Republican Citizenship in a Democratic Society

Abstract

Amy Gutmann's Democratic Education might equally well be entitled Republican Education, for its central theme is how to produce true republican citizens-citizens who possess both the ability and the motivation to participate in their deliberative political communities. That such a republican education must take place in a democratic context, however, imposes limits on how educational decisions are made and on what may be taught. Gutmann carefully explores both. The resulting "democratic theory of education" she proposes and examines is a small masterpiece of political theory with implications far beyond the educational context.