Teaching
Democracy and the humanities are interdependent.
Judith Butler is an American philosopher and gender theorist recognized for their contributions to feminist philosophy, queer theory, political philosophy, and ethics. They make a simple point: democracy requires the kind of imaginative experiments that literature and the arts provide.
Judith Butler observes that drawing on philosophical and literary perspectives to imagine the future—even in dark times—is an act of hope and persistence. She also argues that because democracy depends on the kind of imaginative experiments fostered by literature and the arts, it is fundamentally intertwined with the humanities.
True democracy requires the equal participation of all people in self-determination. Its very foundation rests on a form of collective imagining—a "necessary fiction" that exists beyond established laws and structures. Dreamers and world changers will recognize the vital role of imagination and the humanities in shaping democracy and envisioning futures beyond our present limitations.
"The beginning of democracy requires a transport into a necessary fiction. Here again, we see how democracy, and the question of legitimacy, relies upon a kind of imagining. And if we are to imagine otherwise, that is, think of new ways in which polities might form that would more fully realize the ideals of democracy, we require the imagination. Transformation, dissent, and revolution are impossible without collective imagining. And democracy requires precisely this: a form of collective assembly in impossible time and space."
