Saturday, August 22, 2020

I'm extremely proud of the endorsements that will appear on the back cover of my new book on democracy.

 

Here they are in full. (They were shortened to fit on the cover.)


Walter Horn's Democratic Theory Naturalized: The Foundations of Distilled Populism is a brave, serious, scholarly yet approachable treatise on populism, both in theory and in practice.  In the current moment when populism is too easily and readily associated with the unfettered and uneducated rule of the masses, Horn works tirelessly to defend its democratic bona fides while displaying the many ways in which what passes for democratic rule fails to represent the will of the people.  It is impossible to read this book without finding one's own views repeatedly challenged and positions that one has dismissed out of hand resurface in stronger form, arduously defended.  The general thesis is out of fashion from a theoretical point of view, but the joy and excellence of the book resides in the quality and character of the arguments brought to bear in its favor.  It's the kind of book that even a critic of the main thesis, as I am, cannot help but admire and would be a fool not to appreciate.  A timely book and quite an enjoyable read: hardly common features of serious works in political philosophy!


Jules Coleman, Senior Vice Provost, Emeritus and Professor of Philosophy, NYU (and author of The Practice of Principle: In Defence of a Pragmatist Approach to Legal Theory: Oxford University Press, 2003) 


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Walter Horn provides a tour de force of ideas related to democracy, from a theory of value that leads to a conception of the purpose of democracy, to implications for the extent of the franchise, to ideas about the best ways for democracies to aggregate preferences and to implement representative government, and finally to a potpourri of recommendations for constitutional improvements. It is worthwhile food for thought for anyone concerned with how we ought to govern ourselves. 

 

Nicolaus Tideman, Professor of Economics, Virginia Tech (and author of Collective Decisions and Voting: Routledge, 2017)

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This book combines rigorous philosophical analysis with normative political theory. It provides a bold and well-argued defense of democracy conceived basically as the government by majorities. It is stimulating reading, challenging for those who have started to doubt the relevancy of democratic values.

Eerik Lagerspetz
Professor of Moral and Political Philosophy, University of Turku (and author of Social Choice and Democratic Values: Springer, 2016)


https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/179362495X/ref=dbs_a_def_rwt_bibl_vppi_i0


4 comments:

Writer / Mom / Kid at Heart said...

This looks terrific. Congrats on such glowing blurbs!

walto said...

Thanks!

Jim Calliotte said...

Walter, The endorsements have got me interested, if I wasn't already! Looking forward to reading your book, that is, if a lay person has a chance of understanding such a scholarly work!!

walto said...

Thanks, Jim! I think most of it will be pretty accessible to those with even a casual interest in government or democracy. Maybe a couple of chapters will be a little boring, but those can can be skimmed or skipped without TOO much loss. And even those aren't really that technical, but they may seem a bit...let's say...hyper-detailed to those not "up on the lit."

Meanwhile, let me recommend YOUR new book a really fun young adult, fantasy novel!