This paper proposes to discuss, based on discourse ethics and communicative action theory, the supposed abstract character of deliberative democracy. If on the one hand deliberative democracy does not intend to be more than a theoretical model to guide discussions on democracy, on the other hand some of its ideas and can be, and are being, effectively incorporated into the political practice of contemporary democratic societies. The question here is one of knowing how much of the concrete and relevant can be found in Habermas' proposals regarding deliberative democracy.
Democracy; Discursive Ethics; Theory of Communicative Action; Democratic Theory