 However, the concept of the individual begs its pair in society and political institutions, and so critical ethics must become critical politics.It is in this fashion that Miller’s historical idealism can be understood as a "metaphysics of democracy" (a term he borrowed from Walt Whitman’s "Democratic Vistas").The ideal community provides people with the chance to act, the chance to be effective and become historical actors who maintain or revise the conditions of their endeavors.