Working Toward Transpositional Objectivity: The Promotion of Democratic Capability for an Age of Post-Truth Politics

This article aims to offer conceptual and practical tools to help us understand and combat the rise of post-truth politics. Drawing on the epistemic aspects of Amartya Sen's work—particularly his concept of objectivity—I argue that the current political climate requires the broad promotion of what I call democratic capability. The promotion of this capability enables and demands a radical but critical openness to others' positional knowledge and thereby helps to ensure the infusion of a fuller and more diverse set of perspectives and judgments into our determination of what public actions are most likely to result in the creation of better and more just societies. I conclude by pointing briefly to the role for education in promoting democratic capability, with particular attention paid to the kinds of habits and dispositions young people need to develop in order to engage effectively in the kind of political praxis this capability entails.