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Public Justification Versus Public Deliberation: The Case for Reconciliation

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  14 January 2022

Henrik D. Kugelberg Open the ORCID record for Henrik D. Kugelberg [Opens in a new window]
Henrik D. Kugelberg*
Affiliation:
Stanford University, Stanford, CA, USA
*
Email: [email protected]
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Abstract

Kevin Vallier has recently argued that the ideals of public justification and public deliberation should be separated. The link between the two, Vallier suggests, has been assumed without being properly defended. Once examined, the connection falls apart. In this paper, I argue that there is, in fact, a clear and convincing story available for why the two ideals should be treated as mutually reinforcing. Drawing on recent empirical evidence, I argue that the deliberative behaviour of citizens can have a clear and positive impact on the behaviour and policy choices of public officials.

Keywords

Public deliberationpublic reasonpublic justificationpolitical liberalism
Type
Discussion Note
Information
Canadian Journal of Philosophy , Volume 51 , Issue 6 , August 2021 , pp. 468 - 473
Copyright
© The Author(s), 2022. Published by Cambridge University Press on behalf of Canadian Journal of Philosophy

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