Abstract

The term “epistemic democracy” has been coined to capture the idea of democracy as a way of generating knowledge and tapping into the collective wisdom of citizens. The development of any thought system is a continuous dance between the inductive (divergent) and the deductive (convergent). The conditions for epistemic decision-making have been formally modelled primarily involving the interplay of diversity and expertise in group decision-making. Experiments demonstrate that constructive relations can only be restored if common superordinate goals are in place. Indeed, the International Court of Justice has ruled that states have the duty to cooperate for the protection of the environment and international human rights. The proposed theory of dynamic epistemic equilibria introduces the desired balance between recognised expertise in a particular domain and informed public participation in democratic decision-making. Adding a theory of action makes it a normative theory of collective action by virtue of its claim that sustainability constitutes the highest moral ground. As such it asks citizens and groups to comply and believe and act. To undertake all three actions involves shared intentionality.