The Principle of Emancipation

The chapter inquires into the spirit of the democratic revolution. Instead of focusing on its nature—the symbolic shift from the sovereign king to the sovereign people—it concentrates on its principle: How could the monarchical principle of honor, and its designation of society into a hierarchy of social classes give way to a revolutionary quest for equality? Assuming that part of the answer lies in the overwhelming experience of uncertainty that accompanies the democratic revolution, the chapter distinguishes between three meanings of uncertainty—cosmic, human, and political—and reconstructs the democratic meaning of emancipation. The aim is to show that a democratic political lifeform tames uncertainty by sharing and dividing it equally. It emancipates us from a state of self-incurred tutelage.