The ontology of zoon politikon

Abstract

The democracy ideal of the Modern Age is grounded on an abstract humanity category, which is based on universal values and on the equity of people who are bearer of these values. The distinctive characteristic of such an abstract person is related to rationality. However, the modernity’s understanding of democracy, which equalizes individuals through abstracting them from all of their functional/historical characteristics, left its role to the discourses of “differences” and “identity” and became obvious especially after the 1980s’ atmosphere of uncertainty. Therefore the main axis of the contemporary political philosophy debates is determined by a bipolarity of particularity and universality. On one side of the axis there is a concept of universality which emphasizes the being as being bodiless and totally conceptual, however on the other side there are particularisms that revitalize the ontology of essence which renders themselves a slave of the particular. In this study I aim to unfold the relationship between universality and particularity on the path of the critique of ontology of essence. The problem I handle here is not one of choosing between universal and particular, rather it is one of depicting the indestructible mutual connection between universal and particular.