The role of cognitive competences in democratic political systems

Abstract

Taking as the starting the normative ideal of democracy, grounded in an inclusive understanding of the subject point of democracy, the author argues that various concepts of democracy assign particularly important role to cognitive competences and see it as an exclusive entitlement to participate in the exercise of political power in democratic systems. The case in point is contemporary debate on the proper understanding of democracy which focuses on the dilemma between, on the one hand, the idea of broad participation of the people in the democratic governance, and, on the other, the deliberative ideal which presupposes that power in these systems should be entrusted only to people with appropriate cognitive competences. The author analyzes the main elements of “cognitocratic” or “epistocratic” conceptions and points out to potential perils resulting from the attribution of a prominent role in the theory of democracy to cognitive competences. In opposition to cognitocratic approaches, both in their universalist and elite versions, the author argues that a more adequate understanding of governance in democratic systems should instead be based on the wider category of political ability. He also claims that a novel definition of this category should be informed by the normative ideal of democracy which is based on the recognition of potentially universal capabilities to develop the political ability and that this potential may in fact be activated through the actual participation in democratic politics.