JUSTICE THROUGH DELIBERATION AND THE PROBLEM OF OTHERNESS

Abstract

Deliberation is central to the pursuit of justice in African societies. In practices variously called palaver, public meetings or village assembly, attempts are made to do justice through deliberation. When parties disagree during a deliberation, they may choose to go their separate ways, or they may agree to reconvene on another date. Notwithstanding the positive senses in which otherness may be conceived, in this paper I consider the challenge negative constructions of otherness pose for the pursuit of justice through deliberation. Is justice realizable through deliberation, if one or more parties to the deliberation regard other parties as absolute others, that is, as embodiment of everything abhorrent or aberrant? Through consideration of two models of deliberation – irenic and agonistic deliberation – I argue that the nature of a deliberation determines whether it must contend with the challenge of otherness. More generally, I argue that deliberation as a means to justice ultimately is contingent upon intersubjective affirmation of a basic principle, namely, the principle of humanity. The shortcoming of the deliberative model of justice consists in its inability to deal with the rejection of dialogue based on certain notions of otherness.

Keywords:

• otherness
• deliberation
• justice
• African political philosophy
• palaver
• dialogue

disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author.

Notes

1 The nuances notwithstanding, I understand palabra, palaver and deliberation to refer to the phenomenon of public meetings or assembly in African societies.