Suchergebnisse

'Beyond Empathy and Inclusion' examines how to achieve democratic rule in large pluralistic societies where citizens are deeply divided. Scudder argues that listening is key; in a democracy, citizens do not have to agree with their political opponents, but they do have to listen to them. Being heard is what ensures we have a say in the laws to which we are held. While listening is admittedly difficult, this text investigates how to motivate citizens to listen seriously, attentively, and humbly, even to those with whom they disagree.

Those who want to defend democracy against right-wing anti-democratic forces are at odds with one another: some want a politics that puts vehement conflict at the centre of democratic strategies, while others assert the necessity of more civil and deliberative strategies. What should our stance be as defenders of democratic life? In 'The Two Faces of Democracy', Mary F. (Molly) Scudder and Stephen K. White present an analysis of these two stances, the deliberative and agonistic models of democracy, arguing that neither is adequate on its own. Moreover, Scudder and White develop a distinctive portrait of the core commitments of a democratic life, from the perspective of which we can better appreciate the respective roles of both orientations in the current struggles for a healthy democratic future.