Democratic Authority: A Philosophical FrameworkPrinceton University Press, 2009 M08 3 - 312 pages Democracy is not naturally plausible. Why turn such important matters over to masses of people who have no expertise? Many theories of democracy answer by appealing to the intrinsic value of democratic procedure, leaving aside whether it makes good decisions. In Democratic Authority, David Estlund offers a groundbreaking alternative based on the idea that democratic authority and legitimacy must depend partly on democracy's tendency to make good decisions. |
Contents
1 | |
21 | |
An Acceptability Requirement | 40 |
The Limits of Fair Procedure | 65 |
The Flight from Substance | 85 |
Epistemic Proceduralism | 98 |
Authority and Normative Consent | 117 |
Original Authority and the DemocracyJury Analogy | 136 |
The Real Speech Situation | 184 |
Why Not an Epistocracy of the Educated? | 206 |
The Irrelevance of the Jury Theorem | 223 |
Rejecting the DemocracyContractualism Analogy | 237 |
Utopophobia Concession and Aspiration in Democratic Theory | 258 |
Notes | 277 |
Bibliography | 295 |
Index | 303 |