Democratic Practice and ‘Caring to Deliberate’: A Gadamerian Account of Conversation and Listening

Abstract

Care ethics has made a crucial contribution to contemporary political theory by underscoring the challenges and significance of attentive listening for socio-political life. This chapter builds on this contribution and seeks to expand it by turning to the work of Hans-Georg Gadamer. The chapter contends that to “care for democracy itself” (Tronto 2013, Caring Democracy: Markets, Equality and Justice, New York University Press) entails a ‘caring to deliberate’—a commitment to conversation that Gadamer understood chiefly in terms of humble listening. The chapter draws the contours of Gadamerian care-based listening by focusing on the latter’s situatedness, its relational and humble character, the priority it gives to questions and its embrace of ambivalence/indeterminacy. Gadamerian ‘caring to deliberate’, the chapter argues, is congruent with feminist aims and is respectful of difference yet firmly committed to truth—a commitment critical for our so-called post-truth era. The chapter concludes by considering the limits of Gadamer’s account and the close ties between listening, solidarity and loss.