The Practice of Good Citizenship

If respect for human dignity forms the basis of good citizenship, what practises should a person cultivate in order to be a good citizen? This chapter proposes that there are four key practices—reason, tolerance, civic participation and kindness—which are necessary for good citizenship to flourish: reason, tolerance, participation and kindness. Decision-making by the use of reason—and rejection of its opposite, which is arbitrariness—lies at the heart of a society based on human dignity. Yet, even in democracies, reason faces challenges from religious-based decision-making which substitutes subjective belief for objective deliberation, conservatism which sees inquiry into progress as futile and populism which substitutes decision-making based on emotion for that based on analysis. Reason-based decision-making is directed towards the ascertainment of the truth, which in turn depends on tolerance of adverse opinion, because consideration of the widest possible range of views maximises the likelihood of truth being discovered. Participation in public life, and in particular participation in political processes, is the way in which people give effect to the values underlying good citizenship and contribute to the common good. The level of public participation in a society is therefore a barometer of its citizens’ commitment to it. Finally, the willingness of people to engage in public participation is affected by the way in which others interact with them, hence the importance of kindness, civility and altruism, which help build social capital.