In his essay, Erik Liam Severson argues that Wittgenstein brings a lot to the table in terms of helping us understand what "democracy" means linguistically. What would you add?
https://theloop.ecpr.eu/collecting-the-butterflies-of-democracy-with-ludwig-wittgenstein/
Overall thoughts to the article: I think, the "craving for generality" in defining terms is absolutely necessary, since it corresponds to the claim of truth. The "total texture" is a fruitful image, reminds me of Deleuze's way of thinking. What is neccessary in my view, is not only the spatial becoming, but the (temporal) dynamization of the whole process.
I therefore propose to methodically identify important concrete "narratives" that define democracy. This way one can approach the unfolding of the concept of democracy > only in this unfolding the texture is hidden (>Goethes emphasis on the becoming for natural science)
A narrative, as I define it, is a dicourse within and by the community – changing overtime, as experiences/ sciences changes. I analyse narratives with the method of the "magical triangle of storytelling":
context bubble: environment or reference within which the narrative takes place, consists of a constantly changing network of historical, economic-social, cultural, and psychological structures that are interwoven, current state of scientific truth that gives contemporary findings a generally accepted validation.
protagonist: physical agent of the story, not necessarily human beings or acting beings; can also be personified concepts that are particularly influential. If the contextual reference is positive, the protagonist is a hero with a role model function.
story: formal-logical and chronological arrangement of the hard facts, be it real facts or an invented causality, recurring leitmotifs and symbols of the story, which make up the recognition value of the narrative.
turning point: pivotal point of the narrative, defines the media frame within which the story and the protagonist are presented, marks the place and the perspective from which the story is told, responsible for evoking emotions such as surprise, fear, anger, joy, pride or disgust. Framing realizes the cause attribution and moral evaluation of the narrative by creating a so-called deep structure, which I would rather call depth of field, by emphasizing and highlighting selected aspects. This is because the turning point is a kind of anchor that, although tied to a point in space, is still movable. Thus, it also indicates the interface that sets the narrative in motion and changes its meaning. If a complete shift in meaning takes place, it can turn the hero into an anti-hero and change the narrative from a positive to a negative perception.
From (in German): Preprint Die Wirkmacht von Narrativen. Kollektive Identität zwischen ...
I hope, this is not too technical, but inspires you in your initial research.
Wasn't it Yul Brynner, who said in the King and I, "Democracy takes many forms. In my country it takes a form called absolute monarchy"?
And then there was C.B. Macpherson, The Real World of Democracy (1964), who would have us believe that African dictatorships were a form of democracy....
Where's Wittgenstein's story on legitimate uses of a term?
Karl,
Rule of one, Karl, is a true democracy, if only one has the right to make the rules.
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