Richard Tuck wants to show that it is rational to vote. Mancur Olson argued that it is irrational to vote because individual votes have little or no causal power over electoral outcomes. Tuck wants to prove that Olson is mistaken. Tuck argues some votes are causally efficacious. However, even if Tuck succeeds in showing that some votes are causally efficacious, all this does is undermine part of Olson’s worry about whether voting is instrumentally rational. Showing that votes are causally efficacious is not sufficient to show that voting is rational. Tuck fails to show that it is rational to vote except in unusual cases.
Tuck on the Rationality of Voting: A Critical Note
Tuck on the Rationality of Voting: A Critical Note
Recent Publications
- Common Law Liberalism: A New Theory of the Libertarian Society (Oxford University Press, 2024)
- “Diversity and Group Performance,” Encyclopedia of Diversity, Springer, 2024
- “Evading and Aiding: The Moral Case Against Paying Taxes,” with Christopher Freiman and Jessica Flanigan, Extreme Philosophy, ed. Stephen Hetherington, Routledge (2024)
- “Online Sports Betting Giants Place Their Bets Against Growing Rivals”
- “Liberal Tolerance for an Illiberal, Intolerant Age”
Recent News
- Advocacy group concerned pay-for-plasma clinics expanding to Ontario will hurt voluntary donations
- Jason Brennan and Hélène Landemore, Debating Democracy (University of Zurich’s UBS Center, 2024)
- Jason Brennan “Everything Wrong with Democracy” on the Alex O’Connor Podcast (January 28, 2024)
- On the affirmative action ruling, the Supreme Court got it half right
- Jaworksi on CHQR: Commercial-compensated plasma collections