Democracy, Epistemic Value, and Political Equality: a New Model of Epistemic Participatory Democracy

Participatory democracy is better off with a serious consideration of epistemic instrumental value and political equality. First, I argue that democracy is justified, in part, on its epistemic instrumental value. I also contend that the need to accommodate the epistemic value with the principle of equal political participation is only compatible with a standard of epistemic modesty which applies at the collective level, and not at the level of individual participation. Second, I explore the epistemic objections to direct democracy (as practiced in countries such as Switzerland and Uruguay), and argue that only a new model of participatory democracy would be consistent with the epistemic modesty standard required by my account of legitimacy. Third, I propose a set of institutions that have the aim of fostering, in a structural way, autonomous, informed, and public-oriented citizen participation. I contend that those institutions delineate a new model of epistemic participatory democracy. Finally, conclusions are presented