The Emotional Dimension of Democracy: Reflections on the Relationship between Deliberation and Symbolism

Seemingly, feelings and emotions have no place in deliberation. In the conceptions of deliberative democracy inspired by Habermas, only the cognitive dimension of rationality matters. This narrowness is problematic. If every community and thus every form of democracy rests upon the symbolic representation of its values (Eric Voegelin, Siegfried Landshut, Carl Schmitt), then this symbolic presence is always both cognitive and emotional, because symbols always have these two sides. Under such conditions, does deliberation lose its rationality? That would be an irritating conclusion, but it does not seem like a necessary one. The issue at stake is more defining deliberation and its rationality in a new, more realistic way, by taking into account its symbolism. Adapted from the source document.