Between Facts and Norms - Contributions to a ... - Blogs Unpad

305--- ---- ----Deliberative Politicsthat should be "mirrored" in social institutions as much as possible.It seems Cohen has still not completely shaken off the idea of asociety that is deliberatively steered as a whole and is thus politicallyconstituted:The notion of a deliberative democracy is rooted in the intuitive ideal ofa democratic association in which the justification of the terms andconditions of association proceeds through public argument and reasoningamong equal citizens. Citizens in such an order share a commitmentto the resolution of problems of collective choice through public reasoning,and regard their basic institutions as legitimate in so far as theyestablish the framework for free public deliberation.18In contrast to Cohen, I would like to understand the procedurefrom which procedurally correct decisions draw their legitimacy- .a procedure I will specifY more closely in what follows-as the corestructure in a separate, constitutionally organized political system,but not as a model for all social institutions (and not even for allgovernment institutions). If deliberative politics is supposed to beinflated into a structure shaping the totality of society, then thediscursive mode of sociation expected in the legal system would haveto expand into a self-organization of society and penetrate thelatter's complexity as a whole. This is impossible, for the simplereason that democratic procedure must be embedded in contextsit cannot itself regulate.However, Cohen plausibly characterizes the procedure itself interms of the following postulates: (a) Processes of deliberation takeplace in argumentative form, that is, through the regulated exchangeof information and reasons among parties who introduceand critically test proposals.19 (b) Deliberations are inclusive andpublic. No one may be excluded in principle; all of those who arepossibly affected by the decisions have equal chances to enter andtake part. (c) Deliberations are free of any external coercion. Theparticipants are sovereign insofar as they are bound only by thepresuppositions of communication and rules of argumentation.20(d) Deliberations are free of any internal coercion that coulddetract from the equality of the participants. Each has an equalopportunity to be heard, to introduce topics, to make contributions,to suggest and criticize proposals. The taking of yes/no