Democratic Faith
eBook - ePub

Democratic Faith

  1. 388 pages
  2. English
  3. ePUB (mobile friendly)
  4. Available on iOS & Android
eBook - ePub

Democratic Faith

About this book

The American political reformer Herbert Croly wrote, "For better or worse, democracy cannot be disentangled from an aspiration toward human perfectibility." Democratic Faith is at once a trenchant analysis and a powerful critique of this underlying assumption that informs democratic theory. Patrick Deneen argues that among democracy's most ardent supporters there is an oft-expressed belief in the need to "transform" human beings in order to reconcile the sometimes disappointing reality of human self-interest with the democratic ideal of selfless commitment. This "transformative impulse" is frequently couched in religious language, such as the need for political "redemption." This is all the more striking given the frequent accompanying condemnation of traditional religious belief that informs the "democratic faith.?


At the same time, because so often this democratic ideal fails to materialize, democratic faith is often subject to a particularly intense form of disappointment. A mutually reinforcing cycle of faith and disillusionment is frequently exhibited by those who profess a democratic faith--in effect imperiling democratic commitments due to the cynicism of its most fervent erstwhile supporters.


Deneen argues that democracy is ill-served by such faith. Instead, he proposes a form of "democratic realism" that recognizes democracy not as a regime with aspirations to perfection, but that justifies democracy as the regime most appropriate for imperfect humans. If democratic faith aspires to transformation, democratic realism insists on the central importance of humility, hope, and charity.

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Yes, you can access Democratic Faith by Patrick Deneen in PDF and/or ePUB format, as well as other popular books in Politics & International Relations & Democracy. We have over one million books available in our catalogue for you to explore.

Table of contents

  1. Table of Contents
  2. ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
  3. PREFACE WORSHIPING DEMOCRACY THE PANTHEON AND THE GODDESS OF DEMOCRACY
  4. INTRODUCTION Dynamics of Democratic Faith
  5. PART ONE: DEMOCRATIC FAITH AND ITS DISCONTENTS
  6. CHAPTER ONE Faith in Man
  7. CHAPTER TWO Democratic Transformation
  8. CHAPTER THREE Democracy as Trial: Toward a Critique of Democratic Faith
  9. PART TWO: VOICES OF THE DEMOCRATIC FAITHFUL
  10. CHAPTER FOUR Protagoras Unbound: The Democratic Mythology of Protagoras’s Great Speech
  11. CHAPTER FIVE Civil Religion and the Democratic Faith of Rousseau
  12. CHAPTER SIX American Faith: The Translation of Religious Faith to Democratic Faith
  13. PART THREE : FRIENDLY CRITICS OF DEMOCRATIC FAITH
  14. CHAPTER SEVEN “A Pattern Laid Up in Heaven”: Plato’s Democratic Ideal
  15. CHAPTER EIGHT The Only Permanent State: Tocqueville on Religion and Democracy
  16. CHAPTER NINE Hope in America: The Chastened Faith of Reinhold Niebuhr and Christopher Lasch
  17. CONCLUSION A Model of Democratic Charity
  18. NOTES