ABSTRACT
The chapter investigates the role of truth in our formation as political agents. Instead of endorsing the assumption of fully-fledged political participants with fixed and set values who decide according to their narrow and short-term self-interests, it will show the transformative aspect of political participation, which itself can create political agents that focus on shared concerns that matter to us all—climate change, refugee crises, labor—to name a few examples. It is in our conversations together that we can project a future that acknowledges not only facts of the past or present but also the values that may need to be created or maintained for the future. The argument defended within the chapter is threefold: first, the formation of political space through Hannah Arendt’s political paradigm will be examined; next, we will explore the role of truth and the process of opinion-formation in relation to political judgment; finally, we will argue that politics (along with the stuff of politics) or political participation is a transformative experience that may assuage the agonistic or partisan views of politics that seem to be in the background of most political discussions.
