Propaganda Does Not Have to be Good or Evil
- 1 University of Salamanca, Spain
ISSN: 2254-0601
Year of publication: 2019
Volume: 8
Issue: 11
Pages: 99-114
Type: Article
More publications in: Disputatio. Philosophical Research Bulletin
Abstract
This paper aims to demonstrate that, to discuss propaganda better, we ought to consider how its presence alters the dynamics of the milieu it influences. I examine Jason Stanley’s analysis of propaganda’s ability to undermine public deliberation and Jean-Jacques Rousseau’s defense of the use of propaganda for the establishment of egalitarian political communities, to conclude that propaganda does not have a wicked nature. To strengthen the claim, I introduce an analogy between propaganda and parasitism to illustrate that propaganda establishes a non-mutual relationship with the public mind
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