Buch, Englisch, 368 Seiten, Format (B × H): 161 mm x 241 mm, Gewicht: 645 g
ISBN: 978-0-691-15461-9
Verlag: Princeton University Press
When a government in a democracy acts in our name, are we, as citizens, responsible for those acts? What if the government commits a moral crime? The protestor's slogan--"Not in our name!"--testifies to the need to separate ourselves from the wrongs of our leaders. Yet the idea that individual citizens might bear a special responsibility for political wrongdoing is deeply puzzling for ordinary morality and leading theories of democracy. In Our Name explains how citizens may be morally exposed to the failures of their representatives and state institutions, and how complicity is the professional hazard of democratic citizenship. Confronting the ethical challenges that citizens are faced with in a self-governing democracy, Eric Beerbohm proposes institutional remedies for dealing with them. Beerbohm questions prevailing theories of democracy's failure to account for our dual position as both citizens and subjects. Showing that the obligation to participate in the democratic process is even greater when we risk serving as accomplices to wrongdoing, Beerbohm argues for a distinctive division of labor between citizens and their representatives that charges lawmakers with the responsibility of incorporating their constituents' moral principles into their reasoning about policy. Grappling with the practical issues of democratic decision making, In Our Name engages with political science, law, and psychology to envision mechanisms for citizens seeking to avoid democratic complicity.
Autoren/Hrsg.
Fachgebiete
- Geisteswissenschaften Philosophie Angewandte Ethik & Soziale Verantwortung
- Geisteswissenschaften Philosophie Sozialphilosophie, Politische Philosophie
- Sozialwissenschaften Politikwissenschaft Regierungspolitik
- Sozialwissenschaften Politikwissenschaft Politische Systeme Demokratie
- Sozialwissenschaften Politikwissenschaft Politikwissenschaft Allgemein Politische Theorie, Politische Philosophie
Weitere Infos & Material
Preface ix
Introduction 1
Chapter 1- How to Value Democracy 25
Chapter 2- Paper Stones: The Ethics of Participation 51
Chapter 3- Philosophers-Citizens 82
Chapter 4- Superdeliberators 105
Chapter 5- What Is It Like to Be a Citizen? 125
Chapter 6- Democracy's Ethics of Belief 142
Chapter 7- The Division of Democratic Labor 166
Chapter 8- Representing Principles 193
Chapter 9- Democratic Complicity 226
Chapter 10- Not in My Name: Macrodemocratic Design 252
Conclusion 278
Notes 287
Bibliography 327
Index 324
