The Phantom Public
E122003
The Phantom Public is a 1925 political philosophy book by Walter Lippmann that critically examines the limits of democratic participation and the role of the public in modern mass society.
All labels observed (1)
| Label | Occurrences |
|---|---|
| The Phantom Public canonical | 3 |
How this entity was disambiguated
This entity first appeared as the object of triple T1063190 — resolving that mention is where its identity was fixed. The disambiguator weighed these candidate entities and picked the highlighted one (or “None”, minting a new entity). This is how homonymy is resolved: the same surface form can point to different entities.
NED1
Entity disambiguation (via context triple)
gpt-5-mini-2025-08-07
Target entity: The Phantom Public Context triple: [Walter Lippmann, notableWork, The Phantom Public]
-
A.
Conversations in the Dark
"Conversations in the Dark" is a romantic R&B ballad by John Legend, known for its intimate lyrics and soulful vocals.
-
B.
The Paper
The Paper is a 1994 American comedy-drama film directed by Ron Howard that follows the hectic, deadline-driven day at a New York City tabloid newspaper.
-
C.
Promise of the Real
Promise of the Real is an American rock band led by Lukas Nelson, known for its roots-rock sound and frequent collaborations and touring with Neil Young.
-
D.
The Spy
"The Spy" is an 1821 historical novel by James Fenimore Cooper set during the American Revolutionary War, often regarded as one of the earliest major works of American fiction.
-
E.
The Uncertain Trumpet
The Uncertain Trumpet is a 1960 book by U.S. Army General Maxwell D. Taylor that critiques the doctrine of massive retaliation and advocates for a more flexible, conventional military strategy during the Cold War.
- F. None of above. chosen
- G. Unsure - the case is ambiguous/there is not enough information to decide.
NED2
Entity disambiguation (via description)
gpt-5-mini-2025-08-07
Target entity: The Phantom Public Target entity description: The Phantom Public is a 1925 political philosophy book by Walter Lippmann that critically examines the limits of democratic participation and the role of the public in modern mass society.
-
A.
Conversations in the Dark
"Conversations in the Dark" is a romantic R&B ballad by John Legend, known for its intimate lyrics and soulful vocals.
-
B.
The Paper
The Paper is a 1994 American comedy-drama film directed by Ron Howard that follows the hectic, deadline-driven day at a New York City tabloid newspaper.
-
C.
Mr. Papers
Mr. Papers is a rapper best known for his on-and-off romantic relationship with hip-hop icon Lil' Kim.
-
D.
Promise of the Real
Promise of the Real is an American rock band led by Lukas Nelson, known for its roots-rock sound and frequent collaborations and touring with Neil Young.
-
E.
The Spy
"The Spy" is an 1821 historical novel by James Fenimore Cooper set during the American Revolutionary War, often regarded as one of the earliest major works of American fiction.
- F. None of above. chosen
Statements (45)
| Predicate | Object |
|---|---|
| instanceOf |
book
ⓘ
non-fiction book ⓘ political philosophy book ⓘ |
| addresses |
problems of information and complexity in modern politics
ⓘ
relationship between experts and lay citizens ⓘ role of the press in shaping public opinion ⓘ |
| argues |
that citizens mostly react to issues rather than initiate policy
ⓘ
that decision-making in modern society is dominated by experts and insiders ⓘ that the general public is largely uninformed about complex political issues ⓘ |
| author | Walter Lippmann ⓘ |
| countryOfOrigin |
United States
ⓘ
linked to:
United States of America
|
| criticizedBy | John Dewey ⓘ |
| critiques |
classical democratic theory
ⓘ
the idea of an omniscient, rational public ⓘ |
| describes | the public as a "phantom" in democratic theory ⓘ |
| follows | Public Opinion ⓘ |
| genre |
political philosophy
ⓘ
political theory ⓘ |
| hasForm | print ⓘ |
| hasPerspective | skeptical view of mass democratic participation ⓘ |
| hasReception |
considered a classic in democratic theory
ⓘ
controversial for its skepticism about popular rule ⓘ |
| hasReprint | modern academic editions ⓘ |
| influenced |
communication studies on media and public opinion
ⓘ
later debates on democratic theory ⓘ theories of elitist democracy ⓘ |
| influencedBy |
Walter Lippmann's earlier work "Public Opinion"
ⓘ
linked to:
Walter Lippmann
|
| language | English ⓘ |
| mainTopic |
democracy
ⓘ
limits of democratic participation ⓘ mass society ⓘ public opinion ⓘ role of the public in politics ⓘ |
| notableConcept |
distinction between insiders and outsiders in politics
ⓘ
public as a collection of bystanders ⓘ |
| philosophicalTradition |
liberalism
ⓘ
realist political theory ⓘ |
| proposes | a limited role for the public in democratic governance ⓘ |
| publicationYear | 1925 ⓘ |
| publisher |
Macmillan (original publisher)
ⓘ
linked to:
Macmillan and Co.
|
| relatedWork | The Public and Its Problems ⓘ |
| subjectOf |
scholarly analysis in democratic theory
ⓘ
scholarly analysis in media studies ⓘ scholarly analysis in political science ⓘ |
| timePeriodDiscussed | early 20th-century mass democracy ⓘ |
How these facts were elicited
The pipeline generated the facts above by prompting gpt-5.1 with this entity's name + description and the instruction below.
Instruction
You are a knowledge base construction expert. Given a subject entity and a description of it, return factual statements that you know for the subject as a JSON list of dictionaries(triples), where keys must be "subject", "predicate" and "object". The number of facts may be very high, between 25 to 50 or more, for very popular subjects. For less popular subjects, the number of facts can be very low, like 5 or 10. # Requirements - If you don't know the subject at all, return an empty list. - If the subject is not a named entity, return an empty list. - Include at least one triple where predicate is "instanceOf". - Do not get too wordy. - Separate several objects into multiple triples with one object.
Input
Subject: The Phantom Public Description of subject: The Phantom Public is a 1925 political philosophy book by Walter Lippmann that critically examines the limits of democratic participation and the role of the public in modern mass society.
Referenced by (3)
Full triples — surface form annotated when it differs from this entity's canonical label.