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Contemporary Pragmatism Vol. 3, No. 1 (June 2006), 85104 Editions Rodopi © 2006 This article critiques Jeffrey Stout's suggestion in Democracy and Tradition that the practice of critical democratic questioning itself forms part of a historically unique secular tradition. While the practice of democratic questioning makes a valuable contribution to the project of fostering an "enlarged mentality" among the adherents of any particular tradition, Stout's contention that this practice itself points to the existence of a substantive tradition, one that stands apart from and is not reliant upon the moral sources of the traditions it engages, remains problematic. 1. Freedom, Constraint by Norms, and Faith "Freedom," Jeffrey Stout tells us in Democracy and Tradition, "is a kind of constraint by norms." In saying this, he is nodding his head toward those theologians and thinkers like Stanley Hauerwas, who emphasize the essential role that tradition, in particular the Christian religious tradition, plays in maintaining the commitments, institutions, and practices through which its members are able to acquire excellent skills, virtuous habits, and good characters. It is in the space created by such traditional constraints, Stout says, that people become free to do most things that are worthwhile doing. "These
Contemporary Pragmatism – Brill
Published: Apr 21, 2006
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