Evaluation of The Idea of a Deliberation Day from an Aristotelian Perspective

The idea of deliberation day as set out in the paper co-authored by Ackerman and Fishkin proposes a new national holiday for large scale deliberative polling which gives citizens the opportunity to become better informed about upcoming major elections, to intensely question the candidates on their proposed policies and also to put forth their own ideas on what they feel needs to be done. It is thought that through the event of deliberation day, candidates will be forced to create and produce more in depth and informed policy agendas as they will be under intense scrutiny. In this essay I will evaluate through my knowledge of Aristotle, how this concept fits into the Aristotelian perspective of democracy. Aristotle's ideal form of government is polity which consists of a mixture of democracy and oligarchy. These two forms of government which on their own he considers deviant combine to, in an Aristotelian perspective to be the best form of government and would lead to a better society. Through polity Aristotle says a large majority of the population will be of moderate wealth, virtue and ambition and it is a society whose population mostly consists of such people which is best. He believes this is because as he states, “among members of the middle section that you find least reluctance to hold office as well as least eagerness to do so” (Aristotle., Sinclair and Saunders, 1992). The concept of positions in office being circulated among citizens is an Aristotelian concept which would work best in a middle society as such as there would not be conflict arising due to the people being peers and equals with similar interests.

Due to the majority sharing similar needs and desires, Aristotle reasons that no good citizen will act out of bitter self-interest but consider the views of, his peers as the control is shared among them. The reasoning behind the importance placed on the middle class of people is that excessive wealth but also extreme poverty lead to corruption and blind people of their reason which he so highly values. Overall the theory of polity values the domination of people from a moderate leisure class who share the power in a democratic like way but does not value including the poor or the rich significantly in the decision-making process as they do not serve the needs of the many only themselves. Aristotle highly values involvement with the state as the key to be a good citizen but he severely limits who may be called a citizen. There are different aspects of the concept of deliberation day which coincide with the Aristotelian perspective but also some which conflict with it. The overall aim of deliberation day is to make citizens more actively involved and informed about the government.

As it is proposed as a national holiday and would involve pay being subsided, it means it is in people's best interest to participate whereas currently it is not. This is an aspect of the concept which fits into the views of Aristotle, he certainly valued the participation of citizens and essentially viewed it as their ultimate role to support and contribute positively to the state. As this would involve all citizens, including those who are running to be elected and subsequently to rule in a sense, it would coincide with the Aristotelian perspective which values discussion among peers and equals to reach the ultimate goal. The importance of deliberation and consideration is made clear in book four of Aristotle's “The Politics” chapter fourteen (Aristotle. , Sinclair and Saunders, 1992), but it is also pointed out that from his perspective not every single person is needed to deliberate on every matter this proves to conflict with the very inclusive approach deliberation day. While in the writings of Aristotle he makes the point that he believes many should be involved in the deliberative process but certainly not all, this is mainly based on his view of citizenship which is a very restricted concept through his views. Therefore, if we apply the Aristotelian perspective of deliberation in the modern context where citizenship is a much broader concept, it very positively fits. Aristotle highly values virtue and this being involves being educated. He often seems conflicted in his writing about the need to give power to the many to live in a just society but also the detrimental impact of allowing those who are of little virtue to have power. He is consistently wary of the lack of understanding and insight that many people do not have which leads to making decisions purely out of self-interest. The concept of deliberation day offers a solution to this societal struggle, by making people become aware and educated on the important matters and decisions which face them, there is a much smaller likelihood of self-conceited and ignorant decisions being made.

While it is inevitable that certain people will still choose to vote with little regard to the common good and to their own stake within the matter, this number of people is sure to be a miniscule minority. Within Aristotle's polity it is a democratic voting system and therefore the views of the majority are what will supersede all else, therefore ensuring the citizens are correctly informed and aware about the policies and proposals by candidates they will make the best decision for most of the society. Deliberation day offers a solution to the worry that through Aristotelian thinking that the wrong decision will be reached if power is given to the many. This makes the concept of Polity more achievable as it rectifies one of its flaws, this meaning that deliberation day would be a concept which aligns with the thinking of Aristotle, however while it does in theory work within the Aristotelian perspective it may be a concept would have been more difficult to apply during the time of Aristotle compared to now. Similarly, to the previous observation, it would involve putting these views and ideals into a modern concept and allowing for a certain amount of flexibility.

Regarding who holds power and has a dominant role within the government Aristotle states there is no just deciding factor other than that of virtue. Through Aristotelian thinking the man/men of most intellectual and moral virtue ought to have power within society and hold an important place in office. But virtue is difficult to decipher and often people rise to power by other means such as wealth and nobility. A key element of deliberation day is that candidates are put under scrutiny by citizens and quizzed on their plans and proposals, this element forces more in-depth details of these plans to be shared and limits the amount of false or misleading campaigns often seen in elections. Candidates must produce transparent policies and be able to support these with strong evidence and plans in place. The transparency of elections created by deliberation day also create an opportunity for the virtue of candidates to come to light or perhaps not to. During the time spent with the candidates, the citizens will be able to better determine the character of the person. The whole process of deliberation day increases the likelihood of people of virtue being put into positions of power which support the Aristotelian perspective and is a step towards Aristotle's ideal polity. While an interesting concept there are some logistical matters which come in to play with deliberation day if It was to be put into action. The huge cost of organizing such an event would lead to cuts in other vital areas or mean a huge increase in taxes in order to create the extra capital needed. The shutdown of all laborer for the day would also have an economical effect. The grouping of people would need to be done randomly which could result in people having to travel in order to attend their deliberative polling. These inconveniences would not fit into Aristotelian perspective as it would be wasteful and would not be rational, such hassle would incline him to resort to only the participation of the leisure class who have the time to participate without the absolute upheaval of society.

While evaluating the concept of deliberation day through the lens of Aristotle's writings it was clear that it was a definite aspect which followed his line of thinking. Through determining his overall goals and aspirations of polity and then looking at the ways in which deliberation day help or hinder this aim it is obvious that it provides means by which polity can be achieved. That being said it is only when you apply his thinking to the modern context in most cases that it will be an effective process and most likely would not have been effective in his own times due to the limited views on citizenship in particular. While it does in theory offer ways by which ideal society may be reached, in practice it may not be seen as vitally important through Aristotle's perspective and therefore not worthy of the challenges which it may present.