The Scandal of Reason

PrefaceIntroduction: The Scandal of Reason and the Paradox of Judgment1. Political Judgment and the Vocation of Critical Theory2. Critical Theory: Political Judgment as Ideologiekritik 3. Philosophical Liberalism: Reasonable Judgment4. Liberalism and Critical Theory in Dispute5. Judgment Unbound: Arendt6. From Critique of Power to a Theory of Critical Judgment7. The Political Epistemology of Judgment8. The Critical Consensus Model9. Judgment, Criticism, InnovationConclusion: Letting Go of Ideal TheoryGlossary of Terms and AbbreviationsReferencesIndex

Albena Azmanova is senior lecturer in political theory at the University of Kent. Born in Bulgaria, educated in France and the United States, she lives in Belgium. Her writing focuses on political judgment and social justice; the transformation of capitalism and the emergence of new political ideologies; and Eastern Europe's post-communist transition.

5 Concerned with the links connecting ethical positions and political reality, this ambitious and appealing contribution to critical theory guides our understanding of power and judgment, democracy and justice. Ranging wisely across multiple literatures and considerations, The Scandal of Reason offers compelling arguments about the level, type, and validity of ordered reflection most likely to advance good judgment and decent values under vexing conditions. -- Dr. Ira Katznelson, Ruggles Professor of Political Science and History, Columbia University Albena Azmanova navigates between abstract, universalist conceptions of justice and legitimacy, and situated, particularistic claims that disguise their implicit norms. Her work on judgement solves many of the problems of existing theories of deliberative democracy without surrendering normative justification. What is especially valuable in her work is that she transforms deliberative theory in a way that will be more usable for both empirical analysis and political orientation. -- Dr. Andrew Arato, Dorothy Hirshon Professor in Political and Social Theory, New School In her book, The Scandal of Reason, Albena Azmanova identifies what seems to have been a paradox in deliberative theory -- that it be either relevant or normative but not both. She resolves this paradox with here own "critical consensus model," which shows that we need not give up on social criticism and political relevance in order to develop a theory with normative force. -- Dr. Noelle McAfee, Emory University 2 With this original and incisive book, Albena Azamanova develops a new hermenuetic for reconciling two models of reasoning that have long been opposed to one another: contextually sensitive political judgments on the one hand versus procedurally-oriented models of discursive validity on the other. She argues that the more ideal a model of judgment, the less applicable in practice, and the more applicable in practice, the less morally rigorous -