Abstract

It is common to think that democracy happens out in the open, where everyone can see. So, we tend to regard our civic responsibilities as duties to engage in public and collective action. To be sure, democracy does require us to act together in public. But democracy is more fundamentally a matter of what we bring to collective public engagement—the attitudes, habit, and dispositions that drive us to political action. This chapter set out a conception of the internal requirements of responsible citizenship. It argues that democratic citizens need to advocate in ways that are public-minded, responsive, and transparent. Together, these requirements form a conception of civility. Democratic citizens thus must advocate in ways that are civil. But civility is not a matter of maintaining polite relations with opponents. It rather has to do with our civic character.