The Crisis of Democracy and New Leviathan(Book Review Democracy and Moral Conflict)
Subject Areas : The History of Political Thought
Behnam Joudi
1
(
Department of political science, Science and Research Branch, Islamic Azad University, Tehran, Iran
)
Keywords: folk epistemology, Ethics, natural state, Hobbes, democracy, Crisis, Politics,
Abstract :
This article reviews the book Democracy and Moral Conflict Written by Robert B. Talisse. Talisse in the crisis of democracy, which is a Hobbesian natural state, offered the alternative to the standard views of democratic political philosophers who believe that the democracy derived from some decidedly moral commitment. But he argued, there is good reason to think that, under current conditions, these values among citizens are essentially controversial. By contrast, the case for democratic politics which he proposed in this book draws from principles that are epistemic rather than moral and he called it folk epistemology. Talisse is a liberal democratic philosopher, but his method and solution to this crisis is Hobbesian, the separation of ethics and politics. However, he did not propose 'absolute state', but 'dialogical democracy'. Hence, a dialogical democracy requires the state to pursue the cultivation of certain epistemic capabilities among its citizens. Talisse's alternative is Hobbesian: New Leviathan.
