The languages of democracy

• Main Authors: Rubem Barboza Filho, Dale Louise Góes
• Format: Article
• Language: Portuguese
• Published: Associação Nacional de Pós-Graduação e Pesquisa em Ciências Sociais (ANPOCS) 2008-01-01
• Series: Revista Brasileira de Ciências Sociais
• Subjects: Démocratie; Langages; Monde ibérique; Théorie sociale; Culture politique
• Online Access: http://socialsciences.scielo.org/scielo.php?script=sci_arttext&pid=S0102-69092008000100008&lng=en&tlng=en

Contemporary reflection on the reinvention of democracy and compatible lifestyles is found to be fundamentally linked to the debate between "proceduralists" and "communitarians." This article aims to weaken the hegemony of this polarity, arguing for the development of the modern Western world as a result of the world's three great subjectivizing languages: the language of interest, of reason, and of affect or sentiments. Furthermore, it argues that only full understanding of the language of affects, or sentiments, can lead to real (or total) comprehension of the modern experience of Iberia-America, especially the process by which Brazilian society and its democratic potential have been constituted.