Academic

Book Announcement: Democratic Authority by Estlund in Paperback

By Lawrence Solum

Democratic Authority
A Philosophical Framework
David M. Estlund

To read the entire book description or a sample chapter, please visit: http://press.princeton.edu/titles/8571.html

Democracy is not naturally plausible. Why turn such important matters over to masses of people who have no expertise? Many theories of democracy answer by appealing to the intrinsic value of democratic procedure, leaving aside whether it makes good decisions. In Democratic Authority, David Estlund offers a groundbreaking alternative based on the idea that democratic authority and legitimacy must depend partly on democracy's tendency to make good decisions.

"Estlund offers a thoughtful, philosophically dense discussion arguing for the legitimacy of democratic order. . . . Estlund argues that epistemic proceduralism is a superior justification for democracy because it shows that democracies have the capacity to achieve good decisions that have legitimacy. His comparison of the decisions of a democracy to those of a jury is particularly illuminating. The work includes careful discussion of many prominent democratic and liberal theorists, such as Kenneth Arrow and John Rawls."--M. Coulter, Grove City College, for Choice

Paper | $24.95 / £16.95 | ISBN: 978-0-691-14324-8
Cloth | $32.95 / £22.95 | ISBN: 978-0-691-12417-9

Full post as published by Legal Theory Blog on September 10, 2009 (boomark / email).