Speaker Series: Ken Taylor (Stanford)

Neither a Populist nor a Vanguardist Be: Respecting the Will and Wisdom of the People

Abstract: This paper considers three different conceptions of “the people” and what it means to “respect” their collective  will and wisdom: (a) the democratic conception of the people as what I call a sprawling demos; (b) the populist conception of the people as an authentic folk; (c) and finally the vanguardist conception of the people as the semi-mute masses in need of revolutionary transformation. While the ultimate aim of the paper is to defend the democratic conception of the people over both the populist conception and the vanguardist conception, much of the essay is taken up simply spelling out each of these conceptions of the people and outlining their consequences for the conduct of politics. It begins by contrasting the democratic conception with the populist conception. It then turns briefly to the vanguardist conception. It closes with a brief defense of a particular form of democracy – transformative or ameliorative democracy – which conceives of the people as a self-transformative totality, constantly in search of itself in something like a Deweyan sense.