Journal Articles by Simon T Kaye
Ilya Somin effectively exposes the extent of public ignorance and the ways in which such ignoranc... more Ilya Somin effectively exposes the extent of public ignorance and the ways in which such ignorance may damage democratic outcomes. This underpins his case for a more streamlined state, leaving more to individual “foot voting”—where citizens are better incentivized to choose knowledgeably and rationally. One cannot dispute the fact of deep public ignorance. However, one can question the widespread assumption that ignorance is necessarily ethically significant, always productive of undesirable outcomes, or otherwise implicitly dangerous for democracy. The sheer lack of individual efficacy in mass democracies not only incentivizes ignorance, but also creates conditions wherein such ignorance is individually harmless, and unlikely in the aggregate to greatly contribute to one or another outcome. Beyond this, there may be no way to attain meaningful knowledge in the areas where democratic decision making is most fraught. Indeed, ignorance may at times lead to better outcomes than would knowledge. The seemingly unassailable status of democracy itself, and the valuable institutional stability that this status ensures, seem to be founded upon a bedrock of public ignorance as to the real nature of democracy.
History and Theory, Feb 1, 2010
Counterfactualism is a useful thought experiment for historians because it offers grounds to chal... more Counterfactualism is a useful thought experiment for historians because it offers grounds to challenge an unfortunate contemporary historical mindset of assumed, deterministic certainty. This article suggests that the methodological value of counterfactualism may be understood in terms of the three categories of common ahistorical errors that it may help to prevent: the assumptions of indispensability, causality, and inevitability. To support this claim, I survey a series of key counterfactual works and reflections on counterfactualism, arguing that the practice of counterfactualism evolved as both cause and product of an evolving popular assumption of the plasticity of history and the importance of human agency within it. For these reasons, counterfactualism is of particular importance both historically and politically. I conclude that it is time for a methodological re-assessment of the uses of such thought-experiments in history, particularly in light of counterfactualism's developmental relatedness to cultural, technological, and analytical modernity.
Online Publications by Simon T Kaye
Donald Trump’s use of post-truth double-think politics is a threat to liberal democratic norms
The election of Donald Trump to the presidency has sparked new debates over the nature of “truth”... more The election of Donald Trump to the presidency has sparked new debates over the nature of “truth” as the new administration uses “alternative facts” to support its own narratives. The wider implications of this new discourse about truth have been largely missed: the subversion of democratic norms and imposition of a new politics of cognitive dissonance.
Political ignorance is one of the most important features of the British – or any other – public.... more Political ignorance is one of the most important features of the British – or any other – public. As the general election approaches, we may be moved to ask how competent the average voter really is. But, as Simon Kaye explains in this article, the relationship between democracy and ignorance is extremely complicated, and calls for sophisticated political analysis.
Friedrich Hayek’s political theory is sometimes misunderstood, often controversial, and definitel... more Friedrich Hayek’s political theory is sometimes misunderstood, often controversial, and definitely worthy of detailed analysis from all political perspectives. But can scholars and politicians make use of Hayekian reasoning without also arriving at the same conclusions as he did? In this article, Simon Kaye sets out some of Hayek’s unique insights, and why it may be difficult to detach them from a laissez-faire politics.
Doctoral Thesis by Simon T Kaye
The Mythology of Democracy: Justification, Deliberation and Participation
Contemporary democratic theory is marked by two politically distinctive but epistemologically sim... more Contemporary democratic theory is marked by two politically distinctive but epistemologically similar radicalisms: Deliberative and Platonist. Deliberative democrats seek to enhance the legitimacy and value of democratic outcomes by ensuring deeper, more discursive participation so as to approximate rational consensus around the self-evident public interest or to inculcate the ideal of public reasoning among citizens. Platonist democrats, responding to widespread evidence of public ignorance and irrationality, argue that participation should be limited to those who can do so from a position of expertise.
What these radical positions have in common is an implied readiness to reject the fundamental democratic principle of minimal political equality for practically all citizens. In so doing, they risk subverting the desirable consequences of the institutional norms of today’s democracies: stability, anti-experimentalism and assumed non-contestability. Democracy’s main virtue – its tendency toward stability and resistance to revolution – is contingent upon the confidence that is placed in it by its citizens, which itself may be contingent upon the universal franchise.
This thesis argues that theories of democracy are best understood in terms of their underlying presuppositions as to the scope – and potential scope – of human knowledge. It offers a new justification of democracy, suggesting specific consequentialist grounds while critiquing instrumental and deontic approaches to the problem. The thesis then turns to a consideration of the evidence for widespread public ignorance, and argues that such evidence cannot form a sound basis for Platonist, epistocratic arguments against the universal franchise. Deliberative democracy is similarly problematic, founded upon either the unattainable ideal of political consensus, or the badly-understood concept of ‘public reason’. Formal, demotic deliberation is intrinsically threatening to the democratic principle of political anonymity, and therefore, due to a host of well-documented social-psychological effects, to the universal franchise as well.
Book Reviews by Simon T Kaye
Giving a Damn: Individualism and the Shape of Democracy
A review of Nadia Urbinati's 'The Tyranny of the Moderns', forthcoming in the journal European Po... more A review of Nadia Urbinati's 'The Tyranny of the Moderns', forthcoming in the journal European Political Science.
Conference Papers by Simon T Kaye
Public Ignorance and Political Theory
If we are realistic about the epistemic situation and capacities of the public, it can be difficu... more If we are realistic about the epistemic situation and capacities of the public, it can be difficult to find a role for political theory. This paper argues that political theory, because it deals more routinely with moral and normative ideas about which there can be no concrete, settled knowledge, and because it can be up-front about working with abstracted or idealised versions of public behaviour and epistemology in a way which political science cannot, may yet have much to offer. It goes on to suggest that the most productive role for political theory in the public is to try to define the boundaries of the human knowledge problem – to shift, as far as possible, from unknown unknowns to known unknowns, from radical ignorance to mere ignorance – in other words, to discover and communicate the things we do not know and work through the range of possible responses, rather than to set in stone universal normative ‘answers’ to such questions, which are necessarily partial and implausible.
To be presented at MANCEPT 2015.
A Critique of Public Reason
Presented at the opening and closing SuRF workshops in Virginia, USA, 2010. An analysis and criti... more Presented at the opening and closing SuRF workshops in Virginia, USA, 2010. An analysis and critique of the notion of ‘public reason’ from several epistemological standpoints.
Deliberative Democracy and Voter Rationality
Presented at the conference of the Deliberative and Participatory Democracy group of the PSA, Gla... more Presented at the conference of the Deliberative and Participatory Democracy group of the PSA, Glasgow, June 2010.
This paper proposes a new typology of theories of deliberative democracy, incorporating ‘informal’ deliberative activity as an important source of critique for more conventional ‘formal’ deliberative theories.
Deliberation as Populism
Presented at the 'Scholarship and the Free Society' conference Pennsylvania, USA, 2010. A discuss... more Presented at the 'Scholarship and the Free Society' conference Pennsylvania, USA, 2010. A discussion of the plausibility of deliberation as an ‘escape route’ from Social Choice Theory’s criticisms of aggregative democracy.
Non-academic publications by Simon T Kaye
Like Disraeli, Cameron Plays Well with a Poor Hand (political sketch)
An analysis of David Cameron's pragmatic style of governance in the first days of his coalition g... more An analysis of David Cameron's pragmatic style of governance in the first days of his coalition government.
Shouldn't Students put Voting Ahead of Activism? (political comment)
A piece that weighs up the apparent political contradictions of the UK's 18-25 demographic, which... more A piece that weighs up the apparent political contradictions of the UK's 18-25 demographic, which is both the most likely to participate in activism and the most apathetic.
The David and Nick Show (political sketch)
A sketch piece based on the events surrounding the announcement of the 2010 coalition government ... more A sketch piece based on the events surrounding the announcement of the 2010 coalition government between the Conservative and Liberal Democrat parties.
A wide-ranging interview with Dr Stuart Parkinson, Executive Director of Scientists for Global Re... more A wide-ranging interview with Dr Stuart Parkinson, Executive Director of Scientists for Global Responsibility, published by the Higher Education Research Organisation in 2006.
Lost's Ingenious Apologists (pop culture essay)
The ending of the TV series 'Lost' was disappointing to many. But its true cultural significance ... more The ending of the TV series 'Lost' was disappointing to many. But its true cultural significance lies in the diversity and detail of theories arising from its ingenious fanbase. Published in 2010.
Book Review: We All Ran into the Sunlight, by Natalie Young
A fiction book review.
Papers by Simon T Kaye
How the Pandemic Has Accelerated the Shift Towards Participatory Public Authorities
University of Westminster Press eBooks, Jul 12, 2021
Political ignorance is one of the most important features of the British – or any other – public.... more Political ignorance is one of the most important features of the British – or any other – public. As the general election approaches, we may be moved to ask how competent the average voter really is. But, as Simon Kaye explains in this article, the relationship between democracy and ignorance is extremely complicated, and calls for sophisticated political analysis.
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Journal Articles by Simon T Kaye
Online Publications by Simon T Kaye
Doctoral Thesis by Simon T Kaye
What these radical positions have in common is an implied readiness to reject the fundamental democratic principle of minimal political equality for practically all citizens. In so doing, they risk subverting the desirable consequences of the institutional norms of today’s democracies: stability, anti-experimentalism and assumed non-contestability. Democracy’s main virtue – its tendency toward stability and resistance to revolution – is contingent upon the confidence that is placed in it by its citizens, which itself may be contingent upon the universal franchise.
This thesis argues that theories of democracy are best understood in terms of their underlying presuppositions as to the scope – and potential scope – of human knowledge. It offers a new justification of democracy, suggesting specific consequentialist grounds while critiquing instrumental and deontic approaches to the problem. The thesis then turns to a consideration of the evidence for widespread public ignorance, and argues that such evidence cannot form a sound basis for Platonist, epistocratic arguments against the universal franchise. Deliberative democracy is similarly problematic, founded upon either the unattainable ideal of political consensus, or the badly-understood concept of ‘public reason’. Formal, demotic deliberation is intrinsically threatening to the democratic principle of political anonymity, and therefore, due to a host of well-documented social-psychological effects, to the universal franchise as well.
Book Reviews by Simon T Kaye
Conference Papers by Simon T Kaye
To be presented at MANCEPT 2015.
This paper proposes a new typology of theories of deliberative democracy, incorporating ‘informal’ deliberative activity as an important source of critique for more conventional ‘formal’ deliberative theories.
Non-academic publications by Simon T Kaye
Papers by Simon T Kaye