CEU Electronic Theses and Dissertations, 2021
| Author | Kapelner, Zsolt Kristof |
|---|---|
| Title | Ruling Together: An Account of the Value of Democracy |
| Summary | In this dissertation I address the problem of the value of democracy which concerns the question of why, if at all, democracy should be valued, respected, and generally preferred to alternative regime types. There are two main sorts of answers to this question in the literature, namely, instrumentalist and non-instrumentalist ones. Instrumentalists argue that democracy is valuable only as a means to attain some valuable ends, while non-instrumentalists hold that democracy is also valuable for its own sake. I defend a novel non-instrumentalist position based on what I call the service value of democracy. I argue that democracy’s value lies in that it allows citizens to exercise their agency to advance one another’s good by enlisting them in the collective project of ruling the polity justly together. This establishes a relationship of mutual service among them which is a self-standing source of value. Democracy enables citizens to relate as moral agents acting for one another’s sake by shaping the fundamental norms of interaction of social cooperation in a reciprocal manner. Democratic citizens do not simply coexist under just laws but are called upon to actively engage in establishing justice for one another. This account, I believe, is superior to the main non-instrumentalist arguments in the literature, i.e., equality-based and autonomy-based arguments, which cannot establish a strong enough commitment to democracy, and are therefore ill-suited for the theoretical purposes of non-instrumentalism. On my account, in contrast, democracy is uniquely suited to realize its service value, for only it renders citizens co-authors of the fundamental rules of the system of social cooperation under which they live, and only as co-authors of these rules are they able to mutually serve each other in a way that is appropriate to their relationship as citizens of the same polity. Realizing this relational value is of paramount importance for citizens; in complex, modern societies, characterized by tightly woven ties of social and economic cooperation and deep interdependence, relating to fellow citizens in the mode of mutual service through democratic institutions is crucially important to mitigate the vulnerability and moral precarity inherent in our social coexistence. This argument does not, and is not meant to, provide a reason for choosing democracy which is decisive under all circumstances, all things considered. Emergency situations and empirical contingencies may always tip the balance of reasons such that whatever value democracy has is outweighed by contrary considerations. Nonetheless, it identifies a non-instrumental value which provides strong reasons for upholding the democratic ideal and for trying to cure the ills of contemporary democracy not by leaving the fundamental principle of rule by the people behind, but rather by realizing it to a greater extent. |
| Supervisor | Miklósi, Zoltán |
| Department | Philosophy PhD |
| Full text | https://www.etd.ceu.edu/2021/kapelner_zsolt.pdf |
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