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(1998) Self-awareness, temporality, and alterity, Dordrecht, Kluwer.
What we understand today by the word democracy is not univocal. But one basis of modern democracy, "human rights, " is recognized worldwide, at least verbally. One can, of course, dispute which rights are meant for particular situations, but such a dispute would not be possible if the validity of one human right was not considered self-evident: the right to the free expression of one's own opinion. This right accords with the basic significance of freedom of speech already operating in history's first democracy with the Greeks. According to Aristotle, humans are meant to live together in a democratic polis because they possess the capacity to reciprocally give accounts (λóϒov δvαι) of their dealings, and these accounts are carried out in speaking freely with one another. So one can say that since antiquity, democracy is fundamentally founded on the respect for freedom of opinion.
Publication details
DOI: 10.1007/978-94-015-9078-5_11
Full citation:
Held, K. (1998)., The ethos of democracy from a phenomenological point of view, in D. Zahavi (ed.), Self-awareness, temporality, and alterity, Dordrecht, Kluwer, pp. 193-205.
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