Why Deliberate among Equals? Fairness and Political JudgmentCharles Girard

11 May 2023

Charles Girard (Université Jean Moulin Lyon 3), 17:15 - 18:45, presents his project in the Interdisciplinary Research Seminar of the GRK "Collective Decision-Making”.

This seminar will take place in person. Please register (if you haven’t already) here if you want to attend the seminar. We invite everyone interested to attend!

Location: Room 0079, Von-Melle-Park 5

Abstract

Most contemporary philosophies of democracy agree that public deliberation is central to legitimate political decision-making. This consensus, however, masks a recurrent disagreement about the source of its value: depending on the theory, it is linked to its effect on participants, its expressive value, its fairness or the quality of the decisions it produces. These competing visions of democratic deliberation have different and sometimes contradictory implications for political practices and institutions. This article analyzes these justifications in order to test their robustness and clarify their relationships. It argues for an original justification of democratic deliberation, showing that it treats citizens fairly as listeners. While it is not certain that it generally promotes good decision-making, it does make the conditions under which citizens can make political judgments less unequal.

Find the abstract as PDF here.