Disagreement, Extremism, and Polarization

3 units

Americans are increasingly skeptical about the future of their democracy and about our ability to pursue equality and social justice within the existing political system, and many people identify irresolvable disagreement, political extremism, and partisan polarization as causes of the current crisis in American democracy. In this course, we will study disagreement, extremism, and polarization using insights and methods from philosophy, political science, and empirical psychology, with the aim of understanding these phenomena and the social and political challenges they pose. Our questions will include whether it is possible for reasonable people to disagree, whether democratic deliberation requires a background of agreement or shared facts, how our moral psychology shapes our political beliefs, whether prejudice and bias can be eliminated from political thinking, and whether there are some political positions that are so extreme they should not be taken seriously. There are no prerequisites for this course and no background in philosophy, political science, or psychology will be assumed