The Ground of Legitimacy
An Investigation of the Public Sphere as Political Semantics
PhD defence by Joachim Schmidt Wiewiura.
The central theme of this thesis is the concept of the public sphere. The thesis defends the claim that the public sphere constitutes the foundation for the creation of legitimacy throughout society. The argument for this claim is that the basic activity of the public sphere expresses political meanings (which I call ‘political semantics’) that produce notions of political order, which correspond to perceptions of legitimacy from the perspective of political realism.
Chapter 1 introduces the argument, method, and structure of the thesis, while Chapters 2–5 comprise analyses of Kant, Habermas, Hegel, and deliberative democracy. I argue that, with the exception of Hegel, these theories understand the public sphere through a communicative framework of rational-political legitimacy. In contrast, I show that the Hegelian public sphere is an aspect of modern, rational freedom—which, however, is separated from legitimacy. Hegel is thus the basis from which I argue that the public sphere may produce public opinions without rational content.
In Chapter 6 I suggest that the basic activity of public-making without rational presuppositions is ‘signalling’. I use this category to analyse the contemporary category of the networked public sphere, and I show how it differs from the earlier, mass-mediated public sphere by indicating new facets in three dimensions of signalling. I develop the last part of the argument in Chapter 7, showing that the production of public opinion (political semantics) also implies specific notions of political order that can be understood as forms of legitimisation. I defend a noninstitutionalist view of the public sphere, and analyse political realism with regard to both legitimacy and the public sphere. I then analyse three cases that demonstrate what I mean by political semantics, and I show how they generate particular notions of political order that foster strategies of legitimisation. Ultimately, I propose a new model of the public sphere as political semantics that creates a horizon of legitimacies and is thus the ground of legitimacy.
Afhandlingens centrale tema er offentlighedsbegrebet. Den argumenterer for tesen, at offentligheden konstituerer grundvilkårene for legitimitetsskabelse i samfundet. Argumentet er, at den mest fundamentale offentlighedsskabende aktivitet udtrykker politiske meninger (som kaldes ‘politisk semantik’ i afhandlingen), der producerer opfattelser af politisk orden, som svarer til legitimitet set fra positionen politisk realisme.
Kapitel 1 introducerer afhandlingens argument, metode og struktur, mens kapitlerne 2–5 hovedsageligt analyserer offentlighedsteorierne hos Kant, Habermas, Hegel og i deliberativt demokrati. Jeg argumenterer for, at disse teorier, med undtagelse af Hegels, fremlægger en forståelse af offentligheden set gennem en kommunikativ ramme af rationel-politisk legitimitet. Modsat viser jeg, at Hegels teori ser offentligheden som et aspekt af moderne, rationel frihed, samtidig med at den er adskilt fra legitimitet. Hegel danner derfor grundlaget for at argumentere for, at offentligheden kan producere offentlige meninger uden fornuftigt indhold.
I Kapitel 6 foreslår jeg, at den fundamentale offentlighedsskabende aktivitet uden rationelle forudsætninger er ‘signallering’. Denne kategori bruges til at analysere den nuværende offentlighedskategori ‘den netværkede offentlighed’ og viser, hvordan den er forskellig fra den tidligere massemedierede offentlighed ved at påpege nye facetter i tre signaldimensioner. Kapitel 7 udvikler den sidste del af argumentet. Altså, hvordan produktionen af offentlige meninger (politisk semantik) også medfører specifikke opfattelser af politisk orden, der kan ses som legitimeringsformer. Jeg forsvarer en ikkeinstitutionel opfattelse af offentlighedsbegrebet og analyserer politisk realisme vedrørende både legitimitet og offentlighed. Derefter analyserer jeg tre eksempler, der redegør for, hvad jeg mener med politisk semantik, og viser, hvordan de danner forskellige opfattelser af politisk orden, der fostrer legitimitetsstrategier. Slutteligt fremsætter jeg en ny offentlighedsmodel, offentligheden som politisk semantik, der skaber en legitimitetshorisont og derfor kan siges at være grundlaget for legitimitetsdannelse.
Assessment Committee
- Professor Dan Zahavi, chair (University of Copenhagen)
- Professor Erik J. Olsson (Lund University)
- Professor Judith Simon (participates online) (Universität Hamburg)
Moderator of defence
- Associate Professor Thor Grünbaum (University of Copenhagen)
Copies of the thesis are available for consultation at the following three places:
- At the Information Desk of the Library of the Faculty of Humanities
- In Reading Room East of the Royal Library (the Black Diamond)
- At the Department of Communication, Karen Blixens Plads 8, 2300 Copenhagen S