Gastvortrag von Michel Croce PhD (Univ. of Edinburgh / Univ. of Lisbon): „Marginalized Individuals as Epistemic Authorities“ [Plakat]

Seminarraum VI der Theologischen Fakultät (Karl-Rahner-Platz 3, 1. Stock)

Aufgrund einer Vorgabe des Rektorates der Universität Innsbruck werden alle Veranstaltungen bis 20. April abgesagt! (Maßnahme zur Eindämmung der Verbreitung von COVID-19)

One relatively undisputed contention in the debate on epistemic injustice is that epistemic marginalization, in its various forms, undermines one’s credibility qua knower, thereby preventing one from possessing—and being recognized as an—epistemic authority. In this paper, I purport to go beyond the mainstream approach to the relationship between the notions of injustice and authority in the intellectual domain by arguing that marginalized individuals can, in fact, possess epistemic authority in a given domain. For the injustice they have suffered might lead them to acquire a range of epistemic goods that non-marginalized members of their community lack, including evidence, tacit knowledge, and intellectual virtues. In such a scenario, acknowledging the epistemic authority of the marginalized would not only contribute to freeing them from their disadvantaged position but it would also allow the community to benefit from an epistemic competence that most members lack. After developing a pluralistic theory of the epistemic authority of the marginalized, I shed light on how these epistemic subjects—in particular, epistemic heroes and injustice illuminators—could help other members of the community improve their epistemic agency in a given domain. 

Michel Croce is FCT Junior Researcher at the University of Lisbon. After obtaining a Ph.D. in Philosophy at the University of Genoa (Italy), he held an Early Stage Marie Curie Fellowship at the University of Edinburgh, where he has worked on a project titled Epistemic Inequality Reconsidered. His main research interests include epistemology, virtue theory, and the philosophy of education.