Abstract
The aim of this essay is to critically examine the aporias in Jürgen Habermas’s concept of “universal consensus,” which has played a central role in the discussion of deliberative democracy. The first section analyzes the constitutive lacuna and exception, the fundamental dilemma in political ontology that impede the realization of practical universal consensus due to the enduring and irreconcilable political conflicts embedded in democratic conditions and contexts. The second section delves into the fallacy of universal consensus and its psychoanalytic significance, illuminating how Lacanian notion of fantasy constructs illusory plenitude, manipulates causality, and validates the substantive pursuit of elusive substance. Drawing upon Immanuel Kant’s notion of aesthetic consensus and common sense, which posit an imaginary common consensus shaped by affective reactions, the following section serves to examine an intersection between Kantian aesthetics and the conceptual and practical aporias of Habermas’s philosophical and political notion. Lastly, this essay concludes by suggesting affective hegemony as a new framework for comprehending the intricate dynamics of modern affective politics.
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