What happens to democracy when shared problems grow too vast for citizens to see clearly?

In The Public and Its Problems, John Dewey asks how ordinary people can govern themselves in a world of giant firms, railways, telegraphs and mass newspapers. Walter Lippmann doubts that voters can know enough to judge modern affairs. Dewey accepts much of the problem, but rejects government left to experts.

Dewey begins with the consequences people share: the effects of actions that reach beyond those directly involved. From there, he explores how a public forms, what a state is for, and why democratic machinery alone is not enough. The central challenge is how people find one another, understand their common problems and act together.

この本で学べること

• How a public forms Follow Dewey from private actions to shared consequences that call people into public life.
• A state worth questioning Explore why the state must be remade rather than treated as a settled answer.
• Democracy beyond its machinery Consider why the machinery of government is a means, not democracy’s final goal.
• The public in shadow See how trade, travel and giant firms connect people while obscuring their shared problems.
• Communication and common life Discover why better inquiry, discussion and persuasion matter to Dewey’s idea of the Great Community.

どのような方におすすめですか？

民主主義が実際にどう働くのかを問い、1世紀前の思想家を通して、今のニュースや投票、専門家、地域社会を見る目を磨きたい人に向いています。