Why Political Ignorance Undermines the Wisdom of the Many

Critical Review: A Journal of Politics and Society 26 (1-2):151-169 (2014)
  Copy   BIBTEX

Abstract

ABSTRACTHélène Landemore's Democratic Reason effectively demonstrates how cognitive diversity may potentially improve the quality of democratic decisions. But in setting out the preconditions that democracy must meet in order for the many to make collectively well-informed decisions, Landemore undermines the case for voter competence more than she strengthens it. The conditions she specifies are highly unlikely to be achieved by any real-world democracy. Widespread voter ignorance and the size and complexity of modern government are severe obstacles to any effort to implement Landemore's vision. Better-informed decision making is more likely to be achieved by allowing a wider range of issues to be decided by “voting with your feet” instead of at the ballot box.

Links

PhilArchive



    Upload a copy of this work     Papers currently archived: 90,221

External links

Setup an account with your affiliations in order to access resources via your University's proxy server

Through your library

Similar books and articles

Knowledge about ignorance: New directions in the study of political information.Ilya Somin - 2006 - Critical Review: A Journal of Politics and Society 18 (1-3):255-278.
Deliberative democracy and political ignorance.Ilya Somin - 2010 - Critical Review: A Journal of Politics and Society 22 (2-3):253-279.
Ignorance and Culture: Rejoinder to Fenster and Chandler.Chris Wisniewski - 2010 - Critical Review: A Journal of Politics and Society 22 (1):97-115.
Does public ignorance defeat deliberative democracy? [REVIEW]Robert B. Talisse - 2004 - Critical Review: A Journal of Politics and Society 16 (4):455-463.
In Praise of the Mere Presence of Ignorance.Danielle A. Layne - 2009 - Proceedings of the American Catholic Philosophical Association 83:253-267.
The “public” and “its” ignorance: Reply to Wisniewski and fenster.Bret Chandler - 2010 - Critical Review: A Journal of Politics and Society 22 (1):85-96.
The Power Of Ignorance.Lorraine Code - 2004 - Philosophical Papers 33 (3):291-308.
Do politicians pander?Ilya Somin - 2000 - Critical Review: A Journal of Politics and Society 14 (2-3):147-155.
Science, Ignorance and Human Values.Michael Smithson - 1996 - Journal of Human Values 2 (1):67-81.

Analytics

Added to PP
2015-09-04

Downloads
32 (#429,625)

6 months
6 (#201,364)

Historical graph of downloads
How can I increase my downloads?

Citations of this work

Yes, We Can (Make It Up on Volume): Answers to Critics.Hélène Landemore - 2014 - Critical Review: A Journal of Politics and Society 26 (1-2):184-237.
The Ongoing Debate Over Political Ignorance: Reply to My Critics.Ilya Somin - 2015 - Critical Review: A Journal of Politics and Society 27 (3-4):380-414.
Political Epistemology.Jeffrey Friedman - 2014 - Critical Review: A Journal of Politics and Society 26 (1-2):i-xiv.
Democracy as Intellectual Taste? Pluralism in Democratic Theory.Pavel Dufek - 2018 - Critical Review: A Journal of Politics and Society 30 (3-4):219-255.
Diversity, Ability, and Democracy: A Note on Thompson’s Challenge to Hong and Page.Daniel Kuehn - 2017 - Critical Review: A Journal of Politics and Society 29 (1):72-87.

View all 8 citations / Add more citations

References found in this work

Democracy and disagreement.Amy Gutmann - 1996 - Cambridge, Mass.: Belknap Press of Harvard University Press. Edited by Dennis F. Thompson.
Democracy and Disagreement.Amy Gutmann & Dennis Thompson - 1996 - Ethics 108 (3):607-610.
Law, Pragmatism, and Democracy.Richard A. Posner (ed.) - 2003 - Harvard University Press.

View all 9 references / Add more references