Reasonable Democracy: Jürgen Habermas and the Politics of Discourse

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Political theory for believers in dialogue

This is a thoughtful pick if you like political philosophy that feels grounded in real democratic life rather than abstract jargon. Chambers makes Habermas unusually readable, building everything around the deceptively simple question of why talking can be better than fighting. It’s the kind of book that appeals to readers who care about ethics, public debate, and how societies actually hold together through conversation.

  • Foundations of Political Theory First Book Award (1997)
Note: While we do our best to ensure the accuracy of cover images, ISBNs may at times be reused for different editions of the same title which may hence appear as a different cover.

Reasonable Democracy: Jürgen Habermas and the Politics of Discourse

Regular price RM51.00 MYR
Unit price
per
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ISBN: 9780801483301
Authors: Simone Chambers
Date of Publication: 1996-07-17
Format: Paperback
Related Collections: Philosophy, Sociology, Politics
Goodreads rating: 3.0
(rated by 7 readers)

Description

In Reasonable Democracy, Simone Chambers describes, explains, and defends a discursive politics inspired by the work of Jürgen Habermas. In addition to comparing Habermas's ideas with other non-Kantian liberal theories in clear and accessible prose, Chambers develops her own views regarding the role of discourse and its importance within liberal democracies. Beginning with a deceptively simple question—"Why is talking better than fighting?"—Chambers explains how the idea of talking provides a rich and compelling view of morality, rationality, and political stability. She considers talking as a way for people to respect each other as moral agents, as a way to reach reasonable and legitimate solutions to disputes, and as a way to reproduce and strengthen shared understandings. In the course of this argument, she defends modern universalist ethics, communicative rationality, and what she calls a "discursive political culture," a concept that locates the political power of discourse and deliberation not so much in institutions of democratic decision-making as in the type of conversations that go on around these institutions. While discourse and deliberation cannot replace voting, bargaining, or compromise, Chambers argues that it is important to maintain a background moral conversation in which to anchor other activities. As an extended case study, Chambers examines the conversation about language rights that has been taking place for more than twenty years in Quebec. A culture of dialogue, she shows, has proved a positive and powerful force in resolving some of the disagreements between the two linguistic communities there.
 

Political theory for believers in dialogue

This is a thoughtful pick if you like political philosophy that feels grounded in real democratic life rather than abstract jargon. Chambers makes Habermas unusually readable, building everything around the deceptively simple question of why talking can be better than fighting. It’s the kind of book that appeals to readers who care about ethics, public debate, and how societies actually hold together through conversation.

  • Foundations of Political Theory First Book Award (1997)
Note: While we do our best to ensure the accuracy of cover images, ISBNs may at times be reused for different editions of the same title which may hence appear as a different cover.