abstract
- © 2018 Pontificio Seminario Mayor San Rafael. All Rights Reserved. University students may contribute to the quality of democracy in their country to the extent that they learn to distinguish how corruption is part of their day-to-day practices, they combat it and commit themselves to be attentive regarding the honesty of their actions and the veracity of their discourse. We describe the implications of understanding democracy as government by discussion; we then propose public reason as the sine qua non of a democracy that seeks social justice and requires citizens willing to debate ideas honestly, rigorously, and critically, in public debates and with a passion for the truth. We contrast these ideas with the findings from a yearly survey of university students.