ABSTRACT
Constitutional politics depends on enunciating universal and unconditional principles as well as imposing finite conditions on the application or exercise of these principles in constituted forms of political life. In the case of democracy, life and liberty are such principles which in real conditions of historical politics are always “situated” - being-situated also makes the infinite principles subject to finite and critical limits. In the case of political forms that are not democratic, it is often the case that the very substance of historical power - such as a king, a church, a land or a community - is praised as if infinitely and in principle. This article explores the possibility of thinking about politics “infinitely” without being swallowed up by any absolute and historical substance of power or sovereignty. In other words can one “praise” politics as an infinite possibility without denying its concrete situatedness and the apparent limits that any constitution sets on the unconditional translation of principles into application/exercise?
