PLENARVORTRAG
|
Lisa Herzog (Groningen)Democratic knowledge. Markets, experts, and the epistemic infrastructure of democracy
Many democratic societies currently struggle with issues around knowledge; fake news spread on social media and messengers; there is distrust of experts; science advice for policy making is urgently needed, and yet also suspected to be anti-democratic, and sometimes marred by vested interests. At the same time, many forms of knowledge coming from minorities continue to be marginalized, leading to various forms of “epistemic injustice” (M. Fricker).
In this talk, which is based on my current book project, I argue that one of the key problems is the excessive reliance on market processes as, instead of designing the right “epistemic infrastructures” for democratic self-governance. Giving over too many epistemic processes to markets, including the “marketplace of ideas,” has made our societies vulnerable to various forms of manipulation, distortion, and exploitation of knowledge; these range from the sponsoring of scientific maverick as “merchants of doubt” (Conway/Oreskes) to the spreading of “fake news” by social bots. In my book, I emphasize the responsibility of bearers of knowledges and the need to actively support institutions that enable democracies to function well with regard to knowledge and to address ongoing epistemic injustices. Taking up recent proposals in democratic theory and in the theory of professions, I develop the vision of a society that considers “the use of knowledge in society” not a matter of markets, but of shared democratic responsibility, enabled by “epistemic infrastructures.” In my talk, I will focus in particular on the question of what the need to maintain viable epistemic practices for democratic life means for socio-economic inequality. I claim, based on empirical research on trust, that we can develop an argument against excessive socio-economic inequality on the basis of epistemic arguments. Lisa Herzog ist Professorin für Philosophie am Centre for Philosophy, Politics and Economics der Universität Groningen.
|
PLENARVORTRAG
|
Rahel Jaeggi (HU Berlin)
Titel: tbaAbstract: tba
Rahel Jaeggi ist Professorin für Praktische Philosophie, Rechts- und Sozialphilosophie an der Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin.
|
