Research

Summary

Political “Ethos”, Metapolitics, and Metacommunication

The article examines the political ethos based on Aristotle. Political ethos refers to a political historical community in which citizens jointly nurture the juridical state as an environment for the well-being and happiness of the individual. On the one hand, the ethos of citizenship forces participation in court and governance. On the other hand, the participation in these common public affairs forms and expresses a political ethos. Episodes of Socrates’ life are examined, raising the question of political ethos. Socrates was sentenced as an outstanding individual who disturbed the routine in a polis for a living political ethos. Issues of metapolitics and metacommunication, inseparable from the political ethos, are discussed. When discussing the ethical limits of politics in dialogue, metapolitics works together with metacommunication. Thus, metapolitics, which implies a political ethos, is a political practice by which citizens test the limits of politics. A semiotic cube is presented covering the interconnections between (meta)politics, (meta)communication, and (meta)education. The ancient cases appeal to contemporary democracy and its crises.