Cafe Philo: democracy?
Details
Humans live in much larger communities today than they ever have before—cities, mega-states, and global trading blocks. Accommodating the wishes of millions or billions of people is incredibly complicated.
How might the input of the people be best managed?
- Do we just let them talk? (Free speech)
- Do we let them vote for politicians? (Representative democracy)
- Do we let them vote directly on policies? (Referenda)
- Do we let them deliberate and decide for themselves? (Participative democracy)
THOUGHT-STARTERS
Thought-experiment: Imagine a local community hall has fallen into complete disrepair. A developer wants to buy it, demolish it, and build apartments. However, residents want to save it and turn it into a youth centre.
The options are clear: sell or renovate. But how should that decision be made?
- By a vote among elected local council members?
- By a public referendum of the entire neighborhood?
- By forming a dedicated citizens' assembly of interested residents to formulate a solution/compromise?
Which method is the most "democratic"—and which is the most just?
Realistic Challenge: Winston Churchill famously argued in 1947 that "democracy is the worst form of Government except for all those other forms that have been tried." Is he right, or are we just lacking imagination?
Philosophical Challenge: How truth and democracy depend on how we talk to each other: https://aeon.co/essays/habermass-theory-of-truth-meant-he-changed-his-mind
Mathematical Challenge: Veritasium's on why true representative democracy is mathematically impossible (Arrow's Impossibility Theorem): https://youtu.be/qf7ws2DF-zk
Australia's Challenge: A report from the Grattan Institute on how Australia cannot take our democracy for granted: https://grattan.edu.au/report/for-the-people-future-proofing-australias-democracy/