The book tries to answer the question to what extent and in which sense emotions play, and have to play, a central role within the democratic dispute. The thesis is that there are four crucial answers: In the context of democratic politics emotions require a timely form of presentation, moderation, compensation and transformation. The additional thesis is that this fourfold reaction can be achieved either with the aid of aesthetic experiences, or even in a superior way by them.

The book develops that general thesis in three parts. Based on the protests at the University of Amsterdam in 2015, it starts with an analysis of anger, shame and impertinence as political emotions. The second part offers an overview of the contemporary philosophical discussion on democracy, emotions and aesthetics, and points out four models represented by classical and contemporary theorists (Nussbaum, Hume & A.Smith, Spinoza & Deleuze, Hegel). The last part offers an own model based on the concept of aesthetic experience in Kant and Dewey, aiming at the idea of extended rationality as it is developed in Critical Theory.