Making Disagreement Matter: Pragmatism and Deliberative Democracy

Abstract

There is a direct connection between deliberative democracy and the pragmatist theory of truth. The deliberative democrat thinks that correct political decisions can only be reached by free and open deliberation. And the pragmatist, at least the kind of pragmatist who follows the founder of the doctrine, C. S. Peirce, thinks that correctness or truth in any kind of discourse is that which would be the upshot of unlimited deliberation and inquiry.2 Indeed, pragmatists have al ways wanted to bring moral and political judgments under our cognitive scope? under the scope of correctness, truth, falsity, knowledge, error, and reason. Peirce was the least explicit in conducting this task (but see Misak 2004), whereas James and Dewey were very explicit. The tradition has been continued by con temporary pragmatists such as Hilary Putnam and Jurgen Habermas. Moral and political judgments aim at getting things right and the best way of achieving or approximating that aim is to engage in reasoning, debate, and the consideration of different perspectives and evidence. It is unsurprising that so many pragmatists are moral cognitivists, as Peirce's theory of truth, on which true beliefs are those that would be unde feated by deliberation and inquiry, seems tailor-made for cognitivism. It leaves the prospects for cognitivism intact, as it does not require a causal connection between our beliefs and physical objects. Moral and political judgments cannot be candidates for truth and falsity on a theory of truth that, for instance, has it that judgments are true if and only if they correspond to the mind-independent or physical world. The Peircean account of truth is entirely general?that is, it is applicable in principle to any discourse or domain of inquiry.3 A true belief, Peirce main tained, is one that is unassailable by doubt (Collected Papers, 5.416).4 It is a belief that would forever stand up to deliberation or inquiry; not lead to disap pointment; be indefeasible or not defeated, were deliberation to be pursued as