An Analysis of Brennan’s Viewpoint – “Better Educated People Should Receive More Votes Than Poorly Educated People” (Against Democracy, 2016)
Download PDF

Keywords

Democratic
Suffrage

DOI

10.26689/jcer.v6i8.4239

Submitted : 2022-07-26
Accepted : 2022-08-10
Published : 2022-08-25

Abstract

Despite the rising recognition of citizen participation in government decision-making and negotiation as time progresses, a contradiction exists in the United Kingdom. There has been a significant fall in participation in parliamentary elections in the United Kingdom, which some proponents of democracy attribute to a negative attitude about government participation resulting from a lack of adequate responsibilities. Brennan, on the other hand, holds the opposite position, claiming that a more harmonious society would result if citizens did not participate in politics. According to him, the distribution of political power should be based on the citizens' knowledge and abilities. Using a dialectical method, this study explores Brennan's viewpoints. This study will examine Brennan's theory in regard to the aim of education and the meaning of democratic citizenship.

References

Brennan J, 2017, Against Democracy: In Against Democracy, Princeton University Press, Princeton, New Jersey, 25–258.

Brennan J, 2018, Does the Demographic Objection to Epistocracy Succeed?. Res Publica, 24(1): 53–71.

Mill JS, 1861, Considerations on Representative Government, Chapter VII, Parker, Son, and Bourn, London, 66–78.

Estlund D, 1993, Making Truth Safe for Democracy, University of Cambridge, Cambridge, 71–100.

Cerovac I, 2016, Plural Voting and JS Mill’s Account of Democratic Legitimacy. Croatian Journal of Philosophy, 16(46): 91–106.

Moraro P, 2017, Brennan, Jason: Against Democracy. Ethical Theory and Moral Practice, 20(4): 911–913.

Gunn P, 2014, Democracy and Epistocracy. Critical Review, 26(1-2): 59–79.

Gutmann A, 1999, Democratic education. Princeton University Press, Princeton, New Jersey, 47–230.

Thompson A, 2014, Does Diversity Trump Ability?: An Example of the Misuse of Mathematics in the Social Sciences. Notices of the American Mathematical Society, 61(9): 1024–1030.

Lichtenberg J, 1992, Political Equality: An Essay in Democratic Theory. The Philosophical Review, 101(3): 697–700.

Soon V, Review of Against Democracy, by Jason Brennan. Essays in Philosophy, 19(1): 155–162.

Scanlon TJ, Tomkins A, Lynch MA, et al., 1998, Street Children in Latin America. BMJ, 316(7144): 1596–1600.

Rawls J, 2004, A Theory of Justice, Belknap Press, Cambridge, 229–234.

Waldron J, 1995, The Wisdom of The Multitude: Some Reflections on Book 3, Chapter 11 of Aristotle’s Politics. Political Theory, 23(4): 563–584.

Mulligan T, 2018, Plural Voting for the Twenty-first Century. The Philosophical Quarterly, 68(271): 286–306.

Latimer T, 2018, Plural Voting and Political Equality: A Thought Experiment in Democratic Theory. European Journal of Political Theory, 17(1): 65–86.

Miller D, 1995, Citizenship and Pluralism. Political Studies, 43(3): 432–450.