Social Choice and Democratic Values

This book offers a comprehensive overview and critique of the most important political and philosophical interpretations of the basic results of social choice, assessing their plausibility and seeking to identify the links between the theory of social cho

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Eerik Lagerspetz

Social Choice and Democratic Values

Studies in Choice and Welfare

Editor-in-Chief M. Fleurbaey, USA M. Salles, France

Series editors B. Dutta, United Kingdom W. Gaertner, Germany C. Herrero Blanco, Spain B. Klaus, Switzerland P.K. Pattanaik, USA K. Suzumura, Japan W. Thomson, USA

More information about this series at http://www.springer.com/series/6869

Eerik Lagerspetz

Social Choice and Democratic Values

Eerik Lagerspetz Department of Behavioural Sciences and Philosophy University of Turku Turku Finland

ISSN 1614-0311 ISSN 2197-8530 (electronic) Studies in Choice and Welfare ISBN 978-3-319-23260-7 ISBN 978-3-319-23261-4 (eBook) DOI 10.1007/978-3-319-23261-4 Library of Congress Control Number: 2015957810 Springer Cham Heidelberg New York Dordrecht London © Springer International Publishing Switzerland 2016 This work is subject to copyright. All rights are reserved by the Publisher, whether the whole or part of the material is concerned, specifically the rights of translation, reprinting, reuse of illustrations, recitation, broadcasting, reproduction on microfilms or in any other physical way, and transmission or information storage and retrieval, electronic adaptation, computer software, or by similar or dissimilar methodology now known or hereafter developed. The use of general descriptive names, registered names, trademarks, service marks, etc. in this publication does not imply, even in the absence of a specific statement, that such names are exempt from the relevant protective laws and regulations and therefore free for general use. The publisher, the authors and the editors are safe to assume that the advice and information in this book are believed to be true and accurate at the date of publication. Neither the publisher nor the authors or the editors give a warranty, express or implied, with respect to the material contained herein or for any errors or omissions that may have been made. Printed on acid-free paper Springer International Publishing AG Switzerland is part of Springer Science+Business Media (www.springer.com)

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Preface

This book has a very long history. The oldest parts of it have been written over twenty years ago. After that I have abandoned the text, taken it up, and again abandoned it. I changed the general plan of the work, changed it again, and finally returned to the initial plan. Many non-philosophers, and even some philosophers, tend to think that philosophy is basically inventing justifications for the beliefs you already happen to have. This book—and it is meant to be a philosophical book—is a counterexample. During the writing process I have changed my mind about many issues—and more than once. J. R. Tolkien’s Hobbits, those lovable creatures, liked to have “books filled with things that they already knew, set out fair and square with no contradictions”. They would not like a book like this. It is not set out fair and square and it probably contains contradictions. I hope, however, that it is not filled only with thin