Max Wertheimer LATE OF THE GRADUATE FACULTY,
NEW SCHOOL FOR SOCIAL RESEARCH

If one tries to understand scientifically what democracy is, one is con-
fronted with this situation. On the one hand there seems to be simple
agreement as to what is meant by democracy, as expressed in the usual
definitions, including such characteristics as "government by the peo-
ple," "majority rule," "freedom of speech," etc., etc. On the other hand
if we look more closely, if we follow the way in which different men deal
concretely with special problems of democracy, the trend, the direction
of attitudes and arguments in actual political situations, in juridical de-
cisions, and in scientific discussions, there seem to be big differences
which often touch the very heart of the matter. Sometimes there are
open contradictions: both parties to an argument insist they are advanc-
ing the real democratic claim; judges contradict each other as to what
a certain democratic principle demands; criticisms of a scientific book
on democracy assert that "the book is scientific, to be sure, but you see,
what he is speaking of is not true democracy at all, he has not the right
idea of democracy." Various factors are involved, factors that differ in

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