Can We Make a Democratic Decision by Voting?

Abstract

Can we make a democratic decision by voting? We cannot, this paper argues, unless we presuppose a democratic principle that cannot be chosen in a democratic way. This argument takes the following steps. Having set up the democratic decision-making situation and explained the characteristics of a democratic decision, this paper examines a voting process as a normal way to make a democratic decision. It is argued that we cannot make a democratic decision by voting because the democratic decision-making situation is repeated over and over again, which is called the problem of democratic decision-making by voting. The endless repetition of the situation means that a decision needs a decision rule, which is again in need of a decision on how to make the decision rule. An implication of the main argument is that we need to presuppose a democratic principle, which cannot be democratically chosen, but cannot but be epistemically accepted, by those who would like to make a democratic decision.