Christiano's Deliberative Expertism and Choice Architecture Cover Image

Christiano's Deliberative Expertism and Choice Architecture
Christiano's Deliberative Expertism and Choice Architecture

Author(s): Viktor Ivanković
Subject(s): Political Philosophy, Governance, History and theory of political science
Published by: Hrvatsko politološko društvo
Keywords: epistemic deliberative democracy; experts; choice architecture; democracy architects; cognitive biases; framing effects;

Summary/Abstract: The article explores Thomas Christiano’s account of the moral division of labor in democracy. Christiano’s incorporation of experts serves the purpose of alleviating the epistemic burdens of ordinary citizens in the decision-making process and decreasing the amount of work they would otherwise be required to take on in a modern democracy. The gist of my contribution to the debate is assessing whether Christiano’s account successfully tackles the issues brought about by cognitive biases that people suffer from in communicating their values in decision-making. I argue that Christiano’s notion of experts needs to be extended to choice architects, who possess the knowledge on methods for influencing choice. I also claim that choice architecture is a social fact that an informed deliberative democratic theory needs to deal with.

  • Issue Year: 2015
  • Issue No: 12
  • Page Range: 79-97
  • Page Count: 19
  • Language: English