The Concept of Democracy

This book defends a radical view: the word 'democracy' means nothing and should be abandoned. According to the abolitionist, the switch to alternative devices would be a significant communicative, cognitive, and political advance, enabling us to ask better questions, provide genuinely fruitful answers, and have more rational discussions.

Herman Cappelen is a Chair Professor at the University of Hong Kong, the Co-Director of ConceptLab-HK, and the Director of AI&Humanity-Lab. He works in all areas of systematic philosophy and has written 10 monographs and many influential papers.

Preface and Acknowledgements
Part I: A Theory of Abandonment
1: Introduction
2: Arguments for Abandonment
3: Abandonment compared to Elimination, Reduction, Replacement, and Amelioration
4: Abandonment and Communication
Part II: Some Data about 'Democracy'
5: The Ordinary Notion of 'Democracy': Methodological Preamble
6: Some Data about 'Democracy' and 'Democratic'
Part III: Abandonment of 'Democracy'?
7: Problems with 'Democracy'
8: Better than 'Democracy': A Chapter of Good Cheers
9: Consequences of Abandoning 'Democracy'
Part IV: Democracy Ameliorated
10: Ameliorations of 'Democracy'
11: Verbal Disputes about 'Democracy'
Part V: Efforts to Defend Democracy
12: Objections and Replies
Bibliography