Conceptions of deliberative democracy attach a particularly important role to the cognitive or epistemological competence of the agents of the political process. Such competence is viewed as a primary or even exclusive prerequisite qualifying one for the exercise of political power. The belief is amply illustrated by the contemporary debate between, on the one hand, the advocates of the broad participation of the people in democratic governance, and, on the other, the proponents of the deliberative ideal which presupposes that political power should be entrusted only to the people endowed with appropriate cognitive abilities. In my analysis of such cognitocratic conceptions, I stress the perils of the ascription of a prominent role to cognitive competence in the political process. In opposition to the cognitocratic approaches, both in their universalist and egalitarian, as well as elitist or meritocratic versions, I claim that they are marred by what I call the cognitocratic fallacy, and I argue that a more adequate understanding of governance in democratic systems should instead be based upon a political rather than epistemological capital. I also claim that the concept of political ability should be seen as potentially universal and that the potential may be activated through actual participation in democratic politics.
{"title":"Democracy, Interpassivity, and the Cognitocratic Fallacy","authors":"A. Chmielewski","doi":"10.5840/du202232338","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.5840/du202232338","url":null,"abstract":"Conceptions of deliberative democracy attach a particularly important role to the cognitive or epistemological competence of the agents of the political process. Such competence is viewed as a primary or even exclusive prerequisite qualifying one for the exercise of political power. The belief is amply illustrated by the contemporary debate between, on the one hand, the advocates of the broad participation of the people in democratic governance, and, on the other, the proponents of the deliberative ideal which presupposes that political power should be entrusted only to the people endowed with appropriate cognitive abilities. In my analysis of such cognitocratic conceptions, I stress the perils of the ascription of a prominent role to cognitive competence in the political process. In opposition to the cognitocratic approaches, both in their universalist and egalitarian, as well as elitist or meritocratic versions, I claim that they are marred by what I call the cognitocratic fallacy, and I argue that a more adequate understanding of governance in democratic systems should instead be based upon a political rather than epistemological capital. I also claim that the concept of political ability should be seen as potentially universal and that the potential may be activated through actual participation in democratic politics.","PeriodicalId":36732,"journal":{"name":"Dialogue and Universalism","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2022-01-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"71256005","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Understanding the relationship between experts and laypeople is crucial for under-standing today’s world of post-truth and the contemporary crisis of liberal democracy. The emergence of post-truth has been linked to various phenomena such as a flawed social and mass media ecosystem, poor citizen education, and the manipulation tactics of powerful interest groups. The paper argues that the problem is, however, more profound. The underlying issue is laypeople’s inevitable epistemic dependence on experts. The latter is part and parcel of the “risk society” in which people question the scientific consensus and thus are able to manipulate the facts. It is a powerful weapon in the hands of illiberal democrats, though liberal democrats can make no use of it. The latter downplay the problem of citizens’ epistemic deficits and of the epistemic asymmetries be-tween them. The third and fourth generations of deliberative democrats are a perfect example. The paper argues that the concepts of interactional expertise and epistemic dependence explain why understanding between experts and laypeople is impossible. The said phenomena undermine liberalism’s unrealistic assumptions concerning citi-zens’ decision-making competence.
{"title":"Liberal Democracy: Between Epistemic Autonomy and Dependence","authors":"Janusz Grygieńć","doi":"10.5840/du202232339","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.5840/du202232339","url":null,"abstract":"Understanding the relationship between experts and laypeople is crucial for under-standing today’s world of post-truth and the contemporary crisis of liberal democracy. The emergence of post-truth has been linked to various phenomena such as a flawed social and mass media ecosystem, poor citizen education, and the manipulation tactics of powerful interest groups. The paper argues that the problem is, however, more profound. The underlying issue is laypeople’s inevitable epistemic dependence on experts. The latter is part and parcel of the “risk society” in which people question the scientific consensus and thus are able to manipulate the facts. It is a powerful weapon in the hands of illiberal democrats, though liberal democrats can make no use of it. The latter downplay the problem of citizens’ epistemic deficits and of the epistemic asymmetries be-tween them. The third and fourth generations of deliberative democrats are a perfect example. The paper argues that the concepts of interactional expertise and epistemic dependence explain why understanding between experts and laypeople is impossible. The said phenomena undermine liberalism’s unrealistic assumptions concerning citi-zens’ decision-making competence.","PeriodicalId":36732,"journal":{"name":"Dialogue and Universalism","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2022-01-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"71256015","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Total permissiveness can be captured by the phrase “anything goes.” Psychological atomism can be informally characterized by the idea that in the mind anything goes with anything. There is a strong tendency toward such thinking in Western philosophical thought—both in classical antiquity and during and since the Enlightenment. Perhaps the two most important philosophers of the Enlightenment, Hume and Kant, accepted more or less limited forms of atomism, and I shall explain in what follows in the main text and footnotes, why and how I think their atomism goes astray. Since much of Western philosophy since the Enlightenment to some extent bears its imprint, we shall also be seeing some recent examples of ill-conceived atomism. However, and despite the main themes of the present volume, I shall go well beyond the task of dealing with themes in Enlightenment thinking. In fact, I shall be relying on some unfamiliar aspects of Chinese thought to correct quite generally what I take to be erroneous atomistic thinking.
{"title":"Against Psychological Atomism","authors":"M. Slote","doi":"10.5840/du202232115","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.5840/du202232115","url":null,"abstract":"Total permissiveness can be captured by the phrase “anything goes.” Psychological atomism can be informally characterized by the idea that in the mind anything goes with anything. There is a strong tendency toward such thinking in Western philosophical thought—both in classical antiquity and during and since the Enlightenment. Perhaps the two most important philosophers of the Enlightenment, Hume and Kant, accepted more or less limited forms of atomism, and I shall explain in what follows in the main text and footnotes, why and how I think their atomism goes astray. Since much of Western philosophy since the Enlightenment to some extent bears its imprint, we shall also be seeing some recent examples of ill-conceived atomism. However, and despite the main themes of the present volume, I shall go well beyond the task of dealing with themes in Enlightenment thinking. In fact, I shall be relying on some unfamiliar aspects of Chinese thought to correct quite generally what I take to be erroneous atomistic thinking.","PeriodicalId":36732,"journal":{"name":"Dialogue and Universalism","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2022-01-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"71255369","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
In this paper, we address the relevance of virtual worlds for negotiation using the example of Second Life and AltspaceVR; we take into account mindset issues and an avatar’s influence on this process. The concept of negotiation is related here to the concept of a networked society to describe actions undertaken between two or more individuals, groups, and/or organizations. The network is a milieu for negotiating with oneself and with others. Negotiating in a networked space can be an opportunity for self-exploration, subversion, and compensation for the limitations of physical reality, and it also involves background problems and the displacement of power. The term “negotiation” is used in online communities to describe interactions between people who are not physically present but interact with each other through some technical devices, such as the telephone or the Internet. In the waves of technological development, how people organize their lives and behave is a question of convenience. Virtual worlds, in which the human is extended by an avatar (and the avatar by the electronic space), are now being transformed into worlds where the human is just the avatar. The avatar is in the same space the human is in, i.e., in the physical world. This transformation (in fact, a paradigm shift) involves changing the habits of users, who are now adopting new habits in the form of negotiating the physical world with the values and habits of the virtual world.
{"title":"Concepts and Mechanisms of Negotiation Derived from Experiences in the Electronic Milieu","authors":"Sidey Myoo, A. Mróz","doi":"10.5840/du202232226","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.5840/du202232226","url":null,"abstract":"In this paper, we address the relevance of virtual worlds for negotiation using the example of Second Life and AltspaceVR; we take into account mindset issues and an avatar’s influence on this process. The concept of negotiation is related here to the concept of a networked society to describe actions undertaken between two or more individuals, groups, and/or organizations. The network is a milieu for negotiating with oneself and with others. Negotiating in a networked space can be an opportunity for self-exploration, subversion, and compensation for the limitations of physical reality, and it also involves background problems and the displacement of power. The term “negotiation” is used in online communities to describe interactions between people who are not physically present but interact with each other through some technical devices, such as the telephone or the Internet. In the waves of technological development, how people organize their lives and behave is a question of convenience. Virtual worlds, in which the human is extended by an avatar (and the avatar by the electronic space), are now being transformed into worlds where the human is just the avatar. The avatar is in the same space the human is in, i.e., in the physical world. This transformation (in fact, a paradigm shift) involves changing the habits of users, who are now adopting new habits in the form of negotiating the physical world with the values and habits of the virtual world.","PeriodicalId":36732,"journal":{"name":"Dialogue and Universalism","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2022-01-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"71255578","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
This paper is not an indictment of Black banks and financial institutions, but it presents the difficulties and failures of such minority businesses. Unfortunately, some African Americans are naïve when it comes to banking, primarily because of a lack of financial literacy; and such education is not taught in our schools. Of course, financial education is the key for Black patrons who have never had a bank account. Whether this means that African Americans should only bank with Black financial institutions is important to understand, because of the racial disparities and flat-out discrimination when it comes to banking credit and providing business, home, and personal loans to Black banking clientele. In this regard, traditional white banks in the United States simply upset the financial apple-cart, to use the metaphor, when it comes to fairly dealing with Black people—that is, lending to Black entrepreneurs and legitimate borrowers. With the failure of Black banks, because of a lack of capital and high net-worth individuals and white investors, it has been extremely hard for many of these venerable institutions to hang-on when providing maximum loan possibilities needed over the years (sometimes more than necessary).
{"title":"Racial Inequities in American Banking","authors":"Earnest N. Bracey","doi":"10.5840/du202232348","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.5840/du202232348","url":null,"abstract":"This paper is not an indictment of Black banks and financial institutions, but it presents the difficulties and failures of such minority businesses. Unfortunately, some African Americans are naïve when it comes to banking, primarily because of a lack of financial literacy; and such education is not taught in our schools. Of course, financial education is the key for Black patrons who have never had a bank account. Whether this means that African Americans should only bank with Black financial institutions is important to understand, because of the racial disparities and flat-out discrimination when it comes to banking credit and providing business, home, and personal loans to Black banking clientele. In this regard, traditional white banks in the United States simply upset the financial apple-cart, to use the metaphor, when it comes to fairly dealing with Black people—that is, lending to Black entrepreneurs and legitimate borrowers. With the failure of Black banks, because of a lack of capital and high net-worth individuals and white investors, it has been extremely hard for many of these venerable institutions to hang-on when providing maximum loan possibilities needed over the years (sometimes more than necessary).","PeriodicalId":36732,"journal":{"name":"Dialogue and Universalism","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2022-01-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"71255732","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
The European Union conceives IPA preaccession assistance funds as an instrument of support to the countries of the Western Balkans in the process of European integra-tion. The components of assistance include the most important spheres of public life, embracing regional integration and service economy as segments of social development of the countries. The regional interconnection is realized through various forms of cross-border cooperation between countries in their accession to the European Union project. In order to use the funds, joint local and regional initiatives are formulated in the context of achieving sustainable economic and social development. Those projects comprise adequate arrangements for all relevant subjects with the use of modern technologies and modalities of implementation. Funds contribute to the improvement of inter-state cooperation, reducing regional disparities and ensuring balanced development of the Balkan countries. The generally accepted international auditing rules and standards recognize financial statements, in order to determine the accuracy of project implementation.
{"title":"European Union Investment Funds in the Western Balkans with International Audit Standards","authors":"M. Protić","doi":"10.5840/du202232351","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.5840/du202232351","url":null,"abstract":"The European Union conceives IPA preaccession assistance funds as an instrument of support to the countries of the Western Balkans in the process of European integra-tion. The components of assistance include the most important spheres of public life, embracing regional integration and service economy as segments of social development of the countries. The regional interconnection is realized through various forms of cross-border cooperation between countries in their accession to the European Union project. In order to use the funds, joint local and regional initiatives are formulated in the context of achieving sustainable economic and social development. Those projects comprise adequate arrangements for all relevant subjects with the use of modern technologies and modalities of implementation. Funds contribute to the improvement of inter-state cooperation, reducing regional disparities and ensuring balanced development of the Balkan countries. The generally accepted international auditing rules and standards recognize financial statements, in order to determine the accuracy of project implementation.","PeriodicalId":36732,"journal":{"name":"Dialogue and Universalism","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2022-01-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"71255827","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"John Rensenbrink and the Promise of Politics","authors":"Charles Brown","doi":"10.5840/du202232218","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.5840/du202232218","url":null,"abstract":"<jats:p />","PeriodicalId":36732,"journal":{"name":"Dialogue and Universalism","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2022-01-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"71255166","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
The paper seeks to analyze the causes that led to the decline of the procedural-electoral legitimacy paradigm, as explanatory paradigm, in favor of the models that have highlighted the significant changes occurred in the contemporary societies. For this purpose the paper examines Pierre Rosanvallon’s analytical model of interpreting "the revolution in the conception of legitimacy."
{"title":"Electoral Legitimacy and Decentralization of Democracy or on a Paradigm Shift","authors":"G. Tănăsescu","doi":"10.5840/du202232342","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.5840/du202232342","url":null,"abstract":"The paper seeks to analyze the causes that led to the decline of the procedural-electoral legitimacy paradigm, as explanatory paradigm, in favor of the models that have highlighted the significant changes occurred in the contemporary societies. For this purpose the paper examines Pierre Rosanvallon’s analytical model of interpreting \"the revolution in the conception of legitimacy.\"","PeriodicalId":36732,"journal":{"name":"Dialogue and Universalism","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2022-01-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"71255646","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
The rise of social media has given a significant boost to the information and com-munication industry. Prior to now, the common news outlets were the mainstream print and electronic media, domiciled in specific locations, and guided by particular laws of nation states. These laws, for the most part, regulated and enforced decency, compelling practitioners to adhere to the ethics of truth, reason and democracy. But with the rise of social media platforms like Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, LinkedIn, etc., that are used by enormous number of people to communicate, network, and advertise their business-es, the determination of information to be released to the public is no longer under the monopoly of a select few technocrats and entrepreneurs. Once the immediate access to these facile communication channels of social media is set in place, everyone with a basic social skill becomes a communicator of news. This phenomenon has revolution-ized the media industry, giving everyone opportunity to have information at the snap of their fingers. But by the same token, and leveraging on the complexity of formulating regulating laws, the social media circumvents most existing norms, leading to abuse of public trust, credibility deficit and crisis of confidence. This essay makes a foray into the responsibility of social media in what concerns truth, reason and democracy. Using the analytic method, it gauges the current social media practice vis-à-vis the traditional media, and highlights the gray areas that precipitate abuse. The essay concludes by advocating for strict adherence to media ethics that will promote the values of responsi-bility, fairness, truthfulness, accountability and universal democratic ideals.
{"title":"The Responsibility of Social Media to Truth, Reason and Democracy","authors":"C. Ogbujah, Charles Bereboni, Nympha Nkama","doi":"10.5840/du202232346","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.5840/du202232346","url":null,"abstract":"The rise of social media has given a significant boost to the information and com-munication industry. Prior to now, the common news outlets were the mainstream print and electronic media, domiciled in specific locations, and guided by particular laws of nation states. These laws, for the most part, regulated and enforced decency, compelling practitioners to adhere to the ethics of truth, reason and democracy. But with the rise of social media platforms like Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, LinkedIn, etc., that are used by enormous number of people to communicate, network, and advertise their business-es, the determination of information to be released to the public is no longer under the monopoly of a select few technocrats and entrepreneurs. Once the immediate access to these facile communication channels of social media is set in place, everyone with a basic social skill becomes a communicator of news. This phenomenon has revolution-ized the media industry, giving everyone opportunity to have information at the snap of their fingers. But by the same token, and leveraging on the complexity of formulating regulating laws, the social media circumvents most existing norms, leading to abuse of public trust, credibility deficit and crisis of confidence. This essay makes a foray into the responsibility of social media in what concerns truth, reason and democracy. Using the analytic method, it gauges the current social media practice vis-à-vis the traditional media, and highlights the gray areas that precipitate abuse. The essay concludes by advocating for strict adherence to media ethics that will promote the values of responsi-bility, fairness, truthfulness, accountability and universal democratic ideals.","PeriodicalId":36732,"journal":{"name":"Dialogue and Universalism","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2022-01-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"71255712","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
In the paper we analyze the educational rationality closely associated with a neoliberal cultural logic that causes various lifestyles which seek only the satisfaction of unreal or symbolic needs where the ideal of education appears as one more among others. Furthermore, we consider educational policies subordinated to an expansive cultural logic of post-industrial capitalism, having as a historical reference the neoliberal turn of the Peruvian educational policy and a symbolic structure deeply established in the psyche of the society transformed by the social pathologies of mercantilism and consumerism. This insight will allow us to propose a socio-philosophical critique of postmodernity.
{"title":"Educational Rationality and Consumer Society","authors":"A. Gómez","doi":"10.5840/du202232233","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.5840/du202232233","url":null,"abstract":"In the paper we analyze the educational rationality closely associated with a neoliberal cultural logic that causes various lifestyles which seek only the satisfaction of unreal or symbolic needs where the ideal of education appears as one more among others. Furthermore, we consider educational policies subordinated to an expansive cultural logic of post-industrial capitalism, having as a historical reference the neoliberal turn of the Peruvian educational policy and a symbolic structure deeply established in the psyche of the society transformed by the social pathologies of mercantilism and consumerism. This insight will allow us to propose a socio-philosophical critique of postmodernity.","PeriodicalId":36732,"journal":{"name":"Dialogue and Universalism","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2022-01-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"71255897","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
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