On the People's Terms

Resumen del libro

According to republican theory, we are free persons to the extent that we are protected and secured in the same fundamental choices, on the same public basis, as one another. But there is no public protection or security without a coercive state. Does this mean that any freedom we enjoy is a superficial good that presupposes a deeper, political form of subjection? Philip Pettit addresses this crucial question in On the People's Terms. He argues that state coercion will not involve individual subjection or domination insofar as we enjoy an equally shared form of control over those in power. This claim may seem utopian but it is supported by a realistic model of the institutions that might establish such democratic control. Beginning with a fresh articulation of republican ideas, Pettit develops a highly original account of the rationale of democracy, breathing new life into democratic theory.

Biografía del autor

Catedrático L. S. Rockefeller de Ciencias Políticas y Valores Humanos en la Universidad de Princeton desde 2002, es, además, catedrático distinguido de Filosofía en la Universidad Nacional de Australia. Su trabajo ha versado sobre teoría moral y política y sobre cuestiones fundamentales en filosofía de la mente y metafísica. Considerado uno de los más sólidos exponentes del llamado neorrepublicanismo, su teoría se edifica sobre la concepción de la libertad como no-dominación. Entre sus libros cabe mencionar: The Common Mind (1996); Rules, Reasons and Norms (2002); Made with Words: Hobbes on Language, Mind and Politics (2008); Just Freedom: A Moral Compass for a Complex World (2014), y, en castellano, Republicanismo. Una teoría sobre la libertad y el gobierno (1999); Una teoría de la libertad (2006), y Examen a Zapatero (2007). Una colección de artículos sobre su obra, Common Minds: Themes from the Philosophy of Philip Pettit , apareció en 2007.