from General Will 2.0 Need for “heart turmoil” to break the blockage with empathy.
… In a recent article, Junichi Saito points out that politics is never guided by calm argumentative reason as Habermas says, and that “empathy” is essential for its maintenance, while at the same time, it requires “emotional agitation” to break through its blockage, which is a rather acrobatic He is developing a logic that is quite acrobatic. In other words, he acknowledges the unrealistic nature of Habermas’ assumption that open discussion with the complete other is based solely on reason. He half-heartedly admits that it is “sympathy” that makes arguments possible, or in other words, familiarity among those who are similar to each other, and therefore it is inevitable that arguments are confined to the logic of one’s peers and that citizens are confined to their private interests. Nevertheless, Saito argues that there must always be an intrusion of the “other” (that is, the “agitation of the mind”), and that in this intrusion lies the possibility of an open politics. p.118
This page is auto-translated from /nishio/共感とその閉塞性を打ち破る「心の動揺」が必要 using DeepL. If you looks something interesting but the auto-translated English is not good enough to understand it, feel free to let me know at @nishio_en. I’m very happy to spread my thought to non-Japanese readers.