Freethought Discussion: Challenges to American Democracy

Moderator: Alan E Johnson

During recent years and decades, several movements have challenged democracy in the United States: (1) the authoritarian, theocratic Right; (2) the epistocratic, libertarian Right; and (3) the applied postmodernist Left. We will discuss these challenges and any related issues that participants wish to address at this session.

References (not required reading):

Alan E. Johnson, Reason and Human Ethics (Pittsburgh: Philosophia, 2022), chapters 5 (“Citizen and Media Ethics”) and 6 (“Political Ethics”). Chapters 5 and 6 discuss, among other things, the authoritarian, theocratic Right and the applied postmodernist Left. See also chapter 2 (“Human Reason”), especially the discussion of fallacious and critical thinking on pages 40–62. An exact replica of the paperback of this book is freely available online in PDF at https://www.academia.edu/107899091/Reason_and_Human_Ethics_Pittsburgh_Philosophia_2022.

Steven Levitsky and Daniel Ziblatt, “Democracy’s Assassins Always Have Accomplices,” New York Times, September 8, 2023, https://www.nytimes.com/2023/09/08/opinion/trump-republicans-spain-brazil.html?unlocked_article_code=G248cd2wvvh_PphryPFzvNtlZfsG_WKJWpAHzxYTIbYEALuARJoEGs16qbtaj07v-hH-QiWrMVUHBfUJwt_mZ1HAIchq9mLq_oEsTyLwAZFNkqLesUV9c5VSLt2fBGteMD9jNE78BSJgggwJLOsgspOj3-GRcgGOGq2BWogg_OdCXtHG1h9LkNdIDODFJYR_syC8KqVjOkvoARi3IN3nF6hVzjFdz_IqNi6tcYfjPxAhqnSYvnXXHsh9pxNfRyuA9naQG0jLFR0oxWhycclGh9nlaUJ9aqK4isG8j6QhS8QfiLTxkYefXdS1p9yEXTyOMj1OKpGJBKfCm14F9EzPWx2dU7VsGtwt&smid=url-share. (In accordance with my New York Times subscription, the foregoing link provides access to this article for 30 days without charge, notwithstanding the usual New York Times paywall.)  Levitsky and Ziblatt, who are professors of government at Harvard, are also the authors of Tyranny of the Minority: Why American Democracy Reached the Breaking Point (New York: Crown, 2023) and How Democracies Die (New York: Crown, 2018).

Jason Brennan, “Epistocracy: A Better Form of Democracy or Rule by Philosophers?,” Erraticus, March 22, 2019, https://erraticus.co/2019/03/22/epistocracy-better-democracy/. Brennan is the author of Against Democracy (Princeton University Press, 2017).

Alan E. Johnson, Review of Jason Brennan’s Against Democracy, https://www.academia.edu/106405232/From_Philosopher_Kings_to_Libertarian_Elitists_A_Critical_Appraisal_of_Jason_Brennan_Against_Democracy_With_A_New_2017_Preface_by_the_Author_Princeton_Princeton_University_Press_2017_revised_October_23_2023_, October 23, 2023.

Please join us!

Participants are encouraged to join PFC if not already a member.
https://pghfreethought.org/Become-a-member