The State of Political Epistemology: A Roundtable

Session Submission Type: Roundtable

Session Description

Political epistemology is a recent subfield (born in political science circa 2008, arguably with the publication of Josiah Ober’s landmark book Democracy and Knowledge) that sits at the intersection of political theory in political science and social epistemology in philosophy. It seeks to address questions about the place of truth and knowledge in politics, the nature and origins of political beliefs, both individual and collective, and the way political institutions shape and are shaped by ideas and ideals. This roundtable aims to take stock of the state of the subfield, more than 10 years after such a roundtable was first organized at APSA in 2013, in order to identify the progress made so far as well as existing growth areas and discuss some important recently published work. The roundtable will be held in honor of the late Jeffrey Friedman, who founded the original APSA section “Political Epistemology” (now renamed as “Ideas, Knowledge, and Politics”) and contributed to the birth of the subfield. Participants include Eric Beerbohm (Harvard University), Kevin Eliott (Yale), Hélène Landemore (Yale), Jacob Roundtree (John Hopkins), and Jason Stanley (Yale).

Sub Unit

• Division 54: Ideas, Knowledge, and Politics

Chair

• Helene E. Landemore Yale University

Presenters

• Jason Stanley YALE UNIVERSITY

• Eric Beerbohm Harvard University

• Jacob Roundtree Harvard University

• Kevin J. Elliott Yale University