The inquiet courage of the utopia. From sub-alternate democracy to the democracy of care

Abstract

Democracia  sub-alterna  y  Estado  hegemónico. Crítica  política  desde  América  Latina has been one of the last works of Professor Alvaro Márquez-Fernández. The manuscript is  full  of  suggestions  and  significant  issues,  such  as  the  lights  and  the  shadows  of democracy. It shows clearly the deep and uniquely theoretical commitment of the author over  the  course  of  his  entire  intellectual  life.  The  philosopher  focuses  on  the  modern and  contemporary  theories  of  democracy  whose  assumptions  lead  to  converting democracies  into  centralized  and  hierarchical  systems  of  power,  so  disregarding  the need  for  inclusion  of  the  other.  "Care",  "equality",  "neoliberalism",  "utopia"  are  all determinations  contained  in  the  manuscript  and,  not  less,  in  various  theoretical conceptions of the current debate in moral, political and legal philosophy. The volume opens up aseries of parallels and convergences between the concepts of “sub-alternate democracy” and “the democracy of care”. In this brief contribution, I firstly outline the concept  of  care  such  as  elaborated  by  the  American  Joan  Tronto,  and  secondly  I highlight some similiarities and differences between Tronto’s concepts of “democracy of  care” and  the  concept  of  “sub-alternate  democracy”  according  to  the  utopian socialistic project developed by Márquez-Fernández.