Skip to main content
Log in

Worldwide deliberation and public use of reason online

Ethics and Information Technology Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

The aim of this paper is threefold: (i) to trace the idea of deliberation back in the history of philosophy and establish the link to the Kantian concept of public reason; (ii) to pave the way for rhetoric as a constituent part of public deliberation; (iii) to undertake an applied ethical approach to worldwide deliberation online. The two former aims are treated in part one of the paper, whereas the applied analysis is undertaken in part two. One important task is to demonstrate in what ways the internet as a new and powerful venue for deliberation both challenges the old theories of public deliberation, and also points in the direction of certain revisions of our basic ideas about deliberation.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

References

  • Ackerman Bruce, Fishkin James (2004) Deliberation Day. New Haven & London: Yale UP

    Google Scholar 

  • H. Arendt, editor, Crisis in Culture. In Between Past and Future: Six Exercises in Political Thought. Meridian, New York, 1961

  • Aristotle, The Art of Rhetoric. Translated with an Introduction and Notes by H.C. Lawson-Tancred. Penguin Classics, London, 2004

  • Benhabib Seyla (1992) Situating the Self Cambridge: Polity Press

    Google Scholar 

  • S. Coleman and J. Gøtze, Bowling Together: Online Public Engagement in Policy Deliberation. Hansard Society, 2001. Online at [bowlingtogether.net], 2001 (Downloaded October 2004)

  • Dewey John (1927) The Public and its Problems Henry Holt & Co, NY

    Google Scholar 

  • Dryzek John (2001) Deliberative Democracy and Beyond: Liberals, Critics, Contestations Oxford: Oxford UP

    Google Scholar 

  • Elgesem Dag (2005) Deliberative Technology? In: Thorseth M., Ess C. (Eds.), Technology in a Multicultural and Global Society, Trondheim: Programme for Applied Ethics, NTNU

    Google Scholar 

  • J. Fishkin, Voice of the People. Yale UP, 1997

  • Gutmann Amy, Thompson Dennis (1996) Democracy and Disagreement Cambridge, Massachusetts and London, England: Harvard UP

    Google Scholar 

  • Habermas Jürgen (1984) The Theory of Communicative Action Boston: Beacon Press

    Google Scholar 

  • Habermas Jürgen (1990) Moral Consciousness and Communicative Ethics Cambridge, Mass.: MIT Press

    Google Scholar 

  • Kant Immanuel (1964) The Critique of Judgment, transl. J.M. Meredith Oxford: Clarendon

    Google Scholar 

  • I. Kant. An Answer to the Question: “What is Enlightenment?” transl. H.B. Nisbet in Hans Reiss (ed.), Kant’s Political Writings. Cambridge UP, Cambridge,1970

  • J.S. Mill, On Liberty. J. Gray, editor, In On Liberty and Other Essays, OUP, 1991

  • O’Neill John (2002) The Rhetoric of Deliberation: Some problems in Kantian Theories of Deliberative Democracy. Res Publica 8:249–268

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • O’Neill Onora (1990) Constructions of Reason. Explorations of Kant’s Practical Philosophy. Cambridge: Cambridge UP

    Google Scholar 

  • Regh William (1997) Reason and Rhetoric in Habermas’ Theory of Argumentation In: Jost Walter, Hide Michael M. (eds), Rhetoric and Hermeneutics in Our Time. New Haven/London: Yale UP

    Google Scholar 

  • Sunstein Cass (2001) Republic.com New Jersey: Princeton UP

    Google Scholar 

  • D.L. Wheeler. Digital Politics Meets Authoritarianism in the Arab World: Results Still Emerging from Internet Cafes and beyond. Paper presented at the Middle Eastern Studies Association Annual Meeting, Mariott Wardman Park Hotel, Washington, D.C., November 19th–24th, 2005

  • I.M. Young. Inclusive political communication: Greetings, Rhetoric and Storytelling in the context of Political Argument. Paper presented at the Annual Meeting of the American Political Science Association, Boston, 1998

  • Young Iris Marion (2000) Inclusion and Democracy Oxford: Oxford UP

    Google Scholar 

Download references

Acknowledgements

I would like to thank the Faculty of Arts, NTNU Norwegian University of Science and Technology, for granting me a sabbatical during spring 2006, and Cambridge University, UK, the Faculty of Philosophy for accepting me as a Visiting Scholar during this period. Both have contributed to offering stimulating conditions while working on this article. Additionally, I would also thank the Democracy Unbound research group that I am a part of for instructive comments at our workshop “ The Viability and Desirability of Global Democracy” at Centre de Reserche Sens, Éthique, SociÉtÉ, Centre de␣la Reserche Scientifique, Paris, France April 24th–26th, 2006.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

Authors

Corresponding author

Correspondence to May Thorseth.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Cite this article

Thorseth, M. Worldwide deliberation and public use of reason online. Ethics Inf Technol 8, 243–252 (2006). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10676-006-9116-0

Download citation

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10676-006-9116-0

Keywords

Navigation