Piotr W. Juchacz

An article falls into the area of reflection called public philosophy and it is an example of normative analysis of functioning of the institution of public hearing introduced to Polish democratic order in 2006. Public hearing is presented as a dynamic process which consists of the three phases, with different methods, scope and purpose. An analysis focuses on the first phase, which relates to the formal and legal arrangements adopted in the Rules of the Sejm of the Republic of Poland, primarily the fundamental issue of convening a public hearing, in which author distinguishes seven problem areas that require special attention: 1) who should be allowed to table a motion to convene a public hearing? 2) should the call of a public hearing be optional or arbitrary? 3) the moment in the law-making process of convening a public hearing; 4) the problem of publicizing the decision to convene a public hearing; 5) the contents of the registration form; 6) possibility to restrict the number of participants; 7) the issue of cancellation of a public hearing.

The paramount thesis of the article is that the issue of democratic legitimation should address the mutual interrelations between social, institutional and legal orders. The normative deficit of modern democratic polities stems from the overwhelming blindness to discursive justifications of political decisions and, in consequence, from the disregard for the necessity of enhancing moral-democratic competencies of citizens themselves. Menwhile, the moral democratic competencies condition the possibility of the widen participation of the citizenry and its empowerment. The second part of the article consists of the presentation of the idea of political philosophy as public philosophy. With reference to B. Williams two essential questions are addressed: the question of the identity of public philosophy (What is public philosophy?), and the question of the audience of public philosophy (Who is being addressed and for what purpose?). A realistically utopian character of public philosophy is stressed.