Liberalism and Democracy Revisited

Journal of Applied Philosophy 12 (3):283-292 (1995)
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Abstract

In JAP 9 (1992) Gordon Graham argued that liberals cannot be counted on to support democratic institutions since there are no conceptual or strongly contingent links between democracy and liberal ideals. This paper responds to Graham's challenge by claiming that his model of liberal aristocracy is not liberal in several respects. In particular, the liberal should recognise a right to democratic participation which individuals may plausibly claim as an element in a respectable conception of how to live well. The right to democratic participation is shown to stand alongside other important liberal ideals which may be justified in this fashion, e.g. freedom of religious worship and freedom of association. Furthermore, I argue against those who claim that political participation enacts delusory aspirations that the rights which are promoted and protected within a democratic constitution are necessary for both individual and collective autonomy — and so the liberal should defend them.

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reprint Knowles, Dudley (2008) "Liberalism and Democracy Revisited". Journal of Applied Philosophy 12(3):283-292

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Dudley Knowles
Last affiliation: University of Glasgow

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References found in this work

Elements of the philosophy of right.Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel - 1991 - New York: Cambridge University Press. Edited by Allen W. Wood & Hugh Barr Nisbet.
The social contract.Jean-Jacques Rousseau - 1968 - Harmondsworth,: Penguin Books. Edited by Charles Frankel.
Political writings.Benjamin Constant - 1988 - New York: Cambridge University Press. Edited by Biancamaria Fontana.
In Defence of Politics.Graeme C. Moodie & Bernard Crick - 1964 - Philosophical Quarterly 14 (57):380.

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