Philosophy lunch - Does desire undermine democracy?
Raphael Zagury-Orly, philosopher, founding member, in dialogue with Eva Illouz, sociologist, director of studies at the École des Hautes Études en Sciences Sociales
Democracy must constantly monitor the state of the social contract that founds it, ensure that powers limit the powers of Power, verify the protections of the freedom of each citizen and the guarantee of rights… These tasks fall to reason, to the rational procedures set by legislations, elections, public debate. In contemporary societies, these dynamics seem to have been disturbed by the irruption – via social media among others – of forces that owe nothing to will or reason but to feeling, to passions, to desires, to indignation, to complaint, to envy, to the impression that individuals or groups have of being invisible, "voiceless", ignored, humiliated… Is this a danger for democracy, or an opportunity for it to finally take into account demands that have other foundations than "rational" ones?
Robert Maggiori
