Deliberative Theory and Deconstruction: A Democratic Venture

by Steven Gormley

Overview

Our political climate is increasingly characterised by hostility towards constructed others. Steven Gormley answers the question: what does it mean to do justice to others? He pursues this question by developing a critical, but productive, dialogue between deliberative theory and deconstruction. Two key claims emerge from this. First: doing justice to the other demands that we maintain an ethos of interruption. And secondly: Such an ethos requires a democratic form of politics. In developing this account, Gormley places deliberative theory and deconstruction into critical conversation with the work of Mouffe, Aristotle, Rorty, Laclau and different traditions of critical theory.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781474475297
Publisher:	Edinburgh University Press
Publication date:	05/30/2022
Pages:	320
Product dimensions:	5.43(w) x 8.50(h) x (d)

About the Author

Steven Gormley is a lecturer in Philosophy at the University of Essex. His research focuses on democratic theory, critical theory, deconstruction, and rhetoric. He has published articles on the normativity of deconstruction, the concept of forgiveness, and rhetoric and deliberative theory.

Table of Contents

Acknowledgements; List of abbreviations; Introduction: Doing Justice to the Other; 1. Blind Spots and Insights: Between Deliberation and Agonism; 2. A More Expansive Conception of Deliberation; 3. Arguments and Hearing Something New; 4. The Possibility of Political Thought and the Experience of Undecidability; 5. The Demands of Deconstruction; 6. The Democratic Venture; Bibliography; Index.

What People are Saying About This

La Trobe University Dr Miriam Bankovsky

Deliberative theorists have increasingly sought to reorient their theories to feature multiple forms of exclusion that take place off-stage. In this thoughtful and clearly written book, Steven Gormley mobilises the work of Derrida to explain why this reorientation became necessary, and how contemporary deliberative theorists have opened spaces for those who had previously been overlooked. This compelling book provides insight into why the effort to perfect democratic justice requires ongoing vigilance, humility and creative empirical work.

University of Southampton Professor David Owen

Gormley’s book is one that democratic theory has been waiting for and it will be read with great profit by people on both sides of what has been a regrettable divide. It shows with originality, clarity and verve how the productive engagement of deliberative theory and deconstruction is both possible and desirable.

Editorial Reviews

Gormley’s book is one that democratic theory has been waiting for and it will be read with great profit by people on both sides of what has been a regrettable divide. It shows with originality, clarity and verve how the productive engagement of deliberative theory and deconstruction is both possible and desirable.

University of Southampton David Owen

Deliberative theorists have increasingly sought to reorient their theories to feature multiple forms of exclusion that take place off-stage. In this thoughtful and clearly written book, Steven Gormley mobilises the work of Derrida to explain why this reorientation became necessary, and how contemporary deliberative theorists have opened spaces for those who had previously been overlooked. This compelling book provides insight into why the effort to perfect democratic justice requires ongoing vigilance, humility and creative empirical work.

La Trobe University Miriam Bankovsky