Republicans prefer civic-minded dispositions over civic virtue to avoid the positive liberty connotation.
Evidence
There are two reasons, the first that within republicanism there is no mutually agreed-upon explanation of what civic virtue actually is. Second, there is no need for such a definition, given that its precise meaning is influenced by each polity’s circumstances. This might be why Lovett and Pettit mention that for republicans committed to the nondomination ideal, it might be “better to speak of civicminded dispositions rather than civic virtue,” as the latter concept could be considered strongly associated with the positive liberty conception that we are free when we exert our citizenship rights (2009, 24). Lovett describes these dispositions as “a set of behavioral dispositions, not grounded in material interests alone, that contribute to the health and maintenance of a political order regarded on some grounds as desirable”; equally important, this conception “remains agnostic as to the psychological basis for the behavioral disposition in question” (2022, 196). — Adelin-Costin Dumitru, Forging the Resistive Republic, 15
Categorization
- DEFINE: Clarifies the distinction between ‘civic virtue’ and ‘civic-minded dispositions’ in republican theory.
- corroborated: 2 independent passages support this claim — Adelin-Costin Dumitru, Forging the Resistive Republic: Social…, 15
- XREF: connects to: Civic virtue advances republican freedom instrumentally, not intrinsically. — Frank Lovett, Republicanism, 65; Republican liberty may not require citizens to be inwardly virtuous. — Adelin-Costin Dumitru, Forging the Resistive Republic: Social…, 21; Republican civic virtue is thin enough to suit pluralist societies — Adelin-Costin Dumitru, Forging the Resistive Republic: Social…, 27 (+1 more)
Related
- Civic virtue advances republican freedom instrumentally, not intrinsically. (similarity 0.88)
- Republican civic virtue is thin enough to suit pluralist societies (similarity 0.88)
- Republican theorists have historically neglected explaining how civic norms emerge. (similarity 0.88)
- Republican liberty may not require citizens to be inwardly virtuous. (similarity 0.87)
- Civic virtue is an instrumental means to liberty, not a perfectionist end (similarity 0.82)
- Republican civic virtue and a game-theoretic view of democracy can be reconciled. (similarity 0.80)
- Republican governance presupposes social capital that citizens must actively build (similarity 0.80)
- Lacking civic virtue costs a person identity, not just effort. (similarity 0.78)
Broader Connections
- Republican liberty may not require citizens to be inwardly virtuous.
#expands(0.90) — Adelin-Costin Dumitru, Forging the Resistive Republic, 21 - Republican civic virtue is thin enough to suit pluralist societies
#qualifies(0.80) — Adelin-Costin Dumitru, Forging the Resistive Republic, 27 - Republican theorists have historically neglected explaining how civic norms emerge.
#qualifies(0.75) — Adelin-Costin Dumitru, Forging the Resistive Republic, 19