An Instrumental Argument for a Human Right to Democracy

Christiano, Thomas

doi:10.1111/j.1088-4963.2011.01204.x

Cited by 124 publications

(48 citation statements)

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“…This makes it hard to show that democracy is necessary for human rights, even when we suppose that it is necessary for justice. (Cohen 2006;Christiano 2011;Gilabert 2012;Miller forthcoming). It would therefore be surprising if epistemic differences between democratic and undemocratic government tell decisively in favour of the former, and against the best of the latter.…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Democracy and epistemology: a reply to Talisse

Lever

2015

Critical Review of International Social and Political Philosoph

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According to Robert Talisse, 'we have sufficient epistemological reasons to be democrats' and these reasons support democracy even when we are tempted to doubt the legitimacy of democratic government. As epistemic agents, we care about the truth of our beliefs, and have reasons to want to live in an environment conducive to forming and acting on true, rather than false, beliefs. Democracy, Talisse argues, is the best means to provide such an environment. Hence, he concludes that epistemic agency, correctly understood, supports the legitimacy of democracy. This reply highlights the interest, but also the difficulties, of this argument and, in particular, of its assumptions about epistemic agency, morality and democracy.

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Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Democracy and epistemology: a reply to Talisse

Lever

2015

Critical Review of International Social and Political Philosoph

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“…This is the view defended by Henry Shue in Basic Rights (1996). Thomas Christiano (2011) and David Reidy (2012) defend similar views. I will call this the "Unity View."…”

Section: Three Accounts Of the Relationship Between Political Particimentioning

confidence: 92%

“…Lever arguments claim that political participation is the tool that the members of some society use to secure their human rights. Christiano's (2011) argument for a human right to democracy is, in part, a lever argument. A second argument is the "reciprocity" argument.…”

Section: The Unity Viewmentioning

confidence: 99%

Human Rights Without Political Participation?

Riker

2014

Hum Rights Rev

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John Rawls claims that "benevolent absolutisms" honor human rights without honoring political participation rights. Critics argue that he is mistaken. One objection appeals to the instrumental value of political participation rights. This objection holds that without political participation rights, individuals cannot secure the content of their rights against encroachment. Given this, individuals without political participation rights cannot be said to have rights at all. Here, I evaluate this instrumental objection. I identify three ways of relating political participation rights to human rights and show that one makes sense of Rawls's claim. I then defend this view from instrumental objections. This has implications beyond the realm of Rawls scholarship. Many societies are not democratic and are not democratizing. We must determine whether any of these societies can secure at least the content of human rights and, if so, what shape their social and political institutions must take to do so.

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“…The instrumental argument, more fully developed in Christiano (2011), is based on the empirical claim that democracies better protect a range of human rights than non-democracies. There are some questions about this argument (Lister 2012;Reidy 2012).…”

Section: Justice Legitimacy and The Human Right To Democracymentioning

confidence: 99%

A Human Right to Democracy?

Peter¹

2015

Philosophical Foundations of Human Rights

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An Instrumental Argument for a Human Right to Democracy

Cited by 124 publications

References 0 publications

Democracy and epistemology: a reply to Talisse

Democracy and epistemology: a reply to Talisse

Human Rights Without Political Participation?

A Human Right to Democracy?

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