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Democratic Public Justification

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  13 November 2020

Alexander Motchoulski Open the ORCID record for Alexander Motchoulski [Opens in a new window]
Alexander Motchoulski*
Affiliation:
Department of Philosophy, University of Arizona, Tucson, Arizona, USA
*
Email: amotchoulski@email.arizona.edu
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Abstract

Democratic institutions are appealing means of making publicly justified social choices. By allowing participation by all citizens, democracy can accommodate diversity among citizens, and by considering the perspectives of all, via ballots or debate, democratic results can approximate what the balance of reasons favors. I consider whether, and under what conditions, democratic institutions might reliably make publicly justified social decisions. I argue that conventional accounts of democracy, constituted by voting or deliberation, are unlikely to be effective public justification mechanisms. I conclude that the limitations of conventional mechanisms can be ameliorated through the use of lotteries instead of elections.

Keywords

Deliberationdemocracyelectionlotterypublic justificationpublic reason
Type
Article
Information
Canadian Journal of Philosophy , Volume 50 , Issue 7 , October 2020 , pp. 844 - 861
Copyright
© The Author(s) 2020. Published by Canadian Journal of Philosophy

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