CFP: 11th Annual BGSU Workshop in Applied Ethics and Public Policy

Submission deadline: December 1, 2021

Conference date(s):
April 1, 2022 - April 2, 2022

Go to the conference's page

Conference Venue:

Bowling Green State University
Bowling Green, United States

Details

DEMOCRACY AND POLITICAL EPISTEMOLOGY

Keynote speakers: Fabienne Peter (Warwick); Robert Talisse (Vanderbilt)

DATE: April 1st/2nd, 2022

Recent political trends have generated renewed interest in political epistemology. Some have also begun to reconsider common wisdom about the epistemic features of democracy. The aim of this workshop is to bring together scholars with diverse approaches to address questions such as, but not limited to:

  • What is partisanship, and can it be rational?
  • How might cultural cognition affect the justification we have for our beliefs about policy?
  • Given higher-order evidence of political irrationality, (how) should we update our beliefs?
  • How might we cultivate epistemic virtue within a polarized information environment?
  • What kinds of belief-forming incentives does democracy create, if any?
  • Are there ways in which we can incentivize truth-seeking in political belief formation?
  • Is political disagreement primarily epistemic, or is it primarily expressive?
  • Does greater political knowledge help or hurt our overall epistemic condition?
  • What are “echo chambers” and how can we know if we’re in one?
  • Are there political “experts”? If so, how do we determine who they are?

We are aiming for 10-12 speakers in total. Conference papers from past workshops at BGSU have been published in edited volumes. The goal will be to do so again, or to pursue publication in a special issue of a suitable journal.  For information about previous workshops, see: https://www.bgsu.edu/arts-and-sciences/philosophy/workshops-and-conferences.html

We are planning on holding the workshop in-person.  However, this may change due to COVID-19. Depending on circumstances, we will be able to offer a modest honorarium to help defray costs of travel.

For consideration for the workshop, please submit an abstract of no more than 500 words to [email protected] by Dec 1st, 2021.  Please include your name and affiliation. Submissions will be reviewed by a committee, with decisions made by Dec. 23, 2021.

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