Rational Choice and Democratic Deliberation: A Theory of Discourse Failure

by Guido Pincione , Fernando R. Tesón

• ISBN13: 9780521175388
• ISBN10: 0521175380
• Edition: Revised
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2011-03-03
• Publisher: Cambridge University Press

Summary

In public political deliberation, people will err and lie in accordance with definite patterns. Such discourse failure results from behavior that is both instrumentally and epistemically rational. The deliberative practices of a liberal democracy (let alone repressive or non-democratic societies) cannot be improved so as to overcome the tendency for rational citizens to believe and say things at odds with reliable propositions of social science. The theory has several corollaries. One is that much contemporary political philosophy can be seen as an unsuccessful attempt to vindicate, on symbolic and moral grounds, the forms that discourse failure take on in public political deliberation. Another is that deliberative practices cannot be rescued even on non-epistemic grounds, such as social peace, impartiality, participation, and equality. To alleviate discourse failure, this book proposes to reduce the scope of majoritarian politics and enlarge markets.

Table of Contents

Preface	p. vii
Acknowledgments	p. xi
Introduction	p. 1
The Allure of Deliberation	p. 1
Rational Choice and Political Discourse	p. 5
The Epistemic Argument for Deliberation	p. 8
Political Illiteracy: An Illustration	p. 8
Discourse Failure	p. 13
Patterns of Political Belief	p. 21
Discourse Failure and Cognitive Psychology	p. 40
Persuasive Definitions	p. 44
Discourse Failure and Desert	p. 50
The Cost of Dissent	p. 53
The Rational Choice Framework	p. 65
Instrumental and Epistemic Rationality	p. 65
Rational Choice and Morality	p. 78
Why Our Argument Is Not Ad Hominem	p. 82
A Note on Empirical Testing	p. 83
The Resilience of Discourse Failure	p. 87
Reliable Social Science and Opacity	p. 87
Deliberative Institutions	p. 92
Good Policies, Bad Reasons	p. 98
Shortcuts	p. 105
Deliberation, Free Speech, and Truth	p. 108
Deliberation as a Regulative Ideal	p. 113
Deliberative Democracy, Condorcet, and Bayes	p. 117
Symbolism in Political Argument	p. 123
Self-Defeatingness as Symbolism	p. 123
Symbolic Behavior in Politics	p. 124
Symbolic and Causal Utility: Nozick's Challenge	p. 126
Symbolizing as the Intended Outcome	p. 129
Are Self-Defeating Reformers Rational?	p. 132
Why Political Deliberators Appear to Neglect Consequences	p. 137
Discourse Failure and Political Morality	p. 142
The Moral Turn	p. 142
Balancing, Deontology, and the Display Test	p. 150
Direct Involvement in Evildoing	p. 161
Split Responsibility	p. 166
Causal Complexity in Political Argument	p. 168
Moral Error	p. 170
Enforcement and Causation	p. 173
A Note on Religious Morality	p. 176
A Note on the Minimum Wage and Employment	p. 179
Types of Discourse Failure: A Summary	p. 181
Non-Epistemic Defenses of Deliberation	p. 183
Deliberation as the Exercise of Autonomy	p. 183
Sincerity in Deliberation	p. 186
Deliberation and Social Conflict	p. 189
Deliberation and Impartiality	p. 192
Deliberation, Participation, and Equality	p. 194
Is Discourse Failure Always Bad?	p. 198
Deliberation, Consent, and Majority Rule	p. 204
Consent and Reasonableness	p. 204
Deliberation, Justice, and Rights	p. 211
Deliberation and Majority Rule	p. 213
Vote Indeterminacy	p. 217
The Courtroom Analogy	p. 221
Substantive Principles and Deliberative Politics	p. 224
Overcoming Discourse Failure: Voluntary Communities	p. 228
A Contractarian Society	p. 228
Contracts and Truth	p. 230
Contracts and Compromise	p. 232
The Paradox of Contract	p. 234
Further Objections and Replies	p. 238
Discursive Advantages of Voluntary Communities	p. 242
Loose Ends	p. 246
Index	p. 249
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