Siyaset Teorisinde Yeni Ontolojik ve Teolojik Tahayyüller ve Demokrasi

Year 2013, Issue: 34, 1 - 48, 01.06.2013

Halil İbrahim Yenigün

Abstract

Bu makalede güncel siyaset teorisinde farklı mecralarda yürüdüğü düşünülebilecek olsa da birlikte yeni bir ruh hâli teşkil ettiğini savunduğum üç yazın alanını ele alıyorum. Öncelikle “temel” tartışmaları sonrası temeli aşılmış görmeyen ama onun ahlâk ve siyaseti biçimlendirme tarzını belirlenimcilikten farklı kurgulayan post-temelcilik anlayışı ile seyrek ontoloji kavramını işliyorum ve bunun normatif sonuçlarını soruşturuyorum. Siyasaldaki teolojik unsuru ortaya çıkarma çabasındaki yeni teorik yaklaşımlar ise ikinci başlığı oluşturuyor. Bu bağlamda temel ve siyaset ilişkisini teist bir düzlemde tasavvur eden siyaset teolojisinin eleştirel türlerine ve bilhassa Özgürleşme Teolojisine dikkat gösteriyorum. Ayrıca siyasetteki “teolojik tortu” olarak nitelendirdiğim mitos, mesihîlik ve teodise kavramlarını ayrı başlıklarda inceliyorum. Analiz ettiğim son alan olan radikal demokrasi ise bu tartışmaya bilhassa yeni ontolojik tahayyüleriyle dâhil oluyor ve liberal demokrasi ile liberal sekülerizme ontolojik eleştirileriyle merkezî önem taşıyor. Yazının temel ekseninde savunulan düşünce, Avro-Amerikan siyaset teorisinde post-temelci siyaset ontolojisi, eleştirel siyaset teolojisi ve radikal demokrasinin birlikte kıvamlandırdığı yeni bir ruh hâline girildiği yönündedir. Bunun da radikal farklılık, derin çoğulculuk ile farklı mitosları kabulleniş ve sahipleniş gibi yeni tutumlar temelinde “öteki”ne daha açık bir müzakere zemini yarattığı ve daha yücegönüllü etikopolitik teşekküllere imkân verecek bir normatif alan açtığı savunulmaktadır

Keywords

Siyaset Ontolojisi, Post-temelcilik, Seyrek-Pek Ontoloji, Siyaset ve Siyasal, Siyaset Teolojisi, Mitos, Mesihîlik, Şer ve Siyasi Teodise

New Ontological and Theological Imaginaries in Political Theory and Democracy

Abstract

This paper analyzes three seemingly disparate but related
developments in contemporary Euro-American political
thought: political ontology, critical political theology, and
new formulations of radical democracy, all of which embrace
clear ontological imaginaries. As I walk through each genre,
I demonstrate how, when taken together, they cultivate a
new mood that signifies an awareness of the ontological and
theological elements in one’s own thinking. I argue that this
awareness eventually prefigures new imaginaries for radical
democracy. In the end, the normative hope is that this new
development will engender more generous ethico-political
formations by enabling a deeper sensibility toward difference
and otherness, including the non-Western other.
The first section examines how ontology has recently come
to the fore in these two traditions in the form of post-foundational
ideas. The basic trend noted here is how several
thinkers now maintain the unavoidability of ontology in political
thinking as opposed to anti-foundationalist views. But
the idea of ground here is a far more elusive, non-determinative
one that also defies foundationalist premises. I present
the North American versions through White’s “weak”
and “strong” ontology dichotomy while focusing on the
European representatives of this streak through Marchart’s
conceptualization of post-foundationalism, which draws on
the distinction between politics and the political.
Next, I look at how the theological element is being increasingly
acknowledged as an ineradicable element of political
theory. As a result, many political theorists and political
theologians have converged to articulate this theological
residue together. As regards the field of political theology,
this is where one finds the emancipatory thinking of critical political theologians, especially liberation theology. As
for political theory, I look at three theological concepts that
have entertained a worthwhile afterlife: mythos, messianicity,
and theodicy. I will demonstrate how these particular
concepts can be productively used in political theory. As a
case in point, I will pay particular attention in this section to
Jacque Derrida’s concept of “democracy-to-come.”
Coming to terms with our thinking’s ontological and theological
elements is most meaningful when we consider the
new imaginaries of radical democracy. My concern here is
to underline how radical democracy’s ontological dimension
has gradually acquired a crucial significance. In addition
to their ontological critique of liberal democracy, radical democratic
thinkers are now concentrating more on the ontological
conception of democracy as an infinite ideality.
My overall goal in this article is to show that a new mood is
emerging in Euro-American political thinking. Inasmuch as
our partners are more conscious of their ontologies and the
operative mythoi in their own political thinking, our dialogical
engagement will be more amenable to political arrangements
that pursue more free, just, and egalitarian political
arrangements.

Keywords

Political Ontology, Post-Foundationalism, Weak-Strong Ontology, la Politique and le politique, Political Theology, Mythos