Säde Hormio (Helsinki) at the PPE/ESPF Colloquium

Wisdom of Crowds? How to Support Arguments for Democracy
Are democracies epistemically better than rule by experts? Brennan (2017) says no, as voter ignorance yields bad policy; Landemore (2013) says yes because open, inclusive democracy leverages cognitive diversity. She invokes Hong & Page’s (2004) diversity-trumps-ability theorem in her argument. We argue that the theorem, as operationalized in simulation models, cannot bear the evidential load placed on it. Using tools from philosophy of science, we map the path from philosophical claims to computational assumptions and back, showing where inferences from model performance to institutional design break down. This is not a brief against cognitive diversity or for epistocracy. Rather, we sketch an epistemic defense of democracy grounded in experimental, historical, and institutional evidence, beyond what simulations alone can provide.

Afterwards we will go for drinks and then for dinner. If you would like to join for dinner (self-paying), please email me at a.t.schmidt rug.nl