Agonistic pluralism rejects the ideal of a fully inclusive rational consensus

Evidence

I take this emphasis on the limits of giving reasons to constitute an important starting point for elaborating an alternative to the current model of ‘deliberative democracy’ with its rationalistic conception of communication and its misguided search for a consensus that would be fully inclusive. Indeed, I see the ‘agonistic pluralism’ that I have been advocating15 as inspired by a Wittgensteinian mode of theorizing and as attempting to develop what I take to be one of his fundamental insights: grasping what it means to follow a rule. — Chantal Mouffe, The Democratic Paradox, 327

Categorization

• DEFINE: Defines agonistic pluralism’s core inheritance from Wittgenstein’s rule-following insight as an alternative to deliberative democracy.
• XREF: Connects to the reader’s core test: where reasons end and persuasion begins marks the exclusion that any ‘we’ requires. — connects to: Relativist tolerance of incommensurable life-worlds surrenders reason and enables authoritarianism — Mark Fisher (edited by Darren Ambrose), K-Punk: The Collected and Unpublished…, 2399; Rationalist-universalists hold political theory can establish one universally valid good regime — Chantal Mouffe, The Democratic Paradox, 289; Deliberative consensus theories wrongly deny pluralism’s constitutive conflict — Chantal Mouffe, The Democratic Paradox, 469 (+10 more)

Broader Connections

• Taking pluralism seriously requires abandoning the dream of rational consensus. #corroborates (0.97) — Chantal Mouffe, The Democratic Paradox, 444
• Deliberative consensus theories wrongly deny pluralism’s constitutive conflict #expands (0.95) — Chantal Mouffe, The Democratic Paradox, 469
• Ethical approaches to pluralism omit the limits and hegemonic violence consensus requires #expands (0.90) — Chantal Mouffe, The Democratic Paradox, 581
• Deliberative democracy eliminates pluralism to achieve consensus, leaving it unable to answer Schmitt #expands (0.90) — Chantal Mouffe, The Democratic Paradox, 225
• Common allegiance to pluralist democratic principles is necessarily a conflictual consensus #expands (0.85) — Chantal Mouffe, The Democratic Paradox, 464
• Pluralist engagement rests on agonistic respect plus critical responsiveness #expands (0.82) — David Schlosberg, Defining Environmental Justice, 649
• Pluralist democracy means negotiating, not eliminating, its constitutive paradox #expands (0.78) — Chantal Mouffe, The Democratic Paradox, 60
• Decentered pluralism requires continuous deconstruction of sacralized identity narratives #expands (0.76) — Talal Asad, Formations of the Secular, 863
• Consensus is shaped and structured by unequal power rather than freely formed #complicates (0.75) — Hall, Stuart, Essential Essays, Volume 1, 919
• Postmodernism treats consensus itself as an illusion produced by discourse #qualifies (0.74)