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democracy

Truth and the Facebookians

Truth and the Facebookians

Posted on 6 February 2023 by

Imagine a community—call them the “Facebookians”—whose politics is deeply polarized. Their political discourse reflects this divisiveness, but to a very unusual extent. For in making political claims, Facebookians are guided […]

Two Types of Civility

Two Types of Civility

Posted on 3 October 2022 by

What is civility? It sounds fancy, but if we start with incivility we may get a better idea: incivility is obnoxiousness, rudeness, and generally a lot of what we would […]

The ambivalence of cynicism

The ambivalence of cynicism

Posted on 19 September 2022 by

Cynicism seems to have an ambivalent status. On the one hand, ‘being cynical’ might mean dogmatic scepticism about people’s moral character. A cynic can be arrogant – too smart, too […]

Egotism in Higher Education

Egotism in Higher Education

Posted on 9 August 2021 by

By Tracy Llanera and Nicholas Smith Crisis or no crisis, vice-chancellors in Australia remain exorbitantly well-paid. While most of them committed to pay cuts in 2020 in response to the […]

Not so Ignorant After All: Metaknowledge Matters More than Knowledge

Not so Ignorant After All: Metaknowledge Matters More than Knowledge

Posted on 14 December 2020 by

In one way or another, democracies put political power in the hands of the people.  A perennial worry about democracy, voiced almost as soon as it was invented, is that […]

How to vote well

How to vote well

Posted on 26 August 2019 by

It seems elections are everywhere at the moment. Following on the heels of EU elections that for the first time saw turnout increase, the US is gearing up for a […]

What Polarization Does to Us

What Polarization Does to Us

Posted on 30 May 2019 by

Commentators from across the political spectrum warn us that extreme partisan polarization is dissolving all bases for political cooperation, thereby undermining our democracy.  The near total consensus on this point […]

Explaining the puzzle of national shame

Explaining the puzzle of national shame

Posted on 26 February 2018 by

In the aftermath of the EU Referendum, I encountered many people who said to me, “I am ashamed to be British”, or, when confronted with the fallout of the referendum […]

Arrogance and the Space of Reasons

Arrogance and the Space of Reasons

Posted on 29 January 2018 by

  A democracy is more than a form of government; it is primarily a mode of associated living, of conjoining communicated experience. ---John Dewey   One of the truly baffling […]

Bad Questions Lead to Bad Democracy

Bad Questions Lead to Bad Democracy

Posted on 9 October 2017 by

In a previous post, I discussed the essential role that questions play in the political landscape of contemporary democracy. The ability to ask questions, and to ask good ones at […]

Good Democracy Needs Good Questions

Good Democracy Needs Good Questions

Posted on 25 September 2017 by

“If you were president, what would you do about Syria and the humanitarian crisis in Aleppo?” This question was asked to both candidates at the second U.S. presidential debate, during […]

The Ethics of Linguistic Plurality

The Ethics of Linguistic Plurality

Posted on 11 September 2017 by ,

A guest post from co-authors Matteo Bonotti (Cardiff University) and Yael Peled (McGill University) How we think about language tends to significantly influence, if not shape, how we think about […]