Alfred Moore, “Critical Elitism: Deliberation, Democracy, and the Problem of Expertise” (Cambridge UP, 2017)
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What is the central problem that Plato raises about democracy and expertise?
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Hello and thanks for joining us for this episode of New Books in Philosophy. I'm Robert Talise, I'm Professor of Philosophy at Vanderbilt University. I co host the program with Carrie Figder, and Carrie is Associate Professor of Philosophy at the University of Iowa. Today my guest is Alfred Moore. Alfred is lecturer in political theory at the University of York. He has a new book which is titled Critical Elitism: Deliberation, Democracy and the Problem of Expertise. The book is published by Cambridge University Press. Now, according to a challenge that goes all the way back to Plato. Democracy is unacceptable as a mode of political organization. Because it distributes political power equally among those who are unequal in wisdom.
Plato goes on to object that democracies are suspicious of the very idea of expertise in political matters. He reasoned that political equality That is the kind of political equality that's characteristic of a democracy. Mislead citizens into thinking that each person is also equally wise. Long traditions in political philosophy have proposed various kinds of responses to Plato. And according to a predominant trend in contemporary political theory. Public deliberation can serve as a way to meet some of Plato's challenges. Yeah. Appeals to public deliberation seem to reintroduce some of Plato's worries. For example Does the commitment to public deliberation suggest with Plato? That wisdom in the end should rule.
How can democracy introduce an ideal of deliberation that remains democratic? That's the general theme to which Alfred's book is devoted, and there's a lot to talk about. So why don't we begin where we usually do, uh, by greeting the author. I offered Hi Bob. How are you doing today? I'm very well. How are you? Oh, I'm doing fine. Thanks for joining me on New Books in Philosophy. Hey, thanks for having
me.
Why don't we start off where we usually do again? Uh why don't you tell us a little bit about yourself?
Well, um what where to start? I was born born in London, grew up in Leicester, which is a small industrial town in the middle of England. Nothing remarkable there. I suppose I my academic career is a little bit meandering. I mean I um I studied physics and philosophy as an undergraduate at King's College London. Um And between studying abroad and uh a master's programme in politics, I did a PhD in political thought at uh the University of Bath. And then um Got a temporary job in uh in Ireland and then from there I got a a European Union fellowship God love the European Union um to to go to Vancouver for a few years to work on a project on epistemology and democracy. Uh and it's that project uh from which this book
ultimately came.
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Chapters
7 chapters
1
What is the central problem that Plato raises about democracy and expertise?
0:00–6:36
2
How does Alfred Moore define “critical elitism” and why does he use that term?
6:36–21:35
3
What is the “systems approach” to deliberative democracy and how does it differ from traditional models?
21:35–32:57
4
Why does Moore argue that expert authority needs to be contested rather than simply accepted?
32:57–43:39
5
How does the climate‑gate scandal illustrate the tensions between expert authority and democratic deliberation?
43:39–51:54
6
What institutional designs does critical elitism propose to enable meaningful public contestation of expertise?
51:54–1:00:07
7
How can anonymity and online platform design affect the quality of democratic deliberation?
1:00:07–1:03:01
Speakers
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