Political knowledge might mean very different things: knowledge that is politically dangerous (e.g. because it might damage a rival’s chances in an election campaign), or knowledge that is politically contested (how to do a census, how the poverty report should be published, what records are handed over to an inquiry commission). In addition, it might mean knowledge about politics, whether the knowledge of political actors or the knowledge produced by political science. The seminar has two aims: On the one hand, it will give an overview of the different forms of political knowledge and how they are conceptualized in political theory. On the other hand, the seminar aims to take seriously the self-reflexive dimension of its topic: For when political theory asks about political knowledge it automatically asks about its own doing. But what methods does political theory have to address this task? And what would be a critical theory of political knowledge?
Preparatory Reading
Althaus, Scott, Mark Bevir, Jeffrey Friedman, Hélène Landemore, Rogers Smith und Susan Stokes (2014): Roundtable on Political Epistemology. In: Critical Review 26 (1-2), 1–32.
Elgin, Catherine Z. (1998): Epistemology’s End. In: Linda Martín Alcoff (Hrsg.), Epistemology: The Big Questions. Malden MA: Blackwell, 26–40.
Lemke, Thomas (2002): Foucault, Governmentality, and Critique. In: Rethinking Marxism 14 (3), 49-64.
Mayntz, Renate (Hrsg.) (2008): Wissensproduktion und Wissenstransfer. Wissen im Spannungsfeld von Wissenschaft, Politik und Öffentlichkeit. Bielefeld: Transcript.
Schützeichel, Rainer (2012): Wissenssoziologie. In: Sabine Maasen, Mario Kaiser, Martin Reinhart und Barbara Sutter (Hrsg.), Handbuch Wissenschaftssoziologie. Wiesbaden: VS Verlag für Sozialwissenschaften, 17–26.
Stehr, Nico (Hrsg.) (2004): The Governance of Knowledge. New Brunswick, NJ: Transaction Publications.