Democracy and critique belong together—at least this is the working hypothesis of this seminar. In the course of the 14 weeks, we will analyse the relation between democracy and critique from its two sides: On the one hand, we will read and discuss different forms of contemporary, as well as historically influential, critique directed against democracy. Here, we find both objections against specific conceptions of democracy—for example, against representative democracy or against the current “post-democratic” state of democracy—and fundamental critique of democracy as such, e.g. because it is said to turn necessarily into anarchy or mob rule.
On the other hand, we will approach the relation between democracy and critique from democracy’s point of view. For democracy, we might discover, is itself inherently critical, for example against domination of humans by humans. And from this side, a change in perspective might be possible, so that we understand the critique against democracy as part of the necessary self-criticism by democracy. In this case, critique and democracy would indeed belong together.
Preparatory Reading
Agamben, Giorgio, Alain Badiou, Slavoj Žižek, Jacques Rancière, Jean-Luc Nancy, Wendy Brown, Daniel Bensaïd und Kristin Ross (2012): Demokratie? Eine Debatte. Berlin: Suhrkamp.
Rancière, Jacques (2011 [2005]): Der Hass der Demokratie. Übersetzt von Maria Muhle. 2. Aufl. Berlin: August.
Saar, Martin (2014): Heterogene Demokratie. In: Philosophische Rundschau 61.3, 183-205.