Theories of Compromise (030108-WiSe22/23)

Recent challenges to liberal democracies, among them affective polarization on issues like migration or the rise of populism, gave rise to a renewed interest in the normative analysis of disagreement. Whereas until recently most normative political theory either aimed for determining a possible consensus on principles of justice, new perspectives take persistent disagreement as an essential feature of political life. One of the essential concepts for the analysis of political disagreement is compromise.
The seminar will focus on a wide range of questions and issues regarding the conceptualization of compromise within normative political philosophy. The following questions will play a central role: How should we conceptualize compromises and is it possible to distinguish different kinds of compromises? What are fair compromises and do compromises always have to be fair to be justified? What reasons do we have for compromising – are they of purely pragmatic or could they also be of principled nature? Are there compromises that are absolutely forbidden or do we have to live with the problems of “dirty hands” and complicity in politics and if so, how should we understand them? Finally, it will be asked how the concept might help with understanding current challenges to liberal democracies more specifically.