Deliberation occurs only after the decisive project is already chosen.

Evidence

Reflection upon situationality is reflection about the very condition of existence: critical thinking by means of which people discover each other to be “in a situation.” Only as this situation ceases to present itself as a dense, enveloping reality or a tormenting blind alley, and they can come to perceive it as an objective-problematic situation—only then can commitment exist. Humankind emerge from their submersion and acquire the ability to intervene in reality as it is unveiled. Intervention in reality—historical awareness itself—thus represents a step forward from emergence, and results from the conscientização of the situation. Conscientização is the deepening of the attitude of awareness characteristic of all emergence. — Paulo Freire, Pedagogy of the Oppressed, 315 (#corroborates, via linked claim)

The reference to the agonal trait of politics only yields an objection to the conception of deliberative politics if we confuse the intention of the participants – who, with their utterances, want to make an epistemic (i.e. a justified and rationally criticizable) contribution to the debate – with the naïve expectation that agreement could be reached here and now in political discussions; for the pressure to make decisions means that political discussions, unlike the ‘infinite conversation’ of philosophers, are always subject to time limits. It is precisely the awareness of the pressure to decide that lends the attitude in which arguments based on practical reason are presented and defended its impatient character and sharpness of tone. At the same time, all parties involved are aware that at best reasonable, but for the time being only competing, public opinions can – and should – be generated in the mass communication of the public sphere steered by the media. The citizens should be able to make informed decisions, each for himor herself, in the voting booth in the light of these public opinions. It is only in parliaments and other state institutions that legally binding decisions can be made face to face following democratic deliberation. — Jürgen Habermas, A New Structural Transformation of the…, 97 (#expands, via linked claim)

Categorization

• XREF: connects to: The instant arises only when a project’s end coincides with its successor’s beginning.; Decisive battles only validate already probable outcomes — Garrett Mattingly, The Defeat of the Spanish Armada, 899; A new political faction crystallized only when an individual took deliberate initiative. (+2 more)

Broader Connections

• Commitment emerges only once a situation is perceived as problematic. #corroborates (0.85) — Paulo Freire, Pedagogy of the Oppressed, 315
• Political deliberation differs from philosophical conversation because decision deadlines constrain it #expands (0.82) — Jürgen Habermas, A New Structural Transformation of the…, 97
• A new political faction crystallized only when an individual took deliberate initiative. #exemplifies (0.80)
• The instant arises only when a project’s end coincides with its successor’s beginning. #complicates (0.78)
• Decisive battles only validate already probable outcomes #qualifies (0.75) — Garrett Mattingly, The Defeat of the Spanish Armada, 899