Epistemic Democracy and Digital Technologies: Legitimacy, Knowledge, and Justice in Contemporary Democracies

Details:

This international conference explores how digital technologies, such as social media, civic tech, and artificial intelligence, reshape the epistemic underpinnings of democratic governance. Organized within the Croatian Science Foundation project Epistemic Democracy in a Digital Era (PI: Ivan Cerovac), the event focuses on the relationship between political legitimacy and the production, distribution, and contestation of knowledge in digitally mediated democracies.

Key questions include: How does algorithmic content curation affect public deliberation? What are the risks of epistemic injustice in digital civic platforms? How should democratic institutions respond to AI-generated misinformation? And how can political systems remain epistemically responsible amid epistemic complexity and pluralism?

This year’s keynote speakers are:

Amandine Catala (University of Quebec at Montreal)
Johannes Thumfart (Vrije Universiteit Brussels)

The conference will take place in Rijeka, Croatia, at the Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences, from June 18 to June 20, 2025.

Call for Abstracts:

Please submit abstracts of up to 350 words (prepared for blind review) to the following email address: [email protected] . In a separate file, include your name, institutional affiliation, and contact information.

The submission deadline is May 23, 2025, and notifications of acceptance will be sent by May 31, 2025.

We welcome submissions from scholars in philosophy and related disciplines, including postdoctoral researchers and advanced doctoral candidates.

Further Information for Participants
There is no conference fee. Participants are responsible for their own travel and accommodation costs. After acceptance, we will provide information about accommodation options, travel, and dining near the venue.

For any inquiries, please contact the organizers at [email protected] or [email protected] .