Agreeing to Disagree Politically

Article


Taylor, Brad R. and Bosworth, William. 2021. "Agreeing to Disagree Politically." New Political Economy. 26 (5), pp. 707-716. https://doi.org/10.1080/13563467.2020.1816948
Article Title

Agreeing to Disagree Politically

ERA Journal ID18668
Article CategoryArticle
AuthorsTaylor, Brad R. (Author) and Bosworth, William (Author)
Journal TitleNew Political Economy
Journal Citation26 (5), pp. 707-716
Number of Pages10
Year2021
Place of PublicationUnited Kingdom
ISSN1356-3467
1469-9923
Digital Object Identifier (DOI)https://doi.org/10.1080/13563467.2020.1816948
Web Address (URL)https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/13563467.2020.1816948
Abstract

Aumann's agreement theorem and subsequent work shows that people who are rational in a certain Bayesian sense cannot agree to disagree on matters of fact. This result hinges on a type of epistemic impartiality: a rational person will not give extra weight to a piece of evidence simply because they themselves discovered it rather than someone else. We extend this argument by questioning the possibility of reasonable political disagreement for political liberals. On our reading, a 'Good Liberal' must not give extra weight in public deliberations to their own preferences or values simply because they are their own. This political impartiality mirrors the epistemic impartiality of Aumann's theorem and we argue that disagreement on policy is impossible in a world of “Good Liberal Bayesians,” assuming common knowledge of both Bayesian rationality and Liberal reasonableness. The persistence and predictability of disagreement in the real world provides support for expressive accounts of political behaviour and points to the important role of epistemic trust in politics. This issue of epistemic trust provides insight into recent trends in political polarization in the United States and elsewhere.

KeywordsAgreeing to disagree, political liberalism, political disagreement, impartiality, Bayesian rationality, political theory
Contains Sensitive ContentDoes not contain sensitive content
ANZSRC Field of Research 2020440802. Citizenship
440811. Political theory and political philosophy
380113. Public economics - public choice
Public Notes

File reproduced in accordance with the copyright policy of the publisher/author.

Byline AffiliationsUniversity of Southern Queensland
London School of Economics and Political Science, United Kingdom
Institution of OriginUniversity of Southern Queensland
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