Irakli Dekanozishvili
irakli.dekanozishvili@iliauni.edu.ge
- BA Studies: Philosophy, Ilia State University (ISU), School of Arts and Sciences, from 2012 to 2015, Title of bachelor thesis: “The Refutation of Subjective Idealism in Kant’s Second Edition of the Critique of Pure Reason”
- MA Studies: Philosophy (Focus on Modern Political Philosophy), Charles University of Prague (CZ), Catholic University of Louvain (BE), University of Toulouse II (FR), from 2016 to 2018, Title of master thesis: “The Principle of Governmentality and the Modern State: Hegel and Foucault on Political Rationality”
- Research Assistant, Savle Tsereteli Institute of Philosophy, since 02/2019
- Member of the Editorial Board of the Philosophical Revue AUC Interpretationes, Charles University of Prague (CZ), since 03/2017
- Invited Teacher, Academic Assistant, Ilia State University (ISU), School of Arts and Sciences, since 10/2015
Irakli Dekanozishvili has acquired a BA in Philosophy (2015) at Ilia State University. In 2016 he was founded to follow his master’s degree in French and German Philosophy (EuroPhilosophie) in the Czech Republic, Belgium, and France in the frame of Erasmus Mundus’s joint master’s degrees. Currently, he is a Ph.D. student at WWU Münster and ISU as a member of an international interdisciplinary structured program – “Democracy, Human Rights, and Religion” (DHR). Simultaneously, Dekanozishvili is an invited teacher at Ilia State University and a member of S. Tsereteli Institute of Philosophy.
The provisional title of the doctoral thesis: Ethical and Political Implications of Recognition
Project Description:
My project argues that the ethics of recognition has considerable political and ethical implications. The theory of recognition understood as respect in the legal community is compatible with the normative or ideal theory of deliberative democracy. Deliberative democracy is about reasoning together among equals. Free deliberation among equals is the basis for legitimacy. Members of such a community should respect and recognize each other as having deliberative capacities and autonomy. Mutual respect and recognition are intrinsically part of deliberation (Mansbidge et al. 2010, 11). In contrast, showing disrespect to a person could lead to his or her exclusion from the process of deliberation. However, I claim that even in the case of proper mutual respect, a fully-fledged agent of deliberative polis could not be constituted. What deliberative theory lacks are other layers of interpersonal/intergroup recognition that are crucial for full personal integrity. It dismisses (or at least lacks) to consider on the one hand love, affection, and care as primary emotions for every human being, and the category of esteem recognition as crucial for integrating individuals with their distinctive features and different cultural backgrounds on the other. To demonstrate this argument and show its validity we will need to see what the constitutive role of recognition is in making a person. Recognition as an ontological and ethical concept bears the status of having the capacity to be a quintessence for the category of personhood.
The ethical function of democratic deliberation consists of promoting mutual respect among citizens. Mutual respect helps the deliberative system to run successfully. It facilitates communication and the exchange of different perspectives of citizens. The moral ground for mutual respect is based on the idea that citizens should be treated “not merely as objects of legislation, as passive subjects to be ruled, but as autonomous agents who take part in the governance of their society, directly or through their representatives”. So, respecting and recognizing fellow citizens as autonomous agents is a crucial precondition for the ethical dimension of democratic deliberation. Though the moral basis is not controversial, how exactly mutual respect should be interpreted and practiced could raise some doubts and ambiguities. We can distinguish between two fundamental functions of deliberative democracy: Epistemic and ethical. The goal of the epistemic function is to produce preferences, opinions, and decisions based on rational and logical reasoning. Including adequate considerations from all corners that ought to be discussed and appropriately placed. Epistemically well-grounded opinions and decisions should be in connection with the preferences and opinions of fellow citizens. Their views should be included in epistemically well-founded deliberation. In the case of the ethical function, scholars argue over the meaning of mutual respect, about what constitutes its successful accomplishment, and how it should proceed. The claim is that “mutual respect is intrinsically a part of deliberation”. To deliberate with another is to understand the other as a self-authoring source of reasons and claims”.
To fail to do so, i.e., to fail to show mutual respect and recognition of one’s capacity of being autonomous is, in effect, to withdraw this or that person from fair deliberation. Among other things, mutual respect implies non-domination, no subjugation, or any kind of strategic attitude towards the other person. By refusing to equally respect others’ rights and capacities of being autonomous, you automatically lose your own deliberative influence or role. It is an intersubjective sphere, where the Hegelian recognition model works in a sense that, in order for me to be recognized I need to recognize others and vice versa. Recognition and mutual respect thus play a huge role to define the moral scope of rational agents. Those who are part of this normative and ethical interaction could be granted to have deliberative influence (Cf. second-person authority). In other words, this form of ethical interaction provides all with an opportunity to be autonomous agents taking part in the decision-making process and not just be passive subjects of the ruling power, excluded from the polis.
- Critical Transversality and Minority Issues, University of Toulouse II, May 2019.
- International Conference on German and French Phenomenology, The EuroPhilosophie Programme, Catholic University of Louvain, Louvain-la-Neuve, Belgium, February 2018.
- International Conference on German Critical Thought, University of Wuppertal, Wuppertal, Germany, February 2017.
- 5th Global Politics Youth Forum in Prague, Czech Republic, March 2016.
- European Values for Post-Soviet Countries, Goethe Institute Tbilisi, Tbilisi Georgia, September 2014.
- Academic achievement Award from the Catholic University of Louvain (BE) (A distinction given to those students with the best performance of their generation), 06/2018.
- European Commission’s Full Grant to Pursue two-year Master Studies in German and French Philosophy, from 2016 to 2018.
- Short-term Exchange Grant at the University of Bonn, Faculty Humanities, financed by DAAD (German Academic Exchange Service), 08/2016.
“It’s an honor to be a part of an international interdisciplinary structured doctoral program “Democracy, Human Rights and Religion” between the Ilia State University (ISU) and the University of Münster (WWU). This program enables doctoral students and young researchers to deepen their academic path and to form a solid research-based knowledge in collaboration with international experts and other academics. For me personally, it means a lot to be able to work on my research project from the interdisciplinary perspective where I can consult and share different opinions from different fields. All the big questions we need to solve nowadays could only be faced through such kind of an approach. Empirical analysis in combination with theoretical framework and multilateral epistemological investigation could ideally evaluate any kind of data and outcome from any kind of discipline. Therefore I am convinced that, due to the fact that this program offers us the exact same model, any research taken in this frame would have an enormous impact both in academia and in society”.
