Professor Jedediah Purdy of Duke University discusses democratic renewal and political trust
On March 21, the University of Toronto Faculty of Law hosted the 2022–23 Cecil A. Wright Memorial Lecture. Room J140 was full of notable professors, enthusiastic members of the community, and a handful of eager students. The Wright Memorial Lecture has been a recurring nearly-annual event since 1969. It is hosted in honour of former Dean Cecil (“Caesar”) Wright, who held the position from 1949–65 and is credited with helping to develop the modern approach to legal education adopted by U of T.
This year, Jedediah Purdy, Raphael Lemkin Professor at Duke University School of Law, provided the lecture. Among other topics, Prof. Purdy teaches and writes about constitutional law, property law, and political and legal theory. Prof. Purdy published a book in 2022 called Two Cheers for Politics: Why Democracy is Flawed, Frightening—and Our Best Hope.
Prof. Purdy rapidly delivered a lecture filled with complex ideas. Though my typing speed is sub-par, I will do my best to briefly summarize Prof. Purdy’s thoughts.
In his lecture, Prof. Purdy focused on the role that trust plays in politics. Prof. Purdy started by describing trust as the constellation of attitudes that makes dependence on others tolerable and the vulnerability which that trust entails bearable. Prof. Purdy went on to explain a form of trust called “Democratic Trust”: the willingness to hand over major political questions to shifting majorities. Democratic Trust, according to Prof. Purdy, seems to be dependent on either the belief that a collective exists or the belief that others are morally capable of making decisions.
Prof. Purdy lamented that Democratic Trust has been degrading in North America since the 1970s, further exacerbated by the rise of populism. In explaining part of what underlies this trend, Prof. Purdy discussed the failure of neoliberalism’s assumption, and Adam Smith’s original promise, that markets can improve trust in society. Prof. Purdy stressed the importance of trust in democracies and noted that the recent impulse towards popular sovereignty highlights the importance of Democratic Trust in a polity that obtains its legitimacy from a democratic tradition.
Prof. Purdy ended by noting the importance of asking whether it is possible for politics, moving forward, to help build Democratic Trust in a virtuous cycle, thereby undoing the current trend.
During the question period, one member of the audience noted the pessimistic tone of the lecture and asked whether Prof. Purdy had anything optimistic to provide. Prof. Purdy considered this for a moment before providing his thoughtful answer. He noted that, historically, there have been times when the United States showed some capacity to create real change in people’s lives, coupled with an increase in Democratic Trust. From this, Prof. Purdy stipulated that whenever people have the capacity to change things and find that the changes they were able to make created a better world for enough of them, then that might be a start towards an increase in trust.
Prof. Purdy’s lecture, in my opinion, was a wake-up call to anyone that lives in, and depends on, functioning democracies. While the lecture may seem “doom and gloom” at first, Prof. Purdy had some key insights on how we might move forward to create a better tomorrow.
If you are interested in learning more about Jedediah Purdy, check out his latest book or stay tuned for the lecture recording to be posted on the U of T Law website.
