TY - JOUR
T1 - Silence Outside the Repressive Paradigm
T2 - silence as a Condition for Public Exchanges
AU - Hansen, Ejvind
PY - 2021/8/6
Y1 - 2021/8/6
N2 - Silence is often considered under the sign of repression or oppression, and as such, the result of forces hostile to democracy. In this paper we will try to demystify that unilateral image of silence, reviving the dialectic between silence and democracy in which the former operates as a foundational precondition for exchanges in the democratic public spheres. An increased awareness of the structures of silence will help us reflect upon what remains external to ongoing public discourses. Through a reading of Deleuze, Foucault, Derrida and Heidegger, it will be shown that understanding silence not as the passive negative of speaking, but as an active form of reflection, will help us become aware of what is pre-emptively excluded from discursive exchanges. It is argued that an awareness of this kind of silence can help us reflect upon the structures of public discourses.
AB - Silence is often considered under the sign of repression or oppression, and as such, the result of forces hostile to democracy. In this paper we will try to demystify that unilateral image of silence, reviving the dialectic between silence and democracy in which the former operates as a foundational precondition for exchanges in the democratic public spheres. An increased awareness of the structures of silence will help us reflect upon what remains external to ongoing public discourses. Through a reading of Deleuze, Foucault, Derrida and Heidegger, it will be shown that understanding silence not as the passive negative of speaking, but as an active form of reflection, will help us become aware of what is pre-emptively excluded from discursive exchanges. It is argued that an awareness of this kind of silence can help us reflect upon the structures of public discourses.
U2 - https://doi.org/10.1080/14409917.2021.1953747
DO - https://doi.org/10.1080/14409917.2021.1953747
M3 - Journal article
SN - 1440-9917
VL - 22
SP - 233
EP - 249
JO - Critical Horizons: A Journal of Philosophy and Social Theory
JF - Critical Horizons: A Journal of Philosophy and Social Theory
IS - 3
ER -