An epistemological framework for inclusive democratic deliberation

Abstract

My primary focus is in articulating a theory of knowledge that can support a robust, justice-driven conception of democracy and deliberation. I argue that it is not possible to achieve this task without conceiving knowledge as explicitly social in a significant way. A central focus in my argument is thus what kind of sociality is required for the epistemology of democratic deliberation to be adequate. Building on this focus, I claim that inclusive deliberation can be epistemologically transformative. My goal is an articulation of the epistemic value of inclusive deliberation - I argue that such an articulation rests upon a reconception of epistemological agencies that takes communities as the primary agents.