO AND ROUSSEAU: about the the soul of the rulerAbstract: The genevese philosopher Jean-Jacques Rousseau in your politics reflexions, precisely, in the firstbook Of the Social Contract, to exhibit about whose should be the responsibility of think about the forms of to govern,argue: “ I come in the matter without to show the importance of the subject. They will ask me if I am a princeor legislator, to write about politics. If I were prince or legislator, I am not would lost my time, saying what should bedone; should I do it or shut up me.” Well, how we will do what did Jean-Jacques, we will investigate what merit is thisreceived for some kind of men to can to govern. For it we will recourse to Platão like counterpoint to the illuministphilosopher, when he use the concept of soul and your potency for legitimate the class of a fair city and the governmentof philosopher in the Republic. For this confront we will use the Speech about the origin and the basis of theinequality among the men where the philosopher make your analyses of the forms of govern and what would be thebest of them to the others men live and, the speech used like a way to accept your forms of govern.Keywords: Soul. Ruling. Personal merit. Speech.   PLATÃO Y ROUSSEAU: sobre el alma del gobernante Resumen: El filósofo ginebrino Jean-Jacques Rousseau, en sus reflexiones políticas, más precisamente, en  el primero libro Del Contrato Social, al exponer sobre de quién debería ser la responsabilidad de pensar sobre las formas de gobierno, argumenta: “Entro en la materia sin demonstrar la importancia de mi asunto. Preguntarán si soy príncipe o legislador, para escribir sobre política. Si fuera un príncipe o legislador no perdería mi tiempo, diciendo  lo que debe ser hecho, habría  de  hacerlo o callarme.” Pues, como no somos ni príncipe ni legislador, haremos lo  que ha hecho Jean–Jacques Rousseau, investigaremos cuál mérito es ese recibido por algunos hombres para que puedan gobernar. Para  esta investigación recurriremos a Platão como contrapunto al filósofo iluminista, al utilizar del concepto de alma y  sus potencias para legitimar los estamentos de una ciudad justa y el gobierno del filósofo En la República. Para esa confrontación utilizaremos el Discurso sobre   la origen y los fundamentos  de las desigualdades entre los hombres donde el filósofo  haz su análisis  de las formas de gobierno y cuál sería la mejor de ellas para los hombres vivieren y,  los discursos empleados como forma de persuadir a los demás para aceptaren las formas de gobierno. Palabras clave: Alma. Gobernante. Mérito personal. Discurso.  


2021 ◽  
Vol 6 (3) ◽  
pp. 29-37
Author(s):  
Khurshida Saydivalieva ◽  
◽  
Abror Alimov

A strong social policy is the basis for a prosperous lifestyle of the population of thecountry. One of the urgent issues that are in the focus of attention of the world's countries is the problem of poverty and unemployment. In particular, today, in the context of the COVID-19 coronavirus pandemic, this issue is becoming increasingly relevant. The introduction of quarantine measures to preserve the health of the population in the face of the pandemic paved the way for a further escalationof unemployment, which led to a sharp increase in poverty rates,atthe same time, poverty is one of the factors that negatively affect the sustainable growth of the country's economy. The poor are not only unable to benefit from economic development, butalso to contribute to the development of society. The article analyzes the mechanisms of poverty reduction in the world community, and the efforts made in Uzbekistan, the importance of the social contract as a mechanism of social assistance and the need for its implementation in practice, the experience of foreign countries in the application of the social contract.


Author(s):  
Michael O. West

It is a truism that black folk in the United States are an international people. From the beginning of the republic, they were compelled by force of domestic (national) circumstances to internationalize their struggle for liberation, the founders having excluded them from the US social contract. The initial affidavit of exclusion is right there in the inaugural document of the social contract, the Declaration of Independence, which, ever so cryptically, damned the king of England for having “excited domestic insurrections amongst us.” This was an attack on the self-emancipatory activities of the enslaved descendants of Africa, who were exploiting the chaos caused by the anticolonial rebellion to claim their freedom, sometimes in cahoots with the British colonialists. Unable or unwilling to confront their own contradictions, the authors of the Declaration of Independence condemned the self-determination of the slaves as the doing of outside agitators, a charge that would be hurled at African American movements and activists for generations to come—up to the present time, in fact....


2017 ◽  
Vol 20 (1) ◽  
pp. 108
Author(s):  
Marcus Baccega

SOBERANIA E DEMOCRACIA EM TEMPOS MUNDIALIZADOS: ATUALIDADE DA FILOSOFIA POLÍTICA DE JEAN-JACQUES ROUSSEAU E OS LIMITES DO CONTRATO SOCIAL Resumo: este artigo visa a problematizar os (des)caminhos dos conceitos políticos e das práticas sociais e jurídicas em torno da soberania política do Estado Nacional e da democracia nos tempos de mundialização do Capital. Portanto, revisita e percorre uma breve arqueologia conceitual da Soberania, desde Isidoro de Sevilha até a clássica definição de Jean Bodin nos Seis Livros sobre a República (1576). O propósito é problematizar a filosofia política de Rousseau para, então, perceber e discutir seus limites suas virtualidades, bem como a atualidade de sua noção de Contrato Social e o papel da Filosofia Política na Era do Capital Global. Palavras-chave: Rousseau. Soberania. Mundialização do Capital. Abstract: this paper casts doubt on the ways and shunts of political concepts and social and legal practices concerning political sovereignty of the Nation State and democracy at the time of Capital’s globalization. It revisits a brief conceptual archeology of Sovereignty, since Isidore of Seville to the classical definition by Jean Bodin in The Six Books on the Republic (1576). The purpose is casting doubt on the political philosophy of Rousseau, in order to discuss its limits and virtualities, and the topicality of his notion of social contract and the role of Political Philosophy at the Age of Global Capital. Keywords: Rousseau. Sovereignty. Globalization of Capital.


2021 ◽  
Vol 43 (2) ◽  
pp. 295-316
Author(s):  
Aleksandra Szadok-Bratuń

The subject of the article is Fuller’s concept of the (not) good law paradigm defined by three notions: “internal morality of law,” “natural law of a formal nature,” and “formal rule of law” — in the perspective of its application in the current legal order of the Republic of Poland. The discourse was conducted in two stages: on a general, theoretical, and axiological levels as well as on a detailed, practical, and praxeological ones. The epistemological level with its retrospective view bears resemblance of two models: bad law and good law. The first, encapsulated in literary legal fiction, describes eight cases (anti-values) of King Rex’s legislative failures. King Rex is monarch with authoritarian and conservative traits who excludes the system of government based on the proportional cohabitation of three powers — legislative, executive, and judicative — in favour of anocracy, which is a hybrid regime “suspended” between democracy and authoritarianism. The second is a remedy in the form of axiological contours, postulates (values) of good law: generality, promulgation, prospectivity, clarity, non-contradiction, reality, stability, and compliance. These principles of the formal rule of law, contained in the concept of “soft” jusnaturalism, are a specific professional and ethical code for the public authority which constitutes, executes, and applies the law. The practical-cognitive level refers to subjectively selected examples of abusing the good lawstandard in the Polish legal and administrative order. It shows the omnipotent and simultaneously dysfunctional executive power in the area of governance and administration, aimed at a radical reconstruction of the social and legal system.


Sapere Aude ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 10 (19) ◽  
pp. 157-171
Author(s):  
Vital Francisco Celestino Alves

Na filosofia de Jean-Jacques Rousseau encontramos diversos elogios a modelos políticos oriundos da Antiguidade (Esparta e Roma), assim como outros elogios à República de Genebra. A esse último modelo, o pensador dedica a obra Discurso sobre a origem e os fundamentos da desigualdade entre os homens. Entretanto, até que ponto se pode afirmar que a ordenação política genebrina influenciou e contribuiu para a formação do pensamento político de Rousseau? Tendo essa questão como eixo central e objetivando produzir uma reflexão sobre a Genebra de Rousseau, o presente artigo pretende: primeiro, descrever como era a ordem política genebrina; segundo, tratar da relação entre Rousseau e Genebra; e, por último, correlacionar a posição que ocupa a cidade natal do autor com os seus escritos políticos apresentados na Dedicatória e no Contrato social e examinar a consistência das três principais linhas interpretativas que relacionam Genebra à filosofia política de Rousseau.PALAVRAS-CHAVE: Rousseau. República de Genebra. Relação.ABSTRACTIn the philosophy of Jean-Jacques Rousseau we find several compliments to political models coming from Antiquity (Sparta and Rome), as well as other compliments to the Republic of Geneva. To this last model, the thinker dedicates the work Discourse on the Origin and Basis of Inequality Among Men. However, to what extent can one affirm that the political order of Geneva influenced and contributed to the formation of Rousseau's political thought? With this question as the central axis and aiming to produce a reflection on Rousseau's Geneva, the present article aims to: first, describe the Genevan political, second, deal with Rousseau's relationship with Geneva, and, finally, correlate the position the author's hometown occupies with his political writings presented in the Dedication and the Social Contract and examine the consistency of the three main interpretive lines relating Geneva to Rousseau's political philosophy.KEYWORDS: Rousseau. Republic of Geneva. Relationship.


2021 ◽  
Vol 29 (1) ◽  
pp. 51-68
Author(s):  
Ludmila Pimenova ◽  

The article examines three legal treatises written between the late 16th and late 18th centuries, whose authors used the language of metaphors, analyzing also the way this language was reflected in images. Both jurists and artists tried to demonstrate to their readers and spectators that society was unified and, at the same time, consisted of estates unequal in their status. For this purpose, metaphors of the human body, tree, army, and family were used. Over the period under discussion, the attitude towards metaphors changed significantly. Although the possibility of using the language of metaphors to adequately describe and know society was put into doubt more than once in the 17th and 18th centuries, contemporaries did not abandon this language. In the 18th century, many of the usual metaphors were rethought in Enlightenment literature, as well as in journalism and propaganda texts published on the eve of the French Revolution. The body metaphor received a new interpretation within the framework of the social contract concept, while the image of France as the king’s spouse was transformed into the figure of Marianne the Republic.


2015 ◽  
Vol 22 ◽  
pp. 58
Author(s):  
José Assunção Fernandes Leite

O filósofo genebrino Jean-Jacques Rousseau, em suas reflexões políticas, mais precisamente, no primeiro livro Do Contrato Social, ao expor sobre de quem deveria ser a responsabilidade de pensar sobre as formas de governar, argumenta: “Entro na matéria sem demonstrar a importância de meu assunto. Perguntar-me-ão se sou príncipe ou legislador, para escrever sobre política. Se fosse príncipe ou legislador, não perderia meu tempo, dizendo o que deve ser feito; haveria de fazê-lo, ou calar-me”. Ora, como não somos nem príncipes e nem governantes, faremos o que fez Jean-Jacques, investigaremos que mérito é esse recebido por alguns homens para que possam governar. Para esta investigação recorreremos a Platão como contra ponto ao filósofo iluminista, ao utilizar-se do conceito de alma e suas potências para legitimar os estamentos de uma cidade justa e o governo do filósofo n’A República. Para esse confronto utilizaremos o Discurso sobre a origem e os fundamentos da desigualdade entre os homens onde o filósofo faz sua análise das formas de governo e qual seria a melhor delas para os homens viverem e, os discursos empregados como forma de persuadir os demais para aceitarem as formas de governo.Palavras-chave: Alma. Governante. Mérito pessoal. Discurso. PLATÃO AND ROUSSEAU: about the the soul of the rulerAbstract: The genevese philosopher Jean-Jacques Rousseau in your politics reflexions, precisely, in the firstbook Of the Social Contract, to exhibit about whose should be the responsibility of think about the forms of to govern,argue: “ I come in the matter without to show the importance of the subject. They will ask me if I am a princeor legislator, to write about politics. If I were prince or legislator, I am not would lost my time, saying what should bedone; should I do it or shut up me.” Well, how we will do what did Jean-Jacques, we will investigate what merit is thisreceived for some kind of men to can to govern. For it we will recourse to Platão like counterpoint to the illuministphilosopher, when he use the concept of soul and your potency for legitimate the class of a fair city and the governmentof philosopher in the Republic. For this confront we will use the Speech about the origin and the basis of theinequality among the men where the philosopher make your analyses of the forms of govern and what would be thebest of them to the others men live and, the speech used like a way to accept your forms of govern.Keywords: Soul. Ruling. Personal merit. Speech. PLATÃO Y ROUSSEAU: sobre el alma del gobernanteResumen: El filósofo ginebrino Jean-Jacques Rousseau, en sus reflexiones políticas, más precisamente, en  el primero libro Del Contrato Social, al exponer sobre de quién debería ser la responsabilidad de pensar sobre las formas de gobierno, argumenta: “Entro en la materia sin demonstrar la importancia de mi asunto. Preguntarán si soy príncipe o legislador, para escribir sobre política. Si fuera un príncipe o legislador no perdería mi tiempo, diciendo  lo que debe ser hecho, habría  de  hacerlo o callarme.” Pues, como no somos ni príncipe ni legislador, haremos lo  que ha hecho Jean–Jacques Rousseau, investigaremos cuál mérito es ese recibido por algunos hombres para que puedan gobernar. Para  esta investigación recurriremos a Platão como contrapunto al filósofo iluminista, al utilizar del concepto de alma y  sus potencias para legitimar los estamentos de una ciudad justa y el gobierno del filósofo En la República. Para esa confrontación utilizaremos el Discurso sobre   la origen y los fundamentos  de las desigualdades entre los hombres donde el filósofo  haz su análisis  de las formas de gobierno y cuál sería la mejor de ellas para los hombres vivieren y,  los discursos empleados como forma de persuadir a los demás para aceptaren las formas de gobierno.Palabras clave: Alma. Gobernante. Mérito personal. Discurso.  


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