How do you solve the question of collective self-government by citizens? Josiah Ober discusses a fundamental problem of democratic societies: how we come to agree on courses of action when we commit to living within a democracy. His argument is that we need to become civic friends, a concept he explains in the conversation.
This is philosophy bites with me, Nigel.
Warburton and me, David Edmonds.
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In many ways, the world is in a better place politically than ever before.
After all, more people live in democracies than ever before.
But democracies are under strain.
Political partisanship in the United States, for example, has become so extreme that some fear democracy there is in danger of collapse.
So how can democracy function and survive?
Josiah Ober believes democracy boils down to one essential the acceptance of a kind of bargain, a bargain that requires a special kind of friendship between political opponents.
Josiah Ober, welcome to philosophy bites.
Thanks so much, Nigel.
The topic we're going to focus on is the civic bargain.
Now, what is that?
The civic bargain is, at least in my view, the answer to how to have democracy survive over time.
It basically means that in order to be a citizen and live without a boss, that's the basic definition I use of democracy, you have to be willing to make bargains with your fellow citizens.
Before we go into how that might play out, perhaps it's worth separating out democracy from a voting process.
That's exactly right.
Democracy is one of these essentially contested terms that is endlessly debated.