Three errors about republicanism: a reply to Jafarov and Huseynli

Abstract

ABSTRACT In their paper, ‘Republican Freedom, Domination, and Ignorability,’ Jafarov and Huseynli argue that our analysis of republican freedom in terms of an ignorability test fails to distinguish republicanism from liberalism. In this reply, we defend our view, showing that their argument rests on three common errors about republicanism: first, that republicanism must distinguish itself from liberalism to succeed; second, that republicans cannot admit probabilistic reasoning; and third, that republican liberty and pure negative liberty generate equivalent judgments about freedom.