Alex Guerrero

I. Introduction to Democracy and Political Philosophy

1/27

Introduction: Democracy and Political Philosophy

▪Iris Marion Young, “Democracy and Justice” (Chapter One, pp. 16-51, of Inclusion and Democracy

▪Jon Elster, “The Market and the Forum: Three Varieties of Political Theory”

▪Gordon Graham, “What is Special About Democracy?” Mind

2/3

Ideal/Non-Ideal Theory and Political Functionalism

▪A.A. Guerrero, C1: How to Evaluate Political Institutions

▪Charles Mills, “Ideal Theory” as Ideology

II. Ignorance

2/10

Elections and Ignorance: The Influence/No Influence Dilemma

▪A. Guerrero, C2: Elections, Ignorance, and the Influence Dilemma

▪Jason Brennan, excerpts from Against Democracy

▪C. Achen & L. Bartels, excerpts from Democracy for Realists

▪Ilya Somin, excerpts from Democracy and Political Ignorance

2/17

Elections and Information: Democracy and Education

▪Walter Lippmann, excerpts from Public Opinion

▪Neil Postman, excerpts from Amusing Ourselves to Death

▪John Dewey, excerpts from The Public and Its Problems

▪Marie Collins Swabey, “Publicity and Measurement”

▪A. Guerrero, "On Marie Collins Swabey's 'Publicity and Measurement'"

2/24

Elections and Information: Media, News, Entertainment, Markets

▪Regina Rini, “Fake News and Partisan Epistemology”

▪C. Thi Nguyen, “Echo Chambers and Epistemic Bubbles”

▪Gregory J. Martin and Ali Yurukoglu, “Bias in Cable News: Persuasion and Polarization,” American Economic Review

▪Penelope Muse Abernathy, "The Expanding News Desert" (2018)

III. Identity and Inequality

3/2

Elections and Psychological Pathology

▪Lilliana Mason, excerpts from Uncivil Agreement

▪Shanto Inyengar & Masha Krupenkin, "The Strengthening of Partisan Affect," Political Psychology (2018)

▪Joseph Marks et al., "Epistemic spillovers: Learning others’ political views reduces the ability to assess and use their expertise in nonpolitical domains," Cognition (2019)

▪Drew Westen, excerpts from The Political Brain: The Role of Emotion in Deciding the Fate of the Nation

▪Hrishikesh Joshi, "What Are the Chances You’re Right About Everything? An Epistemic Challenge for Modern Partisanship" Philosophy, Politics, Economics (2020)

▪Christopher Achen and Larry Bartels, excerpts from Democracy for Realists

▪Kevin Vallier, Social and Political Trust: Concepts, Causes, and Consequences (2019)

3/9

Elections and Unrepresentative Representatives

•Membership of the 116^th Congress: A Profile

▪Sandra Harding, “Strong Objectivity": A Response to the New Objectivity Question (1995)

▪Patricia Hill Collins, “Learning From the Outsider Within: The Sociological Significance of Black Feminist Thought" (1986)

▪Alison Wylie, “Why Standpoint Matters” (2003)

▪Charles Mills, “White Ignorance”

3/23

Elections and Unrepresentative Representatives (2)

▪Heather Gerken, "Second-Order Diversity"

▪Lani Guinier, “The Triumph of Tokenism: The Voting Rights Act and the Theory of Black Electoral Success” in The Tyranny of the Majority

▪Catherine Fearon, "National Minority participation: lessons for developed democracies from less developed democracies?"

▪K. Anthony Appiah, Intro & Chapter One and Chapter Three from The Lies That Bind: Rethinking Identity

3/30

Modest Responses

▪A. Guerrero, C6: Modest Responses and Their Limitations

▪Pamela Karlan & Samuel Issacharoff, “The Hydraulics of Campaign Finance Reform”

▪Tim Lau, "Citizens United Explained," Brennan Center Brief

▪Ian Vandewalker, "Ten Years of Super PACs Show Courts Were Wrong on Corruption Risks," Brennan Center Brief

▪Stephen Ansolabehere et al., "Why Is There So Little Money in U.S. Politics?"

IV. Lottocracy

4/6

Sortition and Lottocracy: An Introduction

▪A. Guerrero, "Should We Select Our Political Representatives By Lottery, Rather Than Election?" (.pdf of a PowerPoint presentation)

▪Sortition in the World 2000 - Present 

▪Paul Rosenberg, "From ancient Athens to the town hall: Can a new wave of deliberative democracy save the world?" Salon (2019)

▪Patrick Chalmers, "How 99 Strangers in a Dublin hotel broke Ireland's abortion deadlock," The Guardian (March 8, 2018)

4/13

Single-Issue Legislatures and the Lottocratic Alternative

▪A. Guerrero, C8: Single-Issue Legislative Bodies

▪A. Guerrero, C9: The Lottocratic Alternative

4/20

Lottocracy and Ignorance

▪Jennifer Roberts et al., "Experts and evidence in deliberation: scrutinising the role of witnesses and evidence in mini‑publics, a case study" (2020)

▪C. Daniel Myers and Tali Mendelberg, "Political Deliberation" (2013)

▪A. Guerrero, C10: Overcoming Ignorance: Learning, Competence, Expertise

▪A. Guerrero, C11: Overcoming Ignorance: Microcosm Representation and Standpoint Epistemology

4/27

Lottocracy and Expertise

▪Alvin Goldman, "Experts: Which Ones Should You Trust?" (2001)

▪Elizabeth Anderson, “Democracy, Public Policy, and Lay Assessments of Scientific Testimony" (2011)

▪Steve Fuller, "The Constiutively Social Character of Expertise" (2006)

▪Alexander Guerrero, "Living with Ignorance in a World of Experts" (2017)

5/4

Lottocracy and Constraints of Political Morality

▪A. Guerrero, C14: Lottocracy and Political Equality

▪A. Guerrero, C15: Lottocracy, Participation, and Accountability

▪A. Guerrero, C16: Objections, Concerns, Obstacles

▪A. Guerrero, C17: Transition and Experimentation