this issue
previous article in this issuenext article in this issue

Preview first page
Document Details :

Title: À quoi tenons-nous face à une double croisée des chemins?
Subtitle: Pour une économie de la violence
Author(s): CRÉPON, Marc
Journal: Etudes phénoménologiques - Phenomenological Studies
Volume: 8    Date: 2024   
Pages: 87-102
DOI: 10.2143/EPH.8.0.3292513

Abstract :
This essay examines the reasons why we are attached to democracy and the kinds of forces that make it fragile. The thesis is that the main reason for our attachment is an economy of violence. Two kinds of forces threaten democracy. The first one is external and contests its status as a model and identifies it with decadence and impotence, which paves the way to authoritarian and dictatorial regimes. The extent of our attachment to democracy is thus linked to the opposite conviction that extending and protecting democracy in the world remain everywhere and for all a horizon of emancipation from violence that calls for an unwavering support. The second reason is internal and concerns the credibility of the democratic alternative as a vector for transforming the condition of inexistence of those who have been forgotten by history. This reason assumes that the temptation to have recourse to violence has to be avoided as the most efficacious mode of expression for obtaining these transformations. The extent of our attachment to democracy is thus linked to the credit we continue to give to 'shared discourse', which is specific of democracy for offering an alternative to this radical temptation.

Download article