Political Philosophy and Empowering Citizens

Bibliographic Data

ID6345462
AuthorsAvner De-Shalit (Hebrew University of Jerusalem), Avner De‐shalit (Hebrew University of Jerusalem, corresponding author)
Year2004
Volume52
Issue4
Pages802-818
Publication date2004-12-01
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenuePolitical Studies (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0032-3217 • E-ISSN: 1467-9248
PublisherSAGE Publications Inc (PUBLISHER)
DOI10.1111/j.1467-9248.2004.00509.x
OpenAlexW2110069985
LanguageEN
Citations received8
References cited36

This paper defends the idea of empowering citizens by means of teaching them political philosophy. First, I explain and define empowerment as an experience leading to the development of critical and philosophical capabilities. Several challenges to using philosophy to empower citizens are then discussed and rejected. This group of challenges is called the ‘divorce theory’, because, according to them, philosophy and politics should be distinguished, as if divorced from each other, so that they can live happily side by side, but not together. Finally, empowerment is normatively defended and distinguished from paternalism, and examine the relationships between empowerment through political philosophy and deliberative democracy

Deliberative democracy · Democracy · Empowerment · Environmental ethics · Epistemology · Paternalism · Political philosophy · Political science · Politics · Social science · Sociology · Foucault, Power, and Ethics · Law · Philosophical Ethics and Theory · Philosophy · Political Philosophy and Ethics

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