A Defense of Inclusive, Deliberative Democracy Based on Peirce’s Sentimental Conservatism

Peirce’s sentimental conservatism entails that our political processes should be inclusive, deliberative, and democratic. Sentimental conservatism is the doctrine that instead of letting our philosophical (including ethical and political) theories guide how we conduct our lives we should rely on our sentiments and instincts. A key feature of Peirce’s sentimental conservatism is that some of our sentiments are merely culturally-inculcated prejudices and we should be highly cautious of relying on them. In the political domain, our best way of sorting out reliable instinctual sentiments from our merely culturally-inculcated prejudices is through inclusive, deliberative democracy.