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Democracy --- Philosophy --- DemocracyPhilosophy --- Democracy - Philosophy

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Pragmatism and its consequences are central issues in American politics today, yet scholars rarely examine in detail the relationship between pragmatism and politics. In The Priority of Democracy, Jack Knight and James Johnson systematically explore the subject and make a strong case for adopting a pragmatist approach to democratic politics--and for giving priority to democracy in the process of selecting and reforming political institutions. What is the primary value of democracy? When should we make decisions democratically and when should we rely on markets? And when should we accept the decisions of unelected officials, such as judges or bureaucrats? Knight and Johnson explore how a commitment to pragmatism should affect our answers to such important questions. They conclude that democracy is a good way of determining how these kinds of decisions should be made--even if what the democratic process determines is that not all decisions should be made democratically. So, for example, the democratically elected U.S. Congress may legitimately remove monetary policy from democratic decision-making by putting it under the control of the Federal Reserve. Knight and Johnson argue that pragmatism offers an original and compelling justification of democracy in terms of the unique contributions democratic institutions can make to processes of institutional choice. This focus highlights the important role that democracy plays, not in achieving consensus or commonality, but rather in addressing conflicts. Indeed, Knight and Johnson suggest that democratic politics is perhaps best seen less as a way of reaching consensus or agreement than as a way of structuring the terms of persistent disagreement.

Democracy --- Political science --- Philosophy --- Democracy - Philosophy

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This volume collects some of the leading essays in contemporary democratic theory published since 1970. The anthology presents the work of a select group of contributors and covers many foundational approaches defended by scholars from a range of different disciplines.

Democracia --- Filosofía política --- Libros electrónicos --- Democracy --- Philosophy. --- Democracy - Philosophy.

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In The Paradox of Democracy: New Media and the Eternal Problem of Politics, Sean Illing and Zac Gershberg argue that, although free speech and media has always been a necessary condition of democracy, that very freedom also is its greatest threat. Free speech gives those who would destroy democracy license to mislead the public, using whatever forms of media are available. New forms of media offer opportunities to both supporters and critics of democracy. Reaching back to the ancient Greeks and continuing through media disruptions such as the invention of the printing press, the growth of "yellow" journalism and mass circulation newspapers, to new media today, they contend that democracies have always been unsettled by changes in media. The authors trace how each of these changes have challenged democracy by providing new ways of talking about politics and of reaching audiences with often unsettling effects. They conclude by exploring what kinds of communication facilitates and defends democracy as changing technology overwhelms older forms of communication.

MASS MEDIA AND PUBLIC OPINION --- DEMOCRACY--PHILOSOPHY --- JOURNALISM--POLITICAL ASPECTS

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"We live in an age of political polarization. As political beliefs on the left and the right have been pulled closer to the extremes, so have our social environments: we seldom interact with those with whom we don't see eye to eye. Making matters worse, we are being appealed to--by companies, products, and teams, for example--based on our deep-seated, polarized beliefs. Our choice of Starbucks or Dunkin' Donuts, Costco or Sam's Club, soccer or football, New York Times vs. Wall Street Journal is an expression of our beliefs and a reinforcement of our choice to stay within the confines of our self-selected political community, making us even more polarized. Letting it bleed into these choices in every corner of our lives, we take democracy too far and it ends up keeping us apart. We overdo democracy. When we overdo democracy, we allow it to undermine and crowd out many of the most important social goods that democracy is meant to deliver. What's more, in overdoing democracy, we spoil certain social goods that democracy needs in order to flourish. A thriving democracy needs citizens to reserve space in their social lives for collective activities that are not structured by political allegiances. To ensure the health and the future of democracy, we need to forge civic friendships by working together in social contexts in which political affiliations and party loyalties are not merely suppressed, but utterly beside the point. Drawing on his extensive research, Talisse sheds light on just how deeply entrenched our political polarization has become and opens our eyes to how often we allow politics to dictate the way we see almost everything. By limiting our interactions with others and our experience of the world so that we only encounter the politically like-minded, we are actually damaging the thing that democracy is meant to preserve in the first place: the more fundamental good of recognizing and respecting each other's standing as equals."--

Democracy --- Political participation --- Philosophy --- Political philosophy. Social philosophy --- Démocratie participative --- Démocratie -- Philosophie --- Democracy - Philosophy