Knowledge, Ignorance and Ideology
Michael Hannon (Department of Philosophy) has published on topics such as the role of empathy in politics, the nature and function of political belief, identity-expressive political discourse, and the relationship between political knowledge, cognitive bias, and political legitimacy. One theme of his research is the extent to which partisan loyalty is grounded in cognitive features like political beliefs and ideology, as opposed to affective or emotional attachments.
Relatedly, his work explores the relationship between partisan division and polarization, on the one hand, and conflicting political ideologies, on the other. Michael is also interested in political understanding, especially the ways in which political ideologies can provide a cognitive framework (or schema) to structure information about the political world. He asks: Are these cognitive frameworks normatively desirable? Do political ideologies provide us with cognitive benefits by allowing us to make sense of the political world, or do they mostly constrain our thinking and result in biased cognition?
Michael's work also examines the normative implications of these ideas for democratic theory. More broadly, his research attempts to understand the psychological basis for political beliefs and behaviour. In a recent paper, Hannon defends the claim that many political beliefs are not rooted in ideological commitments but rather are socially adaptive: people form them in order to receive social benefits.
Publications include The Routledge Handbook of Political Epistemology (Routledge 2021) and Political Epistemology (Oxford University Press). Michael is also writing a book (under contract with Routledge) about knowledge, ignorance, and democracy.