New Books in Philosophy Lisa Herzog, "Citizen Knowledge: Markets, Experts, and the Infrastructure of Democracy" (Oxford UP, 2023)
4 snips
Feb 1, 2024 Explore the relationship between democracy and epistemology, focusing on responsible information gathering and historical critiques of citizen ignorance. Learn about the hazards of market-based thinking in democracy and how it interfaces with expert communities and public deliberation. Discover an integrated political epistemology for democracy through Lisa Herzog's book 'Citizen Knowledge: Markets, Experts, and the Infrastructure of Democracy'.
AI Snips
Chapters
Transcript
Episode notes
Design Democracy Around Institutions
- Democratic institutionalism treats democracy as a normative baseline, not merely an epistemic tool.
- The task is to design institutions that realize democratic ideals while managing knowledge effectively.
Tobacco Industry's Knowledge Playbook
- Herzog recounts how the tobacco industry distorted scientific knowledge for decades by sponsoring alternative research and sowing doubt.
- That strategy delayed regulation and later inspired tactics in other industries like oil and gas.
Facts Themselves Become Political
- Many political disputes now center on contested facts and the generation of knowledge itself.
- This epistemic politicization makes democratic decision-making far more difficult than assuming 'facts' are settled.