The promise of democracy : political agency and transformation / Fred Dallmayr.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Dallmayr, Fred R. (Fred Reinhard), 1928-

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Democracy.

Democracy--Philosophy.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (273 p.)

Place of Publication:

Albany : State University of New York Press, c2010.

Language Note:

English

Summary:

"A new ethical concept of democracy as the cultivation and practice of civic virtues in a pluralistic setting is presented in this thoughtful and wide-ranging study. Drawing upon such figures as Aristotle, Montesquieu, Hegel, Dewey, Heidegger, Arendt, and Lefort, Fred Dallmayr emphasizes the need for civic education and practical-ethical engagement in all societies aspiring to be democratic. With reference to Middle Eastern societies and especially Iran, Dallmayr explores the possible compatibility between democracy and Islamic faith. In a similar vein, he discusses the strengths of Gandhian and Confucian democracy as possible correctives to current versions of "minimalist" democracy and the cult of laissez-faire liberalism and neoliberalism." "Addressing how to instill a democratic ethos in societies where corporations and elites exercise a great deal of power, The Promise of Democracy presents an inspired vision of democracy as popular "self-rule" in which ethical cultivation and self-transformation make possible a nondomineering kind of political agency. Against this background, Dallmayr casts democracy as a "promise," making room for the unlimited horizons opened up by a new understanding of liberty and equality."--BOOK JACKET.

Contents:

Introduction : the promise of democracy

Hegel for our time : negativity and democratic ethos

Democratic action and experience : Dewey's "holistic" pragmatism

Agency and letting-be : Heidegger on primordial praxis

Action in the public realm : Arendt between past and future

Postmodernism and radical democracy : Laclau and Mouffe on "hegemony"

Jacques Derrida's legacy : "democracy to come"

Who are we now? : for an "other" humanism

Religion, politics, and Islam : toward multiple modes of democracy

Beyond minimal democracy : voices from East and West.

Notes:

Bibliographic Level Mode of Issuance: Monograph

Includes bibliographical references (p. 213-245) and index.

ISBN:

9781438430409

143843040X

9781441668240

1441668241

OCLC:

655807982