Justifying political choice:
from probability and institutions to communication

Smorgunov L.V.,

Saint Petersburg State University, St. Petersburg, Russia, l.smorgunov@spbu.ru

elibrary_id: 208776 | ORCID: 0000-0002-2581-2975 | RESEARCHER_ID: H-4986-2013

Article received: 2023.12.29. Accepted: 2024.01.24

DOI: 10.17976/jpps/2024.02.07
EDN: VYKYYH

Rubric: Theory and methodology of political studies

For citation:

Smorgunov L.V. Justifying political choice: from probability and institutions to communication. – Polis. Political Studies. 2024. No. 2. P. 80-95. (In Russ.). https://doi.org/10.17976/jpps/2024.02.07. EDN: VYKYYH

Abstract

The article is devoted to the study of the dynamics of development of concepts that justify political choice. There is a general turn from the moral justification of political choice to ontological concepts based on the ideas of pragmatic and impartial behavior in the search for criteria for the “correct” decision, which includes the truth and the institutions that ensure it. The epistemic concept of democracy, based on Condorcet's jury theorem, defines the possibility of achieving the correct choice through majority rule voting, implies a competent, independent and sincere voter, which ensures an increase in the probability of the correct choice. The expansion of the composition of participants in political choice increased the role of diversity of knowledge and opinions in the justification, which led to the concept of the “smart plurality”, which ensures the correct choice is made by reducing its overall error through random mass participation. The development of social networks and their argumentative function in disputes have contributed to the transition to the concepts of argumentative networks that ensure the correct option is selected through communication. The identified dynamics allow us to conclude that the concept of politics is reviving its importance as a reasoning.

Keywords

political choice, epistemic conception of democracy, Condorcet Jury Theorem, probability, choice institutions, smart plurality, network communication, argumentative networks.

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