Political Ontology and the Dialectics of Democracy

This article critically evaluates Roberto Esposito's analysis of political ontology. The author begins by reconstructing elements of Esposito's original argument and inviting further elaboration of certain important conceptual moves made within, with particular focus on the underspecified relationship between (self) reflection and ontology, or between knowing and being. In the second part of the essay, the author examines the implications of these questions for theorizing the distinction between democracy and totalitarianism.