Moral Structures (II): Uses of Poetry in a Democratic Culture

Abstract

This article follows up the study of "moral structures" present in poetry as a cultural practice, inquiring about the role it plays in the self-understanding and self-determination of a political community that aspires to be democratic. It will proceed by arguing that Benjamin Barber"™s republicanism deserves to be reconsidered in the light of the current trivialization and acceleration of politics by means of Information and Communication Technologies (ICT). A reinterpretation of the poetics present in Barber"™s "political talk" might be interesting to the theory of deliberative democracy, specially in relation to the concept of "deliberation within" by Robert Goodin (2010) and the defense of the role emotions play in political life by Martha Nussbaum (2013). After stressing the importance of two endangered capabilities --attentive listening and slow reading--, the article concludes that poetry might be an emancipatory cultural practice within the enlightenment-romantic program that strives for mutually educating the reason, the sensibility, and the autonomy of citizens.