New Boundaries of Epistemic Concerns in Deliberative Democracy: What are the Challenges?

Abstract

Deliberative democracy is commonly argued to have an epistemic value, suggesting that it can increase knowledge of the participants and can help to resolve complex political issues (Goodin 2017, Min & Wong 2018). This value lies in a range of features of deliberation including an emphasis on reason-giving and justification (Talisse 2009), the incorporation of different perspectives in the process (Landemore 2013), and the possible clarification of the nature of existing disagreements (List 2019). However, the kinds of information available to citizens can challenge this value. For example, fake news or disinformation influences citizens’ knowledge and can hinder their ability to identify correct decisions (Brown 2019). Conspiracy theories can lead to cynicism, polarization, and inauthenticity, undermining the creation of communication systems characterised by the use of facts and mutual respect (McKay& Tenove 2020). This panel revisits epistemic debates within deliberative democracy with special attention to disinformation, conspiracy theories and truth. The papers collected by this panel analyse the value of expertise, investigate whether deliberative institutions can provide epistemic guidance for wider publics, and whether the testimony has any value in deliberative settings. Others investigate the very foundations of the epistemic value of deliberation. Together, papers within this panel provide the state-of-the-art review of current epistemic debates within deliberative democracy. Bibliography: • Brown, E. (2018) Propaganda, Misinformation, and the Epistemic Value of Democracy, Critical Review, 30:3-4,194-218, DOI: 10.1080/08913811.2018.1575007 • Goodin, R. E. (2017). The epistemic benefits of deliberative democracy. Policy Sciences, 50(3), 351-366. • Landemore, H. (2013). Democratic reason: Politics, collective intelligence, and the rule of the many. Princeton: Princeton University Press (Chapter 4). • List, C. (2019). Democratic deliberation and social choice: A review. Oxford Handbook of Deliberative Democracy. Oxford: Oxford University Press • McKay S, Tenove C. (2020). Disinformation as a Threat to Deliberative Democracy. Political Research Quarterly. doi:10.1177/1065912920938143 • Min, John B, & Wong, James K. (2018). Epistemic approaches to deliberative democracy. Philosophy Compass, 13(6), E12497-N/a. • Talisse, R. (2009). Democracy and Moral Conflict. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

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