Epistemic Approaches to Democracy

Abstract

Epistemic approaches to democracy matter for at least two reasons. On the one hand, there is a lively literature appealing to the epistemic performance of democracy, in order to advance an instrumental argument in favour of democracy. This literature typically analysis the institutions of democracy in epistemic terms and appeals to formal models, such as jury theorems and other aggregation mechanisms. On the other hand, there is a sustained interest in how the reshaping of the public sphere by new technologies and changing norms has impacted on the ability of democracies to educate and inform citizens and to prevent the formation of false beliefs, either individually or collectively. This critical-analytical literature investigates how the knowledge production processes active in democratic societies may have been changed or perhaps been undermined by social media and other changes to public information exchange. This panel invites proponents and critics of epistemic approaches to democracy to engage in a fruitful exchange.

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