Towards an Epistemology of Propaganda

Abstract : 

Most of us have a notional understanding of what propaganda is, but it is a contested concept. There is no consensus on its extension — the set of things to which the term applies — so it has a demarcation problem: what is propaganda and what is not? This project attempts to answer the question by focusing on propaganda’s role in generating beliefs about politics. I put forward an epistemological interpretation of propaganda that clarifies the concept as one that is central to public discourse, and which turns on a combination of persuasive means that insufficiently engage respondents’ deliberative capacities. I articulate a typology of rhetorical strategies that includes non-rational, irrational and rational manipulative persuasion, and suggest that propaganda involves a combination of non-rational and either irrational or rational manipulative persuasive means. As these means subvert rational processes, I claim that the phenomenon is best understood as an illegitimate practice and that given its essentially deceptive nature, it necessarily runs counter to respondents’ epistemic interests. The concept aims to describe a set of familiar political tactics that agree with existing usage of the term and explain what makes them effective. It has practical and theoretical applications that contribute to advancing current thinking about propaganda and related phenomena. In terms of the former, the concept can be operationalised as a tool that detects propaganda in public discourse at scale and in real time by harnessing large language model artificial intelligence technology. In terms of the latter, from the project’s theoretical framework emerges a taxonomy of various contributions to public discourse: it helps circumscribe a concept of propaganda’s legitimate counterpart, the type of political persuasion that is the bedrock of a healthy democracy, and it helps come to grips with adjacent concepts of fake news and conspiracy theories, which I suggest are varieties of propaganda. With a clear understanding of how these tactics work and the nature of the threat they pose, we are better equipped to disarm and defy them.

Directrice: Gloria Origgi
Co-Directeur: Klemens Kappel - University of Copenhagen

Jury:

• Megan Iska - Northwestern University
• Axel Gefert - Technical University Berlin
• Hugo Mercier - Institut Nicod
• Cory Wimberly - University of Texas Rio Grande Valley