The Politics of Parrhesia:The Autonomy of Democratic Politics and the Parrhesiastic Pact

Abstract

Parrhesia is instrumental to sustain the autonomy of politics by bracketing religious dogma, social stratification and expert knowledge as the basis for decision-making by setting up a pact that binds the individual to his/her statement and the authorities to the community to assure their accountability and trustworthiness. The idea that underpins the autonomy of politics and democracy is that truth and a meritocratic principle of ascendency are two sides of the same coin. Democracy and parrhesia condition each other, but democracy might be undermined by the negativeparrhesia of flattery and manipulation, which undermines democratic governing, as political power no longer unfolds in agonistic encounters. Hence, the tightrope balance between good and bad parrhesia illustrates the ambitious but fragile nature of democracy.Keywordsdemocracyfreedom/dutygenerositygood/bad parrhesiaparrhesiastic pactsecularization thesis