A ética do discurso e o modelo dos consensos democráticos: uma réplica a J. Eisenberg

• Main Author: Andrews Christina W.
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: Universidade do Estado do Rio de Janeiro 2002-01-01
• Series: Dados: Revista de Ciências Sociais
• Subjects: democratic theory; deliberative democracy; discourse ethics
• Online Access: http://www.scielo.br/scielo.php?script=sci_arttext&pid=S0011-52582002000400002

The present article is a critical analysis of the model proposed by José Eisenberg in "Justificação, Aplicação e Consenso: Notas sobre Democracia e Deliberação" (Dados, 44(1):195-213, 2001), which aims to explain the genesis of political arrangements in contemporary democracies. The article?s analysis focuses on Jürgen Habermas? "discourse ethics" concepts, adopted by the model in question as its main theoretical reference. Based on the works of the German philosopher and social theorist, the article seeks to demonstrate that these concepts were initially developed from the Habermasian notion of discourse and, consequently, are not based on empirical consensus, as the model under analysis suggests. The article also points to other problems in the model?s theoretical consistency and suggests an approach for its improvement.