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Media digitali, sfera pubblica e democrazia nella recente riflessione filosofico-giuridica di Jürgen Habermas
Maceratini, Arianna
2025
Abstract
In Habermas’ Discourse Theory, the public sphere cooperates with the political system in the circulation of public discourses in a set of multilevel communications that moves from ordinary speech towards the political and legal institutionalization of arguments, mobilizing relevant principles, information, requests and interpretations that prepare the political agenda and ensure its discursive pluralism. The double discursive track, traced by the public sphere, establishes a communicative circularity between opinions and decisions, between public and private, which places democratic procedures as a medium between the interest of the individual and the interest of the citizen, between public autonomy and private autonomy, giving rise to a pre-sumption of rationality of public decisions. Therefore, the ambivalent effects of the mass media come to light, which have led to the decline of the same public sphere that they initially contributed to fueling. The develop¬ment of the Web and, subsequently, the establishment of social networks would seem to have determined a powerful activation of the communicative autonomy of participants in the public sphere and a parallel expansion of its potential; in Habermas, however, since the link between politics and communication, once supported by the mass media system, is missing, the virtual seems characterized by a lack of “qualitative intermediation” which is reflected in a lower quality of the information exchanged online, not being still subjected to a veracity screening carried out by professionals. In other words, the coincidence, on the Web, between authors and users of digital materials leads to the fragmentation of public discourses, such as giving rise to “centrifugal” communications which translate into particularistic policies and an information acceleration which does not accord with the presuppositions of discursive rationality and, ultimately, of democracy. The protection of the plurality of discourses and the inclusiveness of the public sphere therefore calls for the guarantee of a “power of reason” that enhances the responsibility of individuals as citizens, even before that as users of the Web.
Nella Teoria del discorso di Habermas, la sfera pubblica coopera con il sistema politico alla circolazione dei discorsi pubblici, in un insieme di comunicazioni a multilivello che, dal parlare ordinario muove, verso l’istituzionalizzazione politica e giuridica delle argomentazioni, mobilitando principi rilevanti, informazioni, richieste e interpretazioni che predispongono l’agenda politica e ne assicurano il pluralismo discorsivo. Il doppio binario, tracciato dalla sfera pubblica instaura una circolarità comunicativa tra opinioni e decisioni, tra pubblico e privato, che pone i procedimenti democratici come medio tra l’interesse del singolo e l’interesse del cittadino, tra autonomia pubblica e autonomia privata, facendo sorgere una presunzione di razionalità delle pubbliche decisioni. Vengono, quindi, alla luce gli ambivalenti effetti dei media di massa che hanno condotto al declino di quella stessa sfera pubblica che, inizialmente, avevano contribuito ad alimentare. Lo sviluppo del Web e, successivamente, l’affermarsi dei social network sembrerebbero aver determinato una potente attivazione dell’autonomia comunicativa dei partecipanti alla sfera pubblica e una parallela dilatazione delle sue potenzialità; in Habermas, tuttavia, venendo a mancare il legame tra politica e comunicazione, un tempo sostenuto dal sistema dei mass media, il virtuale si caratterizza da una carenza di “intermediazione qualitativa” che si riflette in una minore qualità delle informazioni scambiate online, non essendo ancora sottoposte ad un vaglio di veridicità effettuato da professionisti. In altri termini, la coincidenza, nel Web, tra autori e fruitori dei materiali digitali conduce alla frammentazione dei discorsi pubblici, tale da suscitare comunicazioni “centrifughe” che si traducono in politiche particolaristiche e in un’accelerazione informativa che non si accorda ai presupposti della razionalità discorsiva e, in definitiva, della democrazia. La tutela della pluralità dei discorsi e dell’inclusività della sfera pubblica richiama, dunque, la garanzia di un “potere della ragione” che valorizzi la responsabilità degli individui in quanto cittadini, prima ancora che come utenti del Web.
In Habermas’ Discourse Theory, the public sphere cooperates with the political system in the circulation of public discourses in a set of multilevel communications that moves from ordinary speech towards the political and legal institutionalization of arguments, mobilizing relevant principles, information, requests and interpretations that prepare the political agenda and ensure its discursive pluralism. The double discursive track, traced by the public sphere, establishes a communicative circularity between opinions and decisions, between public and private, which places democratic procedures as a medium between the interest of the individual and the interest of the citizen, between public autonomy and private autonomy, giving rise to a pre-sumption of rationality of public decisions. Therefore, the ambivalent effects of the mass media come to light, which have led to the decline of the same public sphere that they initially contributed to fueling. The develop¬ment of the Web and, subsequently, the establishment of social networks would seem to have determined a powerful activation of the communicative autonomy of participants in the public sphere and a parallel expansion of its potential; in Habermas, however, since the link between politics and communication, once supported by the mass media system, is missing, the virtual seems characterized by a lack of “qualitative intermediation” which is reflected in a lower quality of the information exchanged online, not being still subjected to a veracity screening carried out by professionals. In other words, the coincidence, on the Web, between authors and users of digital materials leads to the fragmentation of public discourses, such as giving rise to “centrifugal” communications which translate into particularistic policies and an information acceleration which does not accord with the presuppositions of discursive rationality and, ultimately, of democracy. The protection of the plurality of discourses and the inclusiveness of the public sphere therefore calls for the guarantee of a “power of reason” that enhances the responsibility of individuals as citizens, even before that as users of the Web.
Publisher
EUT Edizioni Università di Trieste
Source
Arianna Maceratini, "Media digitali, sfera pubblica e democrazia nella recente riflessione filosofico-giuridica di Jürgen Habermas", in: "Tigor. Rivista di scienze della comunicazione e di argomentazione giuridica. A. XVII (2025), n. 1 (gennaio-giugno)", EUT Edizioni Università di Trieste, Trieste, 2025, p. 59-69
Languages
it
Rights
Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International
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