Sovereignty, property and the lifeworld: democracy’s colonization of alterity
Sovereignty, property and the lifeworld: democracy’s colonization of alterity
This chapter considers the theme of responsibility to others on the basis of a critique of mutual recognition. It contests the belief that democracy is antithetical to colonialism and suggests that plurality is severely circumscribed by the ontological structure and the economic processes endemic to political participation. This chapter shows that the cognitive processes of mutual recognition serve to reinforce and perpetuate political structures predicated on private ownership, thereby radically curtailing the range of possible manifestations of alterity. It also explains that while democracy is embraced as the ground of plurality, it ties plurality to the level of identity, thereby obscuring the ontological sameness on which such plurality is predicated.
Keywords: responsibility, mutual recognition, democracy, colonialism, plurality, political participation, private ownership, alterity
Manchester Scholarship Online requires a subscription or purchase to access the full text of books within the service. Public users can however freely search the site and view the abstracts and keywords for each book and chapter.
Please, subscribe or login to access full text content.
If you think you should have access to this title, please contact your librarian.
To troubleshoot, please check our FAQs, and if you can't find the answer there, please contact us.
