Abstract
The idea that United States higher education ought to aim at education for democratic citizenship dates back to the founding of the American Democracy. In this dissertation, I explore the philosophical justifications behind this historic aim together with those arguments behind the kind of educational process that best achieves it, namely, a liberal arts education. While I do not attempt to provide a new theoretical justification for the aim of education for democratic citizenship, I do revisit the merits of arguments that have. For example, must the mission of a United States higher education speak to the destiny of our democratic society? Must higher education act as the principal “guarantor” of our nation’s socio-political mission, assuming we can establish one? If yes, why and on what basis? Moreover, why is a kind of liberal arts education the best educational process to ensure for it?