Datum: 11 november 2026
Tid: 10:00-11:45
Venue: Institute for Futures Studies, Holländargatan 13 in Stockholm or online
Research seminar with Robert B. Talisse. He is W. Alton Jones Professor of Philosophy and Professor of Political Science, as well as former Chair of the Philosophy Department at Vanderbilt University in Nashville, Tennessee. Talisse earned his PhD in Philosophy at the City University of New York Graduate School in 2001. His research focuses on democracy. Specifically, Talisse writes about how a democratic political order can assist and complicate our efforts to acquire knowledge, share ideas, understand what is of value, and address our disagreements. He engages questions about public discourse, popular political ignorance, partisan polarization, and the ethics of citizenship.
Abstract
Polarization looms large in discussions of democracy’s current dysfunctions. But if we’re going to address polarization, we need to understand what it is and why it’s a problem. Popular accounts suggest that the problem lies with partisan division and rancor. However, these are inevitable in a democratic society, and in any case consensus and compromise are not always democratically healthy. In this presentation, I demonstrate that the problem of polarization fundamentally has to do with dynamics internal to our political alliances rather than with antagonistic cross-partisan relations. Polarization drives us and our allies to the idea that democracy is possible only among those who share our political outlook. That’s a fundamentally anti-democratic position.
The question is what to do. Because political coalition-building is essential to democracy, polarization cannot be dispelled, but only managed. After arguing that managing polarization does not lie strictly with endeavors to “reach across the aisle,” I’ll suggest that the proper response to polarization lies within us.
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