Hostname: page-component-78c5997874-xbtfd Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-19T05:19:50.217Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Democracy's Wisdom: An Aristotelian Middle Way for Collective Judgment

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  30 January 2013

JOSIAH OBER
JOSIAH OBER*
Affiliation:
Stanford University
*
Josiah Ober is Tsakopoulos-Kounalakis Professor in Honor of Constantine Mitsotakis, Departments of Political Science and Classics, Stanford University, 100 West Encina Hall, 616 Serra Street, Stanford CA 94305 (jober@stanford.edu).
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

A satisfactory model of decision-making in an epistemic democracy must respect democratic values, while advancing citizens’ interests, by taking account of relevant knowledge about the world. Analysis of passages in Aristotle and legislative process in classical Athens points to a “middle way” between independent-guess aggregation and deliberation: an epistemic approach to decision-making that offers a satisfactory model of collective judgment that is both time-sensitive and capable of setting agendas endogenously. By aggregating expertise across multiple domains, Relevant Expertise Aggregation (REA) enables a body of minimally competent voters to make superior choices among multiple options, on matters of common interest. REA differs from a standard Condorcet jury in combining deliberation with voting based on judgments about the reputations and arguments of domain-experts.

Type
Research Article
Information
American Political Science Review , Volume 107 , Issue 1 , February 2013 , pp. 104 - 122
Copyright
Copyright © American Political Science Association 2013

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

REFERENCES

Amar, Akhil Reed. 2005. America's Constitution: A Biography. New York: Random House.Google Scholar
Anderson, Elizabeth. 2006. “The Epistemology of Democracy.” Episteme: Journal of Social Epistemology. 3.1:8–22.Google Scholar
Aristotle, Richard Robinson, and Keyt, David. 1995. Politics III and IV. Oxford and New York: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Austen-Smith, David and Banks, Jeffrey S.. 1996. “Information Aggregation, Rationality, and the Condorcet Jury Theorem.” American Political Science Review. 90:3–45.Google Scholar
Bäckstrand, Karin. 2003. “Civic Science for Sustainability: Reframing the Role of Experts, Policy-Makers and Citizens in Environmental Governance.” Global Environmental Politics. 3.4:24–41.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Baiocchi, Gianpaolo. 2005. Militants and Citizens: The Politics of Participatory Democracy in Porto Alegre. Stanford, Calif.: Stanford University Press.Google Scholar
Bovens, Luc and Rabinowicz, Wlodek. 2006. “Democratic Answers to Complex Questions – An Epistemic Perspective.” Synthese. 150:131–153.Google Scholar
Brettschneider, Corey Lang. 2007. Democratic Rights: The Substance of Self-Government. Princeton: Princeton University Press.Google Scholar
Buchanan, Bruce G., Davis, Randall, and Feigenbaum, Edward A.. 2006. “Expert Systems: A Perspective from Computer Science.” Pp. 87–103 in The Cambridge Handbook of Expertise and Expert Performance, edited by Ericsson, K. Anders and others. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Callander, Steven. 2011. “Searching for Good Policies.” American Political Science Review. 105.4:643–662.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Cammack, Daniela. 2013 “Aristotle on the Virtue of the Multitude.” Political Theory 41.2.Google Scholar
Canes-Wrone, Brandice, Herron, Michael C., and Shotts, Kenneth W.. 2001. “Leadership and Pandering: A Theory of Executive Policymaking.” American Journal of Political Science. 45:532–550.Google Scholar
Christiano, Thomas. 2011. “An Instrumental Argument for a Human Right to Democracy.” Philosophy and Public Affairs. 39:142–176.Google Scholar
Cohen, Joshua. 1986. “An Epistemic Conception of Democracy.” Ethics. 97 (1):26–38.Google Scholar
Cohen, Joshua. 1996. “Procedure and Substance in Deliberative Democracy.” Pp. 94–119 in Democracy and Difference: Contesting the Boundaries of the Political, edited by Benhabib, Seyla. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press.Google Scholar
Condorcet, Jean-Antoine-Nicolas de Caritat. 1785. Essai sur l'application de l'analyse à la probabilité des décisions rendus à la pluralité des voix. Paris: Imprimerie Royale.Google Scholar
Csapo, Eric and Slater, William J.. 1994. The Context of Ancient Drama. Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press.Google Scholar
Dahl, Robert Alan. 1998. On Democracy. New Haven: Yale University Press.Google Scholar
Davenport, Thomas H. and Prusak, Laurence. 1998. Working Knowledge: How Organizations Manage What They Know. Boston: Harvard Business School Press.Google Scholar
Dietrich, Franz, and List, Christian. 2004. “A Model of Jury Decisions Where All Jurors Have the Same Evidence.” Synthese. 142.2:175–202.Google Scholar
Dixon, Nancy M. 2000. Common knowledge: How Companies Thrive by Sharing What They Know. Boston: Harvard Business School Press.Google Scholar
Doucouliagos, Hristos and Ali Ulubaşoǧlu, Mehmet. 2008. “Democracy and Economic Growth: A Meta-Analysis.” American Journal of Political Science. 52.1:61–83.Google Scholar
Dryzek, John S. and List, Christian. 2003. “Social Choice Theory and Deliberative Democracy: A Reconciliation.” British Journal of Political Science. 33.1:1–28.Google Scholar
Elster, Jon. 2011. “Deliberation, Cycles, and Misrepresentation.” Working Paper. Yale University Conference on Epistemic Democracy in Practice.Google Scholar
Ericsson, K. Anders. 2006. “The Influence of Experience and Deliberate Practice on the Development of Superior Expert Performance.” Pp. 683–703 in The Cambridge Handbook of Expertise and Expert Performance, edited by Ericsson, K. Anders and others. Cambridge; New York: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Ericsson, K. Anders and others. 2006. The Cambridge Handbook of Expertise and Expert Performance. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Estlund, David M. 2003. “Why Not Epistocracy?” Pp. 53–69 in Desire, Identity and Existence: Essays in honor of T.M. Penner: Kelowna, British Columbia: Academic Printing and Publishing.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Estlund, David M. 2008. Democratic Authority: A Philosophical Framework. Princeton: Princeton University Press.Google Scholar
Feddersen, Timothy J. and Pesendorfer, Wolfgang. 1996. “The Swing Voter's Curse.” American Economic Review. 86:408–424.Google Scholar
Fischer, Frank. 2009. Democracy and Expertise: Reorienting Policy Inquiry. Oxford and New York: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Fishkin, James S. 2009. When the People Speak: Deliberative Democracy and Public Consultation. Oxford: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Fox, Justin and Stephenson, Matthew C.. 2011. “Judicial Review as a Response to Political Posturing.” American Political Science Review. 105:397–414.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Furstein, Michael. 2008. “Epistemic Democracy and the Social Character of Knowledge.” Episteme: Journal of Social Epistemology. 5.1:74–93.Google Scholar
Garvin, David A. 2000. Learning in Action: A Guide to Putting the Learning Organization to Work. Boston,: Harvard Business School Press.Google Scholar
Gerardi, Dino and Yariv, Leeat. 2007. “Deliberative Voting.” Journal of Economic Theory. 134:317–338.Google Scholar
Gottlieb, Paula. 2009. The Virtue of Aristotle's Ethics. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Grofman, Bernard, Owen, Guillermo, and Feld, Scott L.. 1983. “Thirteen Theorems in Search of the Truth.” Theory and Decision. 15:261–278.Google Scholar
Gutmann, Amy and Thompson, Dennis. 2004. Why Deliberative Democracy? Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hammond, N. G. L. 1982. “The Narrative of Herodotus VII and the Decree of Themistocles at Troezen.” Journal of Hellenic Studies. 102:75–93.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hansen, Mogens Herman. 1987. The Athenian Assembly in the Age of Demosthenes. Oxford: B. Blackwell.Google Scholar
Hansen, Mogens Herman. 1999. The Athenian Democracy in the Age of Demosthenes: Structure, Principles and Ideology. Norman, Oklahoma: University of Oklahoma Press.Google Scholar
Hawthorne, James. und. “Voting in Search of the Public Good: The Probabilistic Logic of Majority Judgments.” Working Paper. Google Scholar
Honig, Bonnie. 1993. Political Theory and the Displacement of Politics. Ithaca: Cornell University Press.Google Scholar
Ismard, Paulin. 2010. La cité des réseaux. Athènes et ses associations, VIe-Ier siècle avt. J.-C. Paris.Google Scholar
Kallet-Marx, Lisa. 1994. “Money Talks: Rhetor, Demos, and Resources of the Athenian Empire.” Pp. 227–252 in Ritual, Finance, Politics: Athenian Democratic Accounts Presented to David Lewis, edited by Osborne, Robin and Hornblower, Simon. Oxford: Clarendon Press.Google Scholar
Keyt, David. 1991. “Aristotle's Theory of Distributive Justice.” Pp. 238–278 in A Companion to Aristotle's Politics, edited by Keyt, David and Miller, Fred. Oxford: Blackwell.Google Scholar
Knight, Jack and Johnson, James. 2011. The Priority of Democracy: Political Consequences of Pragmatism. Princeton: Princeton University Press.Google Scholar
Kraut, Richard. 2002. Aristotle: Political Philosophy. Oxford and New York: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Laclau, Ernesto and Mouffe, Chantal. 2001. Hegemony and Socialist Strategy: Towards a Radical Democratic Politics. London and New York: Verso.Google Scholar
Ladha, Krishna K. 1992. “The Condorcet Jury Theorem, Free Speech, and Correlated Votes.” American Journal of Political Science. 36.3:617–634.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Landemore, Hélène and Elster, Jon, ed. 2012. Collective Wisdom: Principles and Mechanisms: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Lane, Melissa. n.d. “Claims to Rule: The Case of the Multitude.” In Cambridge Companion to Aristotle's Politics, ed. Deslauriers, Marguerite, and Destrée, Pierre. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Levitt, Barbara and March, James. 1988. “Organizational Learning.” Annual Review of Sociology. 14:319–340.Google Scholar
Liddell, Henry George, Scott, Robert, and Jones, Henry Stuart. 1968. A Greek-English Lexicon. Oxford: Clarendon Press.Google Scholar
List, Christian. 2005. “Group Knowledge and Group Rationality: A Judgment Aggregation Perspective.” Episteme: Journal of Social Epistemology. 2.1:25–38.Google Scholar
List, Christian. 2011. “The Logical Space of Democracy.” Philosophy and Public Affairs. 39:262–297.Google Scholar
List, Christian and Goodin, Robert E.. 2001. “Epistemic Democracy: Generalizing the Condorcet Jury Theorem.” Journal of Political Philosophy. 9.3:277–306.Google Scholar
List, Christian and Pettit, Philip. 2004. “An Epistemic Free-Riding Problem?” Pp. 128–158 in Karl Popper: Critical Appraisals, edited by Catton, Philip and Macdonald, Graham. London: Routledge.Google Scholar
List, Christian and Pettit, Philip. 2011. Group Agency: The Possibility, Design, and Status of Corporate Agents. Oxford and New York: Oxford University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Lupia, Arthur. 2004. “Necessary Conditions for Improving Civic Competence: A Scientific Perspective.” IDEAS Working Paper.Google Scholar
MacDowell, Douglas M. 1975. “Law-making at Athens in the Fourth Century B.C.” Journal of Hellenic Studies. 95:62–74.Google Scholar
Manville, Brook and Ober, Josiah. 2003. A Company of Citizens: What the World's First Democracy Teaches Leaders about Creating Great Organizations. Boston: Harvard Business School Press.Google Scholar
Marshall, C.W. and Willigenburg, Stephanie van. 2005. “Judging Athenian Dramatic Competitions.” Journal of Hellenic Studies. 124:90–107.Google Scholar
McCannon, Bryan C. 2011. “Jury Size in Classical Athens: An Application of the Condorcet Jury Theorem.” Kyklos. 64:106–121.Google Scholar
Mendelberg, Tali. 2002. “The Deliberative Citizen: Theory and Evidence.” Political Decision Making, Deliberation and Participation. 6:151–193.Google Scholar
Missiou, Anna. 2011. Literacy and Democracy in Fifth-Century Athens. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Mutz, D. and Martin, P.. 2001. “Facilitating Communication Across Lines of Political Difference.” American Political Science Review. 95.1:97–114.Google Scholar
Newman, William Lambert. 1887. The Politics of Aristotle [Commentary]. Oxford: Clarendon Press.Google Scholar
Ober, Josiah. 1989. Mass and Elite in Democratic Athens: Rhetoric, Ideology, and the Power of the People. Princeton, N.J.: Princeton University Press.Google Scholar
Ober, Josiah. 1998. Political Dissent in Democratic Athens: Intellectual Critics of Popular Rule. Princeton, N.J.: Princeton University Press.Google Scholar
Ober, Josiah. 2008. Democracy and Knowledge: Learning and Innovation in Classical Athens. Princeton: Princeton University Press.Google Scholar
Ober, Josiah. 2012. “Democracy's Dignity.” American Political Science Review. 106.4:827–846.Google Scholar
Page, Scott E. 2007. The Difference: How the Power of Diversity Creates Better Groups, Firms, Schools, and Societies. Princeton: Princeton University Press.Google Scholar
Pettit, Philip. 2004. “Depoliticizing Democracy.” Ratio Juris. 17.1:52–65.Google Scholar
Reiter, Dan and Stam, Allan C.. 2002. Democracies at War. Princeton, N.J.: Princeton University Press.Google Scholar
Renooij, Silja. 2001. “Probability Elicitation for Belief Networks: Issues to Consider.” Knowledge Engineering Review. 16.3:255–269.Google Scholar
Rhoads, Bruce L., Wilson, David, Urben, Michael, and Herricks, Edwin E.. 1999. “Interaction Between Scientists and Nonscientists in Community-Based Watershed Management: Emergence of the Concept of Stream Naturalization.” Environmental Management. 24.3:297–308.Google Scholar
Rhodes, P. J. 1985. The Athenian Boule. Oxford: Clarendon Press.Google Scholar
Riker, William H. 1982. Liberalism Against Populism: A Confrontation Between the Theory of Democracy and the Theory of Social Choice. San Francisco: W.H. Freeman.Google Scholar
Roberts, Jennifer Tolbert. 1994. Athens on Trial: The Antidemocratic Tradition in Western Thought. Princeton, N.J.: Princeton University Press.Google Scholar
Schmitt, Carl. 2004. Legality and Legitimacy. Translated by Seitzer, Jeffrey. Durham: Duke University Press.Google Scholar
Schultz, Kenneth A. and Weingast, Barry R.. 2003. “The Democratic Advantage: The Institutional Foundations of Financial Power in International Competition.” International Organization. 57:3–42.Google Scholar
Schwartzberg, Melissa. 2007. Democracy and Legal Change. Cambridge and New York: Cambridge University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Schwartzberg, Melissa. 2008. “Voting the General Will: Rousseau on Decision Rules.” Political Theory. 36.3:403–423.Google Scholar
Schwartzberg, Melissa. 2010. “Shouts, Murmurs and Votes: Acclamation and Aggregation in Ancient Greece.” Journal of Political Philosophy. 18.4:448–468.Google Scholar
Scott, James C. 1998. Seeing Like a State: How Certain Schemes to Improve the Human Condition Have Failed. New Haven, CT: Yale University Press.Google Scholar
Searle, John R. 1995. The Construction of Social Reality. New York: Free Press.Google Scholar
Shearman, David J. C. and Smith, Joseph Wayne.. 2007. The Climate Change Challenge and the Failure of Democracy. Vol. Politics and the environment. Westport, Conn.: Praeger.Google Scholar
Sunstein, Cass R. 2000. “Deliberative Trouble? Why Groups Go to Extremes.” Yale Law Journal. 110:71–119.Google Scholar
Sunstein, Cass R. 2002. “The Law of Group Polarization.” Journal of Political Philosophy. 10 (2):175–195.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Sunstein, Cass R. 2007. “Deliberating Groups versus Prediction Markets (or Hayek's Challenge to Habermas).” Episteme: Journal of Social Epistemology. 3 (3):192–213.Google Scholar
Urbinati, Nadia. 2012. “Competing for Liberty: The Republican Critique of Democracy.” American Political Science Review. 106:607–621.Google Scholar
Waldron, Jeremy. 1995. “The Wisdom of the Multitude: Some Reflections on Book III Chapter 11 of the Politics.” Political Theory. 23:563–584.Google Scholar
Waldron, Jeremy. 1999. The Dignity of Legislation. Cambridge; New York: Cambridge University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Wallace, Robert W. 1997. “Poet, Public, and ‘Theatrocracy’: Audience Performance in Classical Athens.” Pp. 97–111 in Poet, Public, and Performance in Ancient Greece, edited by Edmunds, Lowell and Wallace, Robert W.. Baltimore, Md.: Johns Hopkins University Press.Google Scholar
Warren, Mark and Pearse, Hilary., ed. 2008. Designing Deliberative Democracy: The British Columbia Citizens’ Assembly. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Wilson, James Lindley. 2011. “Deliberation, Democracy, and the Rule of Reason in Aristotle's Politics .” American Political Science Review. 105.2:259–274.Google Scholar
Wilson, Peter. 2000. The Athenian Institution of the Khoregia. The Chorus, the City, and the Stage. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Yates, J. Frank and Tschirhart, Michael D.. 2006. “Decision-making Expertise.” Pp. 421–438 in The Cambridge Handbook of Expertise and Expert Performance, edited by Ericsson, K. Anders and others. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Young, H.P. 1988. “Condorcet's Theory of Voting.” American Political Science Review. 82:1231–1244.Google Scholar
Submit a response

Comments

No Comments have been published for this article.