Week 8: Epidemic injustice

Question 1

What is epistemology?

Answer 1

Epistemology is the branch of philosophy concerned with knowledge.

Question 2

What is testimony?

Answer 2

Sharing one’s knowledge with another person, who then acquires knowledge.

Question 3

What is credibility?

Answer 3

Having good reasons to believe that someone’s testimony is true.

E.g. past knowledge or behaviour.

Question 5

What is epistemic injustice?

Answer 5

Epistemic injustice is a type of injustice or harm that people suffer as knowers and transmitters of knowledge.

Question 6

Give the two examples made on epistemic justice, women, and (not) knowing.

Answer 6

A woman knows that she has been a victim of abuse, but her testimony is not believed; or
A woman may not even know that she has been a victim of abuse, since she lacks the appropriate concepts / knower abilities to identify it.
These examples point to the two types of epistemic injustice.

Question 7

What is testimonial injustice?

Answer 7

A speaker suffers testimonial injustice when their testimony is judged as less credible (or not credible at all). There could be an excess or a deficit; this is called the credibility economy.

There could be a good reason for this. E.g. when someone shares their knowledge on vaccines on twitter.

Question 8

When is testimonial injustice really an injustice?

Answer 8

Testimonial injustice is an injustice when the lack of credibility is the product of prejudice. It is injustice because those who suffer are treated unfairly, not merely as knowers but as agents (less opportunities, less self-confidence, etc).

Question 9

What kinds of testimonial injustice does Dotson distinguish?

Answer 9

1. Testimonial quieting: a person’s testimony is dismissed because of prejudice.
2. Testimonial smothering: a person limits their own testimony because they know they are perceived as less credible because of prejudice.

Question 10

What are hermeneutics?

Answer 10

Hermeneutics is a branch of linguistics and philosophy related to understanding and interpretation.
It may involve acquiring certain concepts which allow to identify phenomena that until then were unnoticed or didn’t get properly identified.

E.g. the concepts you’re learning in this course.

Question 11

What is hermeneutical injustice?

And give an example.

Answer 11

Hermeneutical injustice is when people lack certain cognitice or structural tools to understand, recognize or name experiences or phenomena. This can also be an injustice.
E.g. people belonging to certain discriminated groups lack the concepts to adequately communicate or understand their experiences.