Paley’s Paradox: Educating for Democratic Life

Abstract

What I am going to call Paley’s Paradox is the paradox of democratic education. Put most directly, it says that education for democracy need not — indeed cannot — itself be democratic. While it is true that the reality of democratic citizenship is rooted in, among other things, the freedom of the individual, it is equally true that the reality of democratic life is rooted in the individual’s using that freedom in certain ways and denying herself the pleasure of using it in others. For example, democracy allows individuals to use their wealth and power to influence the political process in ways that preserve and enhance their wealth and power and grant privilege to their children. However, democracy requires that wealthy and powerful individuals refrain from so using their wealth and power, for when they so use it, democracy becomes plutocracy, and democratic life is a mere formality, without substance or meaning. The paradox of democracy is that, while democratic life is indeed about individual liberty and freedom, it is equally about the common, as opposed to individual, good.