Abstract
Chapter One illuminated a difficult set of political and aesthetic criticisms that could be avoided entirely with a plausible nonperfectionist justification of arts subsidy. The remainder of this book seeks to formulate such an alternative. Rather than claiming a life with art is intrinsically superior to other ways of living, the book argues the arts are instrumentally valuable to what is perhaps our most widely-held public value—democratic self-rule. This chapter lays the groundwork for the larger argument by examining our commitment to democracy. It argues that our commitment to democracy rests on a contingent belief in the value of human autonomy, as well as a belief that democracy is the form of governing that best respects autonomy. The chapter concludes by exploring the extent to which our commitment to democracy implies an obligation to educate future citizens.
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References
See Wolff, Robert Paul. In Defense of Anarchism. New York: Harper and Row, 1970.
Nelson, William. On Justifying Democracy. Boston: Routledge & Kegan Paul, 1980, p. 117.
Constitutional democracy seeks to avoid this possibility by “placing personal freedoms effectively beyond popular control,” an approach reflected in the American Bill of Rights. However, as unlikely as their repeal may be, the Constitution makes provision for repealing any and all such amendments through (an albeit stringent) process of popular vote. See Gutmann, Amy. “The Disharmony of Democracy,” in Democratic Community, John W. Chapman and Ian Shapiro, eds., New York: New York University Press, 1993, p. 151.
Gutmann, Amy and Thompson, Dennis. “Moral Disagreement in Democracy,” in Contemporary Political and Social Philosophy. Ellen Frankel Paul, Fred D. Miller, Jr., and Jeffrey Paul, eds. Cambridge: Cambridge Press Syndicate, 1995.
Fishkin, James S. Democracy and Deliberation. New Haven: Yale University Press, 1991, pp. 35–36.
Dewey, John. Democracy and Education: An Introduction to the Philosophy of Education. New York: The MacMillan Company, 1926, p. 98.
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© 2000 Springer Science+Business Media Dordrecht
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Schwartz, D.T. (2000). The Commitment to Democracy. In: Art, Education, and the Democratic Commitment. Philosophical Studies in Contemporary Culture, vol 7. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-015-9444-8_3
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-015-9444-8_3
Publisher Name: Springer, Dordrecht
Print ISBN: 978-90-481-5450-0
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