Democratic Virtue: Critical Essays for an Ethics of Equality and Power

FAIN: FA-38057-03

John R. Wallach
CUNY Research Foundation, Graduate School and University Center (New York, NY 10016-4309)

No project description available

Associated Products

Democracy and Goodness: A Historicist Political Theory (Book)
Title: Democracy and Goodness: A Historicist Political Theory
Author: John R. Wallach
Abstract: Citizens, political leaders, and scholars invoke the term 'democracy' to describe present-day states without grasping its roots or prospects in theory or practice. This book clarifies the political discourse about democracy by identifying that its primary focus is human activity, not consent. It points out how democracy is neither self-legitimating nor self-justifying and so requires critical, ethical discourse to address its ongoing problems, such as inequality and exclusion. Wallach pinpoints how democracy has historically depended on notions of goodness to ratify its power. The book analyses pivotal concepts of democratic ethics such as 'virtue', 'representation', 'civil rightness', 'legitimacy', and 'human rights' and looks at them as practical versions of goodness that have adapted democracy to new constellations of power in history. Wallach notes how democratic ethics should never be reduced to power or moral ideals. Historical understanding needs to come first to highlight the potentials and prospects of democratic citizenship.
Year: 2018
Primary URL: www.cambridge.org/9781108435567
Primary URL Description: appearance of book on publisher's website.
Secondary URL: http://www.amazon.com democracy and goodness
Secondary URL Description: appearance of book on amazon.com website.
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Type: Single author monograph
ISBN: 9781108435567
Copy sent to NEH?: No

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