Democracy and disagreement / Amy Gutmann, Dennis Thompson.

Includes bibliographical references and index.

The Persistence of Moral Disagreement -- The Sense of Reciprocity -- The Value of Publicity -- The Scope of Accountability -- The Promise of Utilitarianism -- The Constitution of Deliberative Democracy -- The Latitude of Liberty -- The Obligations of Welfare -- The Ambiguity of Fair Opportunity.

The din and deadlock of public life in America - where insults are traded, slogans proclaimed, and self-serving deals are made and unmade - reveal the deep disagreement that pervades our democracy. The disagreement is not only political but also moral, as citizens and their representatives increasingly take extreme and intransigent positions. A better kind of public discussion is needed, and Amy Gutmann and Dennis Thompson provide an eloquent argument for "deliberative democracy" today.