55-01.202.405 Political Epistemology (T/P)

Lehrende: Dr. Julian Müller

Veranstaltungsart: Hauptseminar

Anzeige im Stundenplan:

Semesterwochenstunden: 2

Credits: 4,0

Unterrichtssprache: Englisch

Min. | Max. Teilnehmerzahl: 1 | 25

Kontingentschema: Phil_Standard_WS1415

Weitere Informationen:
Für den erfolgreichen Besuch dieser Veranstaltung im Rahmen des Fachspezifischen Wahbereichs werden 4 LP angerechnet.

Kommentare/ Inhalte:
Political Epistemology is a new area of research at the intersection of epistemology and political philosophy. The research area also draws heavily on neighboring fields such as cognitive psychology, political science as well as media studies. Even though the field is relatively young, it already spans a wide array of topics, such as discussions about truth claims in politics, debates about polarization and disagreement. Moreover, political buzzwords such as populism, fake news, filter bubbles and echo chambers fall under its purview. In addition, more topics – such as ignorance and irrationality in politics – that stand orthogonal to the traditional debates in political philosophy found a new home under this rubric. Theorists in this field work on questions of epistemic virtues and vices in politics, but also deal with issues such as trust and expertise. One of the most prominent lines of research that falls under this heading are epistemic justifications of democracy.

This class will focus on expertise in politics. We will approach this topic in three parts.  In the first part, we will look at three different epistemic conceptions of democracy. The second part will give an overview about the recent empirical literature on political ignorance. The first two parts set up the question of this course: How can we achieve the aspirations of epistemic democrats in the face of voter widespread ignorance, irrationality and polarization. The third part aims to tackle this question not so much by discussing solutions, but by trying to get a deeper understanding of the root problems of reasonable and unreasonable political disagreement. The third parts thus will discuss the role of experts, expertise, and testimony – and more generally the role of science in democracy.  

The class will be taught in English.

Literatur:
k.A. Bitte wenden Sie sich direkt an die Lehrperson.

Zusätzliche Hinweise zu Prüfungen:
Studienleistungen:

• aktive Teilnahme
  
• sorgfältige Vor-/Nachbereitung der Seminarsitzung
  
• weitere Studienleistungen werden ggf. am Anfang der Veranstaltung bekannt gegeben
  

• Hausarbeit (o.ä.)