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Historically philosophers were often at odds with the idea of democracy. Once you discover what is true and what is false, it is very frustrating to have to dea
by oytis 8y ago
Historically philosophers were often at odds with the idea of democracy. Once you discover what is true and what is false, it is very frustrating to have to deal with people who are not as smart as you are.
Modern philosophers are mostly pro-democratic for a number of reasons. They have to invent mental tricks to make democracy compatible with what they think is right. "Ministry of information" or separating voting (based on values) from decision making (based on facts) are examples of such tricks.
IMO, if we value democracy, we'll have to agree that decisions taken democratically will sometimes be wrong. The only way to fix that without compromising the democracy, is to raise the level of an average citizen's education.
- ChrisSD 8y agoEducation isn't a cure all. Highly educated citizens can still be wrong en masse.
- oytis 8y agoWell, if our education doesn't help people to be less wrong, then we need to improve it (that's what I mean by raising level of education, not just giving people diplomas). Or reconsider what we think is wrong.
- gregknicholson 8y agoAnd it's not objective — one person's "education" is another person's "indoctrination".
- astazangasta 8y agoPlato was at odds with democracy. Zeno was not. Plato's Republic, shitty as it is, survived and is still widely read as a basic philosophy text. Zeno's Republic, written in response to Plato, was lost. Go figure.
- mistermann 8y ago> Once you discover what is true and what is false, it is very frustrating to have to deal with people who are not as smart as you are. It is also very frustrating when you think you discover what is true and what is false and have to deal with people who you think are not as smart as you are. The effects of this can be observed in social media discussions on both sides of the political divide, as well as in the words of the people in this article. It's funny watching how something said in jest (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uL-KXisUCtU https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uL-KXisUCtU) is turned into yet another meme about how conservatives are stupid, followed by a lecture about misinformation in media.