This lecture is about propaganda and how it can be used to undermine democratic decision making.
Classical Definitions of Propaganda
In the first part of the lecture, you will learn about some basic philosophical questions about propaganda, and about a classical definition of propaganda.
This lecture is about propaganda and how it can be used to undermine democratic decision making.
Jason Stanley's account of Propaganda
In the second part of the lecture, I talk about Jason Stanley's discussion of two forms of propaganda. One of them is particularly influencial in liberal democracies like ours, and also particularly dangerous, because easy to overlook.
For reflection 1: Stanley uses many examples from the US context. It may, of course, be the case that the use of propaganda in politics and education is more absent in Europe (and Norway specifically). But arguably this is not the case: arguably, for example, undermining propaganda exists also in Norway or Germany, that, for example, uses the language of democratic ideals in order to undermine those very ideals. Try to find examples, and argue why they would count as propaganda in Stanley's sense. (posted from "reading" again
For reflection 2: do you agree that it is form of propaganda to draw a distinction between experts and non-experts? If not, how would you argue against Stanley?