Public Perspective

Maria Paola Ferretti is a senior researcher in Political Theory at the Goethe University of Frankfurt on Main (Germany), where she is currently working on a research project on the ethics of risk imposition funded by the German Research Foundation (DFG). She has studied philosophy in Italy (Laurea, University of Pavia 1995) and Political Theory in Britain (MA York 1997; PhD Manchester 2002). Her research interests include contemporary liberalism, democratic participation, and the ethics of public policy, with a focus on risk regulation and political corruption. She has published in journals such as Politics, Philosophy and Economics, the Journal of Applied Philosophy, Social Philosophy and Policy, Review of Policy Research, Res Publica, and Philosophy Compass. She is a member of the executive committee of the Society for Applied Philosophy and secretary of the ECPR specialist group in Political Theory.

• CH. 1 THE PUBLIC PERSPECTIVE: AN INTRODUCTION / CH.2 PUBLIC REASON AND AGREEMENT / CH.3 THE ETHICS OF BELIEF AND THE LIBERAL TRADITION / CH.4 HAVING REASONS AND GIVING REASONS / CH.5 FACING DISAGREEMENT / CH.6 EQUAL FREEDOM / CH. 7 LIBERAL MULTICULTURALISM / 8. CONCLUSIONS / ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS / BIBLIOGRAPHY

A clear argument showing why public justification is crucial for democratic and pluralistic society. Ferretti throws a novel light on this crucial issue by intersecting politics with ethics and epistemology, showing that democratic deliberation, if combined with equal respect for autonomous agents, requires a public perspective on reasons and a commitment of citizens to scrutinize their beliefs in the light of logic, knowledge and probability.