Zsolt Kapelner
banner
zsoltkapelner.bsky.social
Zsolt Kapelner
@zsoltkapelner.bsky.social
I'm a political philosopher, I'm a postdoc at the University of Oslo. I work on democracy, agenda setting, and immigration. https://www.zsoltkapelner.com/
The conference I've been organizing with Leonie Smith on attention and democratic politics is happening this week at the University of Oslo with a great line-up of speakers: www.hf.uio.no/ifikk/englis...
Attention, politics, and democracy - Department of Philosophy, Classics, History of Art and Ideas
Read this story on the University of Oslo's website.
www.hf.uio.no
February 18, 2025 at 7:46 AM
Philpapers seems to be down
February 9, 2025 at 1:46 PM
Reposted by Zsolt Kapelner
“To the Finland Station”: Trump as a tool of history
- by @brankomilan.bsky.social
#USPolitics #Trump
branko2f7.substack.com/p/to-the-fin...
“To the Finland Station”
Trump as a tool of history
branko2f7.substack.com
January 14, 2025 at 12:02 AM
Reposted by Zsolt Kapelner
Disgusting
December 9, 2024 at 8:57 PM
I'm flying to Vienna to talk at this really great event on collective attention and salience in society. I'll present some of my newer work on agenda setting and democratic theory, and I'm looking forward to all these talks, it's a very exciting progamme. sites.google.com/view/salienc...
Salience in Society
Salience in Society The Nature and Ethics of Collective Attention University of Vienna, 3–4 December 2024
sites.google.com
December 2, 2024 at 1:31 PM
Reposted by Zsolt Kapelner
This is the kind of paradox I live for
November 29, 2024 at 2:14 PM
I'm not fully sure about the empirical picture here, but as usual, @polphilpod.bsky.social's take has very much intelligence and insight, and I agree with a lot of it. I'm also very dissatisfied with the "abandoned working class" narrative.
A Disease of Affluence
Trump's supporters are not motivated by economic anxiety, but by its opposite.
www.liberalcurrents.com
November 25, 2024 at 2:57 PM
My short piece on Shmuel Nili's book Philosophising the Indefensible, is now published in Analyse & Kritik. Although I was a bit critical, I think this book has really important things to say about engaging with illiberal/unreasonable politics and the responsibilities of political philosophers.
Civic Friendship, the Burdens of Politics, and the Ethics of Attention
In Philosophizing the Indefensible Shmuel Nili proposes strategic political theory as a productive and respectful manner for political philosophy to engage with unreasonable political views. One objec...
www.degruyter.com
November 25, 2024 at 9:42 AM
Reposted by Zsolt Kapelner
What Does Democracy Look Like? A new short piece I wrote for the OUP Blog....
blog.oup.com/2024/11/what...
What does democracy look like?
“This is what democracy looks like!” is a popular rallying cry of engaged democratic citizens across the globe. It refers to outbreaks of mass political action, episodes where large numbers of citizen...
blog.oup.com
November 22, 2024 at 1:03 PM
Makes me think of Rousseau (B4Ch10-11 of the Social Contract) and Hobbes as well.
Depressed my class today by reflecting on Marx’s insight that anything that has a beginning could have an end. Marx was thinking about capitalism, but right now democracy looks a more likely candidate.
November 22, 2024 at 8:36 AM

This new piece on democratic stability and backsliding by Ryan Pevnick sounds super interesting.
politicalphilosophyjournal.org/article/id/1...
Democratic Stability and Backsliding <!--EndFragment-->
In light of mounting concerns about democratic backsliding, Rawls’s work – which has an unusual focus on considerations of stability – is now being mined for insights about democratic fragility. This ...
politicalphilosophyjournal.org
November 22, 2024 at 8:01 AM
Hva betyr det egentlig for norsk politikk (og hvordan forholder seg denne utviklingen til den globale høyrebølge som vi kan se overalt)? Jeg er fortsatt nykommer her, jeg er ikke helt sikker på hvordan jeg skulle tenke om dette.
Frp større enn regjeringspartia samla på NRKs måling for november
No peikar heile ein av fire veljarar på Sylvi Listhaugs Frp. Partiet får større oppslutnad enn dei to regjeringspartia Ap og Sp har til saman.
www.nrk.no
November 19, 2024 at 7:03 PM
My Norwegian tutor asks the best political philosophy questions. Today we got into talking about what makes a great political leader. It's clearly not just popularity or skill in policy making. We settled on the idea that...
November 14, 2024 at 9:50 AM
People talk about becoming a parent as a 'transformative experience' resetting one's whole outlook on the world. I wonder if that's a late capitalism thing. I guess what's supposed to be transformative is the feeling of deep responsibility for another person and their deep dependence on you. 1/2
November 13, 2024 at 5:05 PM
I'm really tired today and didn't really feel like doing anything, so I joined Bluesky and practiced my Norwegian philosophy vocabulary. I learned the phrase "dogmatisk slummer"
November 13, 2024 at 12:11 PM
Reposted by Zsolt Kapelner
Philosophy friends!
Do consider submitting something for the upcoming deadline for the British Society for Ethical Theory's 2025 conference.
We have Analysis Bursaries to assist with attendance costs.
Make your paper part of the super program!!
sites.google.com/view/british...

#philsky
British Society for Ethical Theory
2025 Annual Conference: Southampton
sites.google.com
November 13, 2024 at 10:20 AM