Laclau: A Critical Reader by Simon Critchley and Oliver Marchart

Author:Simon Critchley and Oliver Marchart
Language: eng
Format: azw3
Publisher: Taylor and Francis
Published: 2012-12-06T05:00:00+00:00

Thus, despite what you may have heard, I do not now nor have I for decades believed that fundamental antagonism can always be avoided. Or that it is possible to have a political order without limits. It is just that often enough such potential antagonisms can be softened and translated into partial connections across significant difference by ethical means. That is the thing to focus upon first for those who seek to nourish the ongoing politics of democratization. My sense is that the ethos of engagement endorsed here is both worthy of endorsement in itself and most likely to support drives toward a cultural economy of diversity and an economic culture of inclusion.

There are other perspectives from which complementary virtues might be elaborated and cultivated. The idea is to open lines of communication with them, curtailing the tendency of each to see itself as the only source of compassion or generosity or care in public life. The partisan faith embraced here adds another candidate to the list of partisan orientations already in play; and the general ethos pursued signals that it will continue to present itself as a contestable orientation to life.

Such a combination may exert a two-fold appeal to those inspired by Laclau’s conception of democratization. Agonistic respect softens the antagonisms he defines as constitutive of democracy; and critical responsiveness opens up productive possibilities in the politics of becoming he and I both find to be vital to the vibrancy of democratic life. Indeed, it is because I listen to Ernesto Laclau when he speaks of ‘the distance between the undecidability of structure and the decision’ that I offer agonistic respect and critical responsiveness as two virtues to occupy the interval (Laclau 2000a: 79). There are more issues to explore with respect to the particular ethic of cultivation embraced here in relation to the general ethos of pluralism and pluralization proposed. But enough may have been said to launch further conversations with Ernesto Laclau and others inspired by his commendable work on democratic pluralism.

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