Introduction: deconstructing Habermas -- Let's have a "discussion"! -- A hospitable reading -- From rational reconstruction to deconstruction -- The aporias of rational consensus -- Rational consensus -- The violence of consensus: Jean-François Lyotard -- "A more inclusive model of communication": Iris Marion Young -- "Back to the rough ground": Chantal Mouffe -- The aporia of rational consensus -- From aim to process: "Das Nein-Sagen-Können"--Rational (re)constructions -- Conclusion -- "A bizarre, even opaque practice": constitutionalism and democracy -- Introduction: constitutionalism and democracy -- The co-originality thesis -- Vicious circularity and infinite regress -- In the "whirlpool of temporality"--Undecidability and fictions -- "A bizarre, even opaque practice": theoretical and political strategies -- Towards a deconstructive alternative -- The inclusion of the other's tolerance -- Introduction: the inclusion of the other and the paradox of tolerance -- Inclusion through distinction -- Blurring the distinction -- The threshold of tolerance -- Tolerance, equality and inequality -- The destruction of tolerance or a deconstructive tolerance? -- Civil disobedience within the limits of deliberative reason alone -- Introduction: civil disobedience as litmus test -- Definition: civil disobedience within the limits of public reason and constitutional democracy -- Between legality and legitimacy -- Not yet or to come? Realizing the principles of constitutional democracy -- Between majority rule and rational consensus -- Who decides? -- Disobedience without the guidance of deliberative reason: maturity -- Responsobility -- Conclusion -- Towards an ethics of discussion -- Introduction -- What is philosophy? What is reason? -- In defence of democracy -- Responding -- Bibliography -- Notes -- Index