Trotter Griffin
Center for Health Care Ethics, Saint Louis University, 221 N. Grand Blvd., Missouri 63103, USA.
J Med Philos. 2006 Jun;31(3):235-50. doi: 10.1080/03605310600712786.
Thomas Hobbes is one of the most ardent and thoroughgoing opponents of participatory democracy among Western political philosophers. Though Hobbes's alternative to participatory democracy-assent by subjects to rule by an absolute sovereign-no longer constitutes a viable political alternative for Westerners, his critique of participatory democracy is a potentially valuable source of insight about its liabilities. This essay elaborates five theses from Hobbes that stand as cogent warnings to those who embrace participatory democracy, especially those (such as most bioethicists) advocating for deliberative democracy based on a rational consensus model. In light of these warnings, the author suggests an alternative, modus vivendi approach to deliberative democracy that would radically alter the current practice of bioethics.
托马斯·霍布斯是西方政治哲学家中参与式民主最激烈、最彻底的反对者之一。尽管霍布斯提出的参与式民主的替代方案——臣民同意由绝对君主统治——已不再是西方人可行的政治选择，但他对参与式民主的批判对于洞察其弊端而言，是一个潜在的宝贵思想源泉。本文阐述了霍布斯的五个论点，这些论点对支持参与式民主的人，尤其是那些（如大多数生物伦理学家）倡导基于理性共识模式的协商民主的人，构成了有力警示。鉴于这些警示，作者提出了一种替代的、权宜之计的协商民主方法，这将从根本上改变当前生物伦理学的实践。
