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Lecture ‘Normalization, Politicization, Polarization, Radicalization’ by Oliver Traldi

Datum evenement: 26 February 2024
Locatie: Hybrid: Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam and Zoom

Description

Normalization, Politicization, Polarization, Radicalization

In this talk I explore differences between various types of processes that can affect political beliefs, and the relationships between them. Some processes concern individuals, some concern beliefs as held by individuals, some concern beliefs or propositions abstracted from any believer, and some concern a belief space or distribution in a broad sense. How do these sorts of processes interact, and when can we posit one such process as an explanation for another? I try to draw lessons about belief change as opposed to belief maintenance, arguments about the rationality or irrationality of polarization, the asymmetric polarization thesis in the specific context of U.S. politics, and content overlap in political epistemology.

Oliver Traldi is a postdoctoral fellow at the James Madison Program at Princeton University. He has a Ph.D. in philosophy from the University of Notre Dame. His first book, Political Beliefs: A Philosophical Introduction, comes out in May. https://olivertraldi.weebly.com/

This project is funded by:

Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam
European Research Council
European Union