ABSTRACT
The theory of democracy exhibits a profound and large-scale interrelation of means and ends, of instruments and values. Conceived by many simply as a political issue, a device by which decision may express the maximum agreement of the parties concerned, it turns out—when its assumptions have been rendered clear—to be a whole way of life, including ideals and principles, attitudes and techniques. Starting out as a method of increasing the satisfaction of human aims, it ends up by presenting a set of broad values which partially express but at the same time partially refashion the direction of men’s strivings. It is the purpose of the present chapter to survey the ideals, principles, and attitudes that constitute democracy and to suggest that democracy in the widest sense represents the systematization of the effort to achieve liberty and freedom for men.
