Prototypes of Political Ignorance

Blake Roeber’s Political Humility is a wonderful piece of work; it’s clear and accessible enough that I’d expect a general educated audience with no philosophical background to profitably read all but the last two chapters (which get more into the epistemological weeds than the earlier parts of the book), while still offering sufficiently provocative arguments that I expect it to produce no small amount of controversy. ¹ Roeber argues that political polarization has created a discursive environment in which it’s extraordinarily difficult for people to know politically contested claims about the contemporary United States. In this review essay I’ll argue that he has not quite correctly identified just which beliefs his skeptical argument threatens, and that there are deep reasons why a crisp characterization of his target may be elusive. Nevertheless, I’ll argue that conceding on this point would not significantly change the lesson of his book, or weaken the force of his overall argument.