Democracy Flashcards
(38 cards)
What are the arguments in regards to whether we should have democracy? (For, For, Against, Against)
- Intrumentalism
- Intrinsic
- Plato
- Persistent minorities
What is your line of argument in regards to whether we should have democracy? (Two points)
- Whilst the intrinsic reasons for philosophy are important, if the instrumental reasons fail then this undermines the value of democracy.
- If there is a system that can be more effective and not completely fail in regards to liberty and equality in comparison to a failing democracy, then we should switch.
What are the three instrumental reasons for democracy?
- Democracies bring about better policies (responsiveness).
- Democracies bring about better policies (epistemic).
- Educative value.
Explain the responsiveness benefit of democracy.(Two points)
- Democracies require there to be more transaprency and accountability in the decision-making process.
- As a result, politicians must listen to the people and do a good job or they will lose support.
Explain the epistemic benefit of democracy.
Condorcet’s Jury Theorem (CJT): states that the average voter is more likely to be right than wrong, therefore, the majority is more likely to be right than wrong.
Explain the educative value benefit of democracy. (Two points)
- Participating in democracy arguably makes citizens more educated.
- This is due the increased interest in current events and engaging in deliberation.
What is an objection to the epistemic benefit of democracy? (Two points)
- CJT assumes that voter’s opinions are not persuaded or encouraged and are rather independent.
- It also assumes that information is not withheld, biased or segmentized.
What are the two intrinsic benefits of democracy?
- It arguably increases people’s liberty.
- It appeals to a sense of equality.
Explain the liberty benefit of democracy. (Two points)
- The right to self-governance seems to be the only satisfied by democracy.
- This gives citizens the liberty to determine how they wish to be ruled.
Explain the equality benefit of democracy. (Two points)
- As everyone has an equal vote, everyone aslo has an equal voice.
- This encourages respect as no one sees anyone as superior to others on political matters.
What are Plato’s objection to democracy? (Two points)
- As democracy is guided by the people and most people are not intellegent enough to make good decisions, they will be easily manipulated.
- This would end up not the people ruling then state but rather the master manipulators.
What is the persistent minorities objection to democracy?
- In the vastly diverse world today, there is a larger emphasis on the majority to rule the state.
- This leads to the minorities not having a say in the way things are run.
What are thee arguments in regards to who are the people? (For, Objections, Alternative)
- Goodin
- Too large
- Don’t change much
What is your line of argument in regards to who are the people? (Two points)
- Goodin’s account of the people is too large as it encompasses people that should not be considered.
- We should keep the system we have now as it is more practical and it does a good job of representing those most affected.
What is Goodin’s argument for who are the people? (Three point)
- That the only way to represent all that are affected by policies is by including everyone.
- By not including all those that are affected it can lead to people being subject to being ruled over by others.
- This is not what democracy should strive for.
Why is protecting people’s interests important to Goodin? (Two points)
- It is the best way of bringing the ‘who’ and ‘how’ of democracy into alignment.
- It makes it clear who should participate and how we should participate.
What does Goodin state about the scope of the power of the demos?
That it should be limited to only affect those who participate.
What are the key objections to Goodin in regards to who are the people? (Three points)
- To limit the power of the demos to only affect those as a part of the state is absurd.
- It encompasses people we believe that shouldn’t participate.
- It is practically impossible to encompass everyone affected.
Why is limiting the power of the demos absurd? (Two points)
- It would lead to closed-off states such as the Soviet Union and lead to people being worse-off.
- In the current climate of globalisation, it seems like a step backwards to limit the power of the demos.
What is Goodin’s response to the objection that limiting the power of the demos being absurd?
Fine, then include everyone in participating in the democracy as there is not an issue of over-inclusion.
Explain the objection to Goodin that there is a problem of over-inclusion.
If we are to include all those affected we would have to encompass prisoners, children, and people from other states.
Why is including people from other states an issue in terms of regarding them as part of the people? (Three points)
- They could vastly shift the vote to prioritise those in other states.
- This would reduce the voice of those most impacted, those in the state.
- It would be impossible to be able to address all the issues of everyone, people will be left worse of.
Explain why including everyone is a logistical nightmare. (Two points)
- The amount of representatives would be much larger, leading to a much more complex and longer process of decision-making.
- People are affected by more than one state, so that would mean that people would have to vote in a multitude of democracies, leading to a conflict of interest.
What is one way of overcoming the over-inclusion problem?
Establishing one democracy worldwide.
