This paper concerns the prospects of pure proceduralist deliberative democratic theories. Amy Gutmann and Dennis Thompson give what seems to be the most prominent set of arguments against such pure proceduralisms in their “Deliberative Democracy Beyond Process”.* Briefly put, they argue that deliberative democrats must not be pure proceduralists because pure proceduralisms cannot seriously endorse a principle that all deliberative democrats aim to seriously endorse: the principle of reciprocity. I argue that their arguments are unsuccessful. If my arguments work they also have the positive value of indicating where debates over the prospects of pure proceduralist deliberative democratic theory should head.
I’m interested developing a novel pure procedualist deliberative democratic theory. So I wrote this paper as part of a general interest in tackling extant objections in the literature. The same general interest got me involved in responding to some of Corey Brettschneider’s arguments against pure proceduralisms in the reading group (on his book) on this blog last semester.
*in Journal of Political Philosophy, 2002, 10: p.153-174 - and subsequently anthologized widely.
C’mon out and join the discussion!
Paper: Jordan Dodd. On Gutmann and Thompson’s Arguments…’
Comments: Simon May. Comments on Dodd’s ‘On Gutmann and Thompson’s Arguments…’
Dodd. On Gutmann and Thompson's Arguments that Deliberative Democrats Shouldn't be Pure Proceduralists: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download
Dodd. On Gutmann and Thompson's Arguments that Deliberative Democrats Shouldn't be Pure Proceduralists: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download
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